The New Catalog Conundrum
As streaming dominates the music business, catalog is more important than ever,
but older albums are tough to market — and “getting movement on one track doesn’t do shit”
BY ED CHRISTMAN
PG. 16 MJ’S MUSIC ENDURES PG. 18 TWEETING TO TOP THE CHARTS PG. 20 HIP-HOP’S LOCAL TAKEOVER
S
TREAMING SERVICES
haven’t only revived the
music industry — they’ve
also reshaped it, changing
the focus of A&R and marketing and
incentivizing executives to prioritize
hip-hop over rock and hot singles
over big albums. More than ever,
major labels and large indies are
chasing — and paying big money to
sign — artists who can deliver hits fast.
At the same time, those hits —
indeed, all newly released songs
— account for a smaller percentage
of overall music sales, including
streaming, than ever before.
In 2004, when album sales still
drove the U.S. recorded music indus-
try, current music — meaning releases
less than 18 months old, plus older
albums that remained in the top
half of the Billboard 200 or still
received significant radio airplay —
accounted for 64.2% of that business.
Catalog — music released more than
18 months ago, with the exceptions
noted above — made up the remain-
ing 35.8% of sales.
In the past decade and a half, how-
ever, those numbers have reversed:
Current music accounts for 35.7%
of album consumption units in 2019,
while catalog makes up the remaining
64.3%, as of the week ending Oct. 10.
This might seem counterintui-
tive: Aren’t hit songs taking off, and
making money, faster than ever? They
are, by some measures, although
much of the revenue they bring in
will come in the future. But as the
streaming- driven business monetiz-
es music according to consumption,
rather than sales, the sheer volume of
catalog music available weighs more
in comparison. While most physical
stores devoted more shelf space to
new releases, the vast majority of the
music available on streaming services
is older.
So why are labels so focused on
breaking the next big hit?
Largely because the catalog that
brings in the most revenue has
changed almost as much as its impor-
tance in the business. In 2018, 73% of
all streams were generated by music
released from 2010 to 2018, while
a further 15% came from music re-
leased from 2000 to 2009 — meaning
that 88% of all streaming music con-
sumption came from music released
this century. In terms of track sales,
the disparity is almost as dramat-
ic: 83% of sales come from music
released since 2000, compared with
music from the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s
or ’90s. In the CD era, the catalog
business was more focused on older
music from the ’60s and ’70s — clas-
Market
BEN COOK STEPPED DOWN FROM HIS POST AS PRESIDENT OF ATLANTIC RECORDS U.K. TYGA SIGNED A MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR DEAL WITH COLUMBIA RECORDS.
ILLUSTRATION BY GEORGE WYLESOL OCTOBER 19, 2019 • WWW.BILLBOARD.COM 1 5
TOTAL AUDIO AND VIDEO
ON-DEMAND STREAMS
IN 2018 BY CENTURY
12%
20th
century88%
21st century
Source: Nielsen Music