'Frozen' and Pharrell aren't enough: Downloads for albums, songs and most genres are down

In case you weren't aware, music sales are down and have been decreasing for a while. The first quarter report for 2014 from Nielsen doesn't indicate that things are getting any better. Pretty much everything outside of streaming was down.

The rate of fall for digital music is the most alarming. CDs have been dying slowly for a while, but the rise in digital sales have bolstered hopes. First quarter numbers indicate that digital track sales are down 12.5 percent (312 million sold so far during 2014) and digital album sales are down 14.2 percent (27.8 million units sold this year). The overall drop from 2013 was 3.1 percent, but the first quarter numbers from last year indicated a 3.9 percent gain for the digital format. That indicates sales have dropped dramatically during the last year. Those numbers are particularly bothersome when compared to the drop in CD sales from 2007-'10, which saw discs slipping in sales at nearly the same rates.

The "good news" is that streaming services are picking up, at least in terms of revenues, to make up for the digital download fallout. There were 34.28 billion streams during the first quarter, a rise from 25.44 billion during the same period of 2013. Plus, the average stream paid $0.003675 per stream during 2013 (that's about $7.50 for 2,000 streams), and that average rose to $.005, which means it takes about 500 less track streams to get your $7.50. The problem is that streams strongly favor popular performers versus underground acts.

The reports weren't good for genres either. Nielsen defined a "genre" as a style of music with more than a million album sales. EDM was the only genre that saw a rise in sales, as it rose 2.7 percent. (selling 1.47 million units). Classical and pop (an odd combo) saw the biggest drops, as albums sales fell by 33.3 and 28.6 percent respectively.

The biggest sellers-which should be pretty easy to guess for readers of our Wednesday charts reports-have been the 'Frozen' original motion picture soundtrack for albums and "Happy" by Pharrell Williams for tracks. 'Frozen' technically qualifies as a "genre," based on Nielsen's specifications.