Few Records Worth Buying

UK sales of music, videos and games fell by 12 percent in 2012, according to figures from the Entertainment Retailers Association.

The ERA’s yearbook has revenues dropping from £4.79 billion ($7.12 billion) in 2011 to last year’s total of £4.21 billion ($6.26 billion).

Apart from battling piracy and falling incomes, it appears that another big problem in 2012 was a shortage of blockbuster releases.

It was “one of the weakest release schedules on record,” according to ERA director general Kim Bayley.

Apart from the 12 percent drop in entertainment sales, total music sales in 2012 fell to £1.01 billion ($1.5 billion), down from £1.07 billion ($1.59 billion) the previous year.

In terms of volume sales, 125 million music units (including music videos and digital) were sold in 2012, down from 139 million the previous year – a 9.7 percent decrease.

Video sales declined by £178 million ($265 million) in 2012, while the overall games market slipped by £336 million ($500 million).