Sales of Latin music expand 16% in 1998 despite piracy
$571 mil in sales account for 4.1% of domestic market
Shipments by manufacturers to retail were up 12% to 49.4 million units, a 5.3 million-unit uptick from the 1997 tally of 44.1 million units.
The corresponding dollar value of those shipments (calculated at full list price) hit $570.9 million, up from $490.6 million in 1997.
"The Latin music market is expanding at a phenomenal rate," said Hilary Rosen, prexy-CEO of the RIAA. "Latin culture is flooding the American entertainment scene, and a greater number of music buyers with diverse tastes are being introduced to rock (in) Espanol, merengue, Cuban jazz, and loving it."
Though 1998 represents the fourth consecutive year of significant growth for the Latin music industry, widespread piracy in the genre continues to chip away at its growth. Insiders note that as much as 20% of the product sold in some of the Latin subgenres is pirated.
The expansion of the Latin market was fueled by increases in compact disc shipments, which jumped 22% to 32.2 million units in 1998 from 26.3 million in 1997. The value of these shipments rose 24% to $426.8 million from $344.7 million in 1997.
Latin musicvideos also assisted the market with an impressive 104% growth to 143 million units in 1998, up from 70 million in 1997. The dollar value for video product rose 62% to $2.1 million from $1.3 million in 1997.
The sales spikes were led both by newcomers and a large contingent of established acts, such as Luis Miguel, the Gypsy Kings and the late Selena.
The RIAA tracks shipments of full-length CDs, cassettes and musicvideos into the marketplace, and the dollar value of those shipments as reported by BMG, EMI Latin, FonoVisa, PolyGram Latino, RMM Records/Universal, Sony Discos and WEA Latina.
