U.K.'s Average Wholesale CD Price Stable.

Navigation: Main page

Author: Unknown

Dateline: LONDON

The per-unit average wholesale price of CD albums in the U.K. has not changed since 1997, judging by data published Feb. 12 by trade group the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

The figures show that sales from the country's record companies rose 3.3% last year to a record 1.17 billion pounds ($1.64 billion).

The average CD album price was 4.95 pounds when the industry shipped 158.8 million CDs four years ago and remained at that level ($6.93 per unit at current exchange rates) for 2000, when shipments amounted to 201.6 million. With inflation taken into account, the figures suggest a decline in trade prices during the survey period.

However, the BPI does not break out the CD information by price category, so it is not possible to determine to what degree the wholesale prices of front-line releases or budget titles fluctuated within the overall data.

Meanwhile, the organization's member companies are now facing fresh scrutiny into the supply of CDs by the government's Office of Fair Trading (see story, this page).

Besides the 201.6 million CD albums shipped in 2000, there were 11.4 million cassettes, 3.2 million vinyl LPs, and 300,000 MiniDiscs.

A total of 216.5 million albums and 66.1 million singles were sold to retail last year, for a combined wholesale value of 1.17 billion pounds ($1.64 billion), a 3.3% rise over 1999.

In unit terms, album shipments rose 9.3% from the previous year, while singles fell 17.5%. In value terms, those configurations displayed a 5.4% gain and a 12.2% decline, respectively.

Shipments of singles have now reached their lowest level since 1996. The BPI attributes this to a combination of fewer titles retailing at 1.99 pounds ($2.80) during their week of release and a reduction in the number of individual big sellers during the year. Nine singles sold more than 500,000 copies last year, compared with 20 in 1999.

The overall growth in U.K. record company sales last year was "a notable achievement," concludes the BPI, when measured against other international markets and accounting for the British currency's strength.

Another notable statistic is the share of annual business generated in the fourth quarter--43% in 2000, the same as in 1999. That is the highest since 1986.

The biggest-selling album in the U.K. last year was the Beatles' "1," with shipments in excess of 1.8 million units.

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): BPI