Major record labels lost global market share in 2011 while indies gained

Despite stellar album sales from the likes of Adele, Lady Gaga and Lil Wayne, official statistics indicate that three out of four of the biggest record companies lost global market share in the music industry last year. The only one to post an increase was the Lyor Cohen-lead Warner Music Group, which now has 0.2% more shares of recorded music. Some of the loss throughout the corporations is due to the constantly rising presence and importance of independent record labels. Although there is still no real competition in terms of market share between the majors and the indies, the latter’s occupancy in the department rose in 2011. No specific imprints have been detailed, but as a whole, indie labels gained 2% of the market. With XL Recordings getting a stake in Adele’s sales, Glassnote Records hitting it big with Mumford & Sons, and Rostrum Records scoring a No. 1 album with Mac Miller and sharing big revenue with Atlantic Records for Wiz Khalifa, the turn of events isn’t all that surprising. Nonetheless, it exemplifies the rapidly growing and ever-changing music business as we know it today. Head over to Music Week for full details on the 2011 global market share gains and losses, including statistics on how things turned out for the publishing companies.