CDs, DVDs & Movies Have A Rather Poor Year

CDs, DVDs and Movies in 2006 suffered falling sales and an absence of hits, Chris Anderson reports on his Longtail site. He points out that in 2006 just 285 albums were awarded gold, platinum or multiplatinum certifications in 2006, the lowest figure in 23 years. The biggest hit was a spin-off from a Disney after school show called High School Musical.

In another post, he looks at the lackluster performance of the movie market. He says:

Hollywood didn’t have a blockbuster 2006. In terms of tickets sold, it was up just 1% from the dismal 2005 (corrected for population expansion, that’s no growth at all), and still dramatically down from 2002-2004, which were the last good years before the DVD/home theater boom fragmented the audience even more than VHS had before.

In the UK, the Telegraph reports on the imminent collapse of 100 strong CD & DVD chain Music Zone:

City analysts believe high street entertainment retailers have been hit by increased competition from internet websites such as Amazon and from the growth of digital downloading… Supermarket retailers have also targeted the sector, selling a limited range of bestsellers, often at deeply discounted prices.