there are no sports is huge.”
To make sure artists have the
equipment they need to stay in
contact with fans, Warner Records is
coordinating with facilities like SIR
and Center Stage to deliver gear —
including instruments and recording
equipment — to their homes.
At Atlantic, Sinclair says there
are “nonstop conversations” about
whether to move releases. “Is it
someone super-established and
really active online versus a brand-
new artist who really needs to be
out there touring?” he asks. “If the
artist can’t touch and talk to fans in
venues, there’s a better time to putout the music.” Meanwhile, other
performers aren’t changing their
plans, including rapper Lil Uzi Vert,
whose Eternal Atake is spending
its second week at No. 1 after coming
out March 6, with all 18 of its tracks
entering Billboard’s Streaming Songs
chart dated March 21.
As artists switch to engaging with
fans almost exclusively online, label
employees are also shifting their
roles. Atlantic had its touring depart-
ment “chase the livestreaming op-
portunities because there’s so many
of them,” says Sinclair.
Executives interviewed for this
story stressed that they’re making
decisions with extra sensitivity.
“Everything we do with our
clients is being looked at through
a different lens now,” says Kristen
Foster, president of Full CoverageCommunications. For example,
as rock band Bon Jovi prepares to
deliver a new album currently slated
for May 15, Foster says frontman Jon
Bon Jovi may find himself talking
in interviews — over the phone, of
course — more about his charitable
efforts to feed the homeless during
the pandemic at his JBJ Soul Kitchen
community restaurants in New Jersey.
The importance of music at a
difficult time is why J Balvin did
not postpone his March 20 album,
Colores, says Fabio Acosta, who co-
manages the Colombian reggaetón
superstar with Scooter Braun.
Despite losing some promotion
opportunities, Balvin felt strongly
about keeping his release date. “If
you see video of people in Italy, they
are really down,” says Acosta.
“What relieves them is the music.”
The one area the coronavirus
hasn’t hit yet is radio promotion. Al-
though artists aren’t visiting stations,
label promo reps are continuing to
work singles to all formats. “That’s
business as usual,” says Corson. What
could change dramatically is radio
listening time as almost all commut-
ing ceases for the short term. “You’ve
got a captive audience at home,” he
says. “I’m curious to see whether
radio can compete with Netflix.”
Executives say it’s far too soon
to consider long-term strategies
since no one knows how long it will
be before a semblance of regular
life returns. And while labels will
presumably try to monetize some
of these online ventures eventu-
ally, “this moment in time is about
connection,” says Sinclair. “While
conversations with lots of partners
are going on, right now, let artists and
fans connect. You don’t want things
to seem overly promotional. We’re
all humans suffering through a really
gnarly human thing right now.”What’s In Store For
Physical Retail
MUSIC SHOPS ARE STRUGGLING AND
AMAZON IS FOCUSING ON HOUSEHOLD GOODS.
CAN THE VINYL AND CD BUSINESS SURVIVE?I
N THE WEEK ENDING
March 19, Niall Horan sold
26,000 physical copies of his
album Heartbreak Weather
— which made it both the most
popular physical album of the week
and a sobering sign for the future of
physical music. Stores are shutting
down to stop the spread of the
coronavirus, and in mid-March
Amazon announced it would not re-
stock records and CDs until at least
early April. As CD sales continue
to decline and the high-margin
vinyl business faces manufacturing
and distribution problems, can the
physical business survive?
Retailers were already having a
rough year. Problems at Direct Shot
Distributing made it hard for stores
to get releases promptly, and in
February a fire destroyed the Apollo
Masters plant in Banning, Calif., one
of just two facilities that make the
lacquer plate needed to press vinyl.
“It’s hard not to be a conspiracy the-
orist and wonder if the powers that
be in the music industry are trying to
get rid of physical music,” jokes one
independent-label owner.
Most music retailers who spoke to
Billboard say that they can continue
to cover their payroll and rent for
weeks — but not months. And if too
many physical stores close for good,
will labels continue to manufacture
physical products? “That is the great
unknown,” says Dean Tabaac, who
runs Alliance Entertainment’s indie
distribution arm, AMPED.
Before the weekend of March 21,
at least 120 U.S. record stores had
closed because of a government
mandate or social concern about
spreading the virus. Some are selling
music online, and a few others are
offering curbside pickup.
“Every day there is something
new from the government, whether
that be local, state or federal,” says
Duncan Browne, GM of Newbury
Comics, which has 28 stores in New
England and New York state — 23
of which have closed temporarily.
The Bull Moose and Silver Platters
chains have closed all of their shops
but continue to do business on theirwebsites and through retailers like
Amazon Marketplace.
Already, Washington, New York,
California, Illinois and several other
states have ordered all nonessential
businesses to close. As the virus
spreads, retailers are also worried
about the possibility that manu-
facturing plants and distribution
centers will shutter. So far, Alliance
Entertainment’s distribution
facilities in Pennsylvania and Ken-
tucky are still running.
Amazon, which is thought to
account for about 15% of the vinyl
business, said it will not buy more
product from music vendors untilApril 4 in order to focus on selling
household goods, but the company
is still fulfilling orders for music it has
in stock, and Alliance is filling other
orders when directed by Amazon.
Until recently, this year was shap-
ing up to be strong: CD sales were
down 8.3% compared with the same
period last year, a far slower decline
than in recent years, and vinyl sales
were up 45%, even amid distribu-
tion problems. Retailers believed that
this year’s Record Store Day — now
postponed from April to July — was
going to be the biggest ever, and
retailers are still putting in big orders,
according to labels and distributors.
Consumers still want to buy vinyl,
even if they won’t have as much
money to spend for a while. “The
landscape of who’s left and what
they do will change,” says a sales rep
for a CD manufacturing plant, “but
there are ways to twist a pipeline to
get consumers what they want.”
—ED CHRISTMAN“ THE FACT THAT
THERE ARE NO
SPORTS IS HUGE.”
—TOM CORSON, WARNER RECORDS24.45B
3.5%TOTAL ON-DEMAND
STREAMS WEEK
OVER WEEK
Number of audio and video
on-demand streams for the
week ending March 19.125.4M
18.8%ALBUM CONSUMPTION
UNITS WEEK OVER WEEK
Album sales plus track-
equivalent albums plus
streaming-equivalent albums for
the week of March 19.267.75B
19.7%TOTAL ON-DEMAND
STREAMS YEAR OVER
YEAR TO DATE
Number of audio and video
streams for 2020 so far over the
same period in 2019.MARKET WATCHAEG PRESENTS SENIOR VP MARK SHULMAN EXITED THE COMPANY AFTER A 17-YEAR STINT. BMG REPORTED THAT ITS REVENUE ROSE 10% YEAR-OVER-YEAR TO $672 MILLION IN 2019.Shuga Records in Chicago.KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES16 BILLBOARD • MARCH 28, 20207market_opener_physical_lo [P]_27835039.indd 16 3/25/20 8:12 PM