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Richard Gehr | April 06, 2007

1 Comments

That's what longtime country chronicler Chet Flippo wonders in his latest Nashville Skyline column for CMT (Country Music Television). And like so much recent industry news, the outlook is bleak, especially when it comes to CD sales. Flippo writes that

"CDs have stopped selling well. Period. In pop, I think that's because the market has drastically shifted to downloaded songs. That is not yet the case in country, where consumers are the last to still buy hard CDs. Another factor in country is the quality as well as the frequency of the releases. When the country music industry releases only one CD by a major A-list artist in the first quarter of 2007 -- and that release comes in the final week of that first quarter -- that tells me that things are not right. How can you sell CDs if you're not putting any out?

"That one major release, Tim McGraw's Let It Go, came out on March 27 and sold 325,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That's good but not great. McGraw's previous studio album, 2004's Live Like You Were Dying, sold 766,000 in its first week. A new CD by three country legends -- Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Ray Price -- sold just 12,000 copies in its first week. That's alarming."

And yet. Nelson, Haggard, and Price sold out Radio City Music Hall last month, venerable country gentlemen such as Charlie Louvin and Porter Wagoner are back on the road, the Dixie Chicks are bigger than ever, and how about Martina McBride's new Waking Up Laughing? The spirits may be willing, but the numbers are weak.

Flippo is specifically lamenting the lack of young Nashville talent. From a broader perspective, country has become the influence of choice for countless rockers and others eager to tap into American roots music. They may not be selling like, but the Richard Buckner, Neko Case, Laura Cantrell, Ryan Adams, the Handsome Family, and Ollabelle CDs in the stereo and MP3s in my iPod are humming a sweeter tune.

Comments

ed palmer says:

I and my 3 daughters from Beaver Island, Mi. are keeping a few old time tunes around. Check it out. www.edpalmer.com

12/17/07 09:12 PM

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