National music sales continued to drop in 2008, as total album sales fell 8.5 percent compared to 2007.The Nielsen Company’s year-end sales figures show total album sales, including album equivalents made up of single digital tracks, fell from 500.5 million units in 2007 to 428.4 million units in 2008.Physical album sales fell 20 percent while digital album sales rose 32 percent.The highest-selling album of 2008 was Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter III,” which sold 2.87 million copies. Taylor Swift also had a good year, with two albums “Fearless” and her self-titled album making the top 10.Digital track sales, such as those conducted in the Apple iTunes Music Store, were up 27 percent from last year, but the increased number of downloads of digital tracks failed to make up for a plunge in the sale of compact discs.The top selling digital artist was Rihanna with 9.94 million tracks sold, followed by Swift and Kayne West.Cy Williams, owner of LaRhythms on Burbank Drive, said his album sales may have decreased slightly this year but not enough to seriously hurt his business.LaRhythms specializes in hip-hop and local music. He said local artists such as Lil Boosie, Cee-Lo and Max Minelli are particularly popular. Williams also sells a lot of original mix tapes from artists such as Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy.”The mix tapes increase the fans’ appetite for the artist,” Williams said. “They keep music in the fan’s ears in-between album drops.”He said there are some things listeners just can’t get from online downloads. Williams said for some people the album is just as much about the information on the inside of the CD cover as it is about the music.”People that really know music want that album art or those lyrics in the book. They want to know who produced the tracks they are listening to, and you can’t always get that online,” Williams said.But according to the Nielsen report, more students than ever are enjoying their music in its digital format.Helene Daage, chemistry junior, said she prefers to download songs from iTunes because she only has to buy the songs she really likes.”I actually don’t even remember the last time I bought a CD,” Daage said. “It’s just so much easier to download and then plug in the iPod.”Michael Bujol, chemical engineering junior, said he prefers to support his favorite artists by attending their concerts but also buys CDs sometimes.”I prefer to buy music directly from the artists’ Web sites, because they get a much higher percentage of my money,” Bujol said. “That way the record companies don’t completely rob them.”Bujol said he sometimes uses downloads from sites like iTunes to sample songs and then buys the CD directly from the artist’s Web site if he likes it.Some students are also opting to use Ruckus, a college-only digital entertainment service that gives students access to more than three million free songs from major labels and indies. Student Government signed a contract with Ruckus in spring 2007 to give students an alternative to illegal downloading.As of Jan. 8, Swift, Kanye West and T.I. were the most played artists on Ruckus in the LSU network.As consumers are buying fewer CDs, many old school fans are reverting back to the medium of their childhood — the vinyl album.More vinyl albums were purchased in 2008 than any other year since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991.The top selling vinyl albums were Radiohead’s “In Rainbows,” the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” and Guns ‘N Roses’ “Chinese Democracy.”Williams said he has noticed the trend toward vinyl, too — more so in his online orders than in the store. Williams said he ships a lot of vinyl to New York, southern California and Canada, but the trend hasn’t seemed to trickle down to Baton Rouge yet.”The way analog music is recorded, it can sound really good. If you have a great stereo in your house and you put that record on, you can tell the difference,” Williams said. “Digital music is great, but that needle on the record really lets you hear everything the artist has going on.”
 
–Contact Jack LeBlanc at [email protected]