The week of May 18th 2010 was the lowest week for album sales since the Soundscan system was introduced in 1991. Naturally this is not a problem unique to hip-hop, affecting a number of genres but perhaps most notably hip-hop and dancehall.
Perhaps the best example actually comes from the Jamaican scene, where arguably the mot popular deejay Vybz Kartel infamously sold just 8 copies of his album Pon di Gaza during its first week. There are, however plenty of examples within the hip-hop world that confirm this unfortunate trend.
Why Are Hip-Hop Album Sales on the Decline?
The issue is not necessarily that urban music, particularly hip-hop, is becoming less popular. In fact, on the contrary it only takes one look at the percentage of entries from the urban genres in charts like Billboard and the UK Top 40 to see that they are actually becoming increasingly popular in the mainstream.
The problem, in reality, is probably that they are actually too popular. Largely due to the increased demand for urban music, the rise of both legal and illegal downloading is continuing at an astounding pace.
Numbers Don’t Lie – Or Do They?
In his 2009 AMA acceptance speech, rap megastar Jay-Z announced that whilst “men lie” and “women lie, numbers don’t” when it comes to record sales. In essence that is true, although if we judged success today on just the number of units moved, then it would probably suggest that hip-hop releases are becoming far less popular than ten years ago.
Numbers don’t necessarily reflect popularity anymore, especially seeing as a vast majority of downloads are illegal and therefore unrecorded. Similarly, the popularity of downloads has seen marketing focuses shift significantly from physical to digital releases – a format that favours single tracks rather than albums.
Despite its popularity with critics and a sizeable online marketing campaign, Nas and Damian Marley’s joint album Distant Relatives moved just 17,000 units last week to reach an estimated total of 100,000 sales to date – sadly not a bad figure in the current state of the industry but poor when compared with top 20 album figures from 2000 for example.
Similarly, as discussed in a 2009 Suite 101 article, 50 Cent’s last studio release Before I Self-Destruct only managed to shift just above 161,000 units during its first week on the shelves. Whilst the album may not have been on par with his past work, the bleak industry-wide sales situation undoubtedly was a contributing factor for this extremely disappointing figure.
Solutions to a Universal Album Sales Decline
Mixtapes have long been used as precursors to albums within the hip-hop world and due to the accessibility of music online are often used as marketing tools and distributed for free. Artists like 50 Cent and Lil Wayne have often used the tapes to increase anticipation toward forthcoming projects. Whilst it must be said that mixtapes do satisfy the constant demand for new releases in a fast-paced industry, it’s also important to consider that they may only serve to encourage the premature leak of material.
Similarly, other hip-hop artists are looking for innovative ways of combating poor album sales and illegal downloading. Underground favourite Ras Kass embarked on a Kickstarter campaign to cover the cost of limited edition CDs and vinyl records for his latest album A.D.I.D.A.S. He explained in a 2010 MTV UK interview that it was necessary to find “creative new busness models.” Furthermore, Lil Jon decided to adopt an ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ policy when dealing with music pirates by offering fans a free stream of his new album Crunk Rock online.
Whilst the rise in illegal downloading is undoubtedly damaging the traditional music sales model, especially in genres like hip-hop and dancehall, it does seem that there is a small consolation. Artists are once again forced to be creative in developing and marketing their releases, therefore helping to develop the industry to become more competitive in the digital age.
The decline in hip-hop album sales is of course a worrying prospect, but hopefully should inspire artists to lead a revolution in the music industry and the way music is sold.
All sales figures are courtesy of Nielsen Soundscan.
Hannah O'Connor - With several years of experience, gaining a reputation as one of the hardest working and more creative young writers in hip hop ...
