It’s not a great sign for the music industry when the year’s top-selling album is the soundtrack to a Disney movie. According to Forbes, not one artist’s album has reached the million selling mark. Not one.
2014 is expected to become the first year in modern history where no artist has sold more than 1 million albums in the US. Although the past 12 months have seen massive sales for Disney’s ‘Frozen’ soundtrack, no other record has earned the equivalent of a platinum sales certificate from sales this year.
While it is assumed that nobody in the world will be surprised by any of this, it is a pretty noticeable downturn from last year. At this point in 2013, five albums had already gone platinum, including Jay Z’s ‘Magna Carta Holy Grail’ and Justin Timberlake’s ‘The 20/20 Experience.’ As of right now, the two best selling albums in 2014 are Beyonce’s self titled itunes sneak attack, and Lorde’s ‘Pure Heroine.’ Both albums have sold 750,000 copies, but they came out last year, which means they don’t count for this year.
It’s certainly an indication of the state of the music industry, and Irv Gotti, the platinum-selling producer and co-founder of Murder Inc Records, doesn’t like it. “Not 1 album that has come out in 2014 is gonna be certified Platinum. That’s f–king crazy. Now don’t get me wrong, an artist can still come out and make some money doing shows. But for me, A label owner, and a producer, my money was largely based on record sales. Which there isn’t any. Anymore.”
“And the government won’t step in and help this business. Why? They hate us. The music biz and hip hop in general has changed and altered more good n—az lives than anything else. They think we are all drug dealers. Hustlers. Pimps. They could care less. If his happened to the TV or Movie Industry. Best believe they will fix it. Not music. You think they like seeing Bobby Schmurda get f–king money? Nah. Slow us down,” stated Irv Gotti.
Though the fourth quarter is generally a strong one with a holiday sales boost, Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj, Taylor Swift, and Kanye West are rumored to have releases this quarter, there is still hope for hip-hop to come in and save the day.
-Tamara El(@_SheWise_)
