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In the news
Compiled from Times wires 2001 bad for music salesOverall music sales for last year were down 5 percent from 2000, according to figures released last week by Soundscan, which tracks the industry's record sales. It's the first time in 10 years since Soundscan began tracking sales that there has been a decline, the company said. Among specific genres, sales of country music improved slightly with the help of two soundtracks and Garth Brooks; the teen pop craze cooled, with 'N Sync the only such act to have an album, Celebrity, in the year's top 10; and compilation albums did well. Overall album sales were down 2.8 percent, from 785.1-million to 762.8-million. Part of the reason was the economy, said Alan Light, Spin magazine's editor in chief. But other factors were at work, he said, among them the industry's failure to come up with a response to the free music available on the Internet. Country sold 67.2-million albums, up less than 1 percent from 67.1-million, according to Soundscan. The rise ends declines dating to 1998. "Thank goodness we had the soundtrack business," said Ed Benson, executive director of the Country Music Association. The best-selling country album was the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, which sold 3.5-million. That's more than a million above the closest competition, Scarecrow by Brooks. The soundtrack to Coyote Ugly came in third at 2-million. O Brother finished ninth among all albums. The sixth volume of the compilation Now That's What I Call Music! series was 10th. "I think that it is indicative of how much kids are listening one song at a time instead of by album or by band," Spin's Light said. Broadway notesChristine Ebersole, who won a Tony Award last year for her role as an ailing star replaced by her understudy in 42nd Street, is taking a 10-week leave of absence from the musical, the New York Daily News says. Ebersole's representative declined to comment to the newspaper. The Daily News said the actor is having stomach problems. Ebersole will be out until mid March, producers said last week. . . . Andrea Martin, a Tony winner best known for her SCTV roles, has been cast as Aunt Eller in the American staging of Trevor Nunn's Royal National Theatre production of Oklahoma!, Playbill.com said. St. Petersburg native Patrick Wilson will play Curly in show, scheduled to open March 21.
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From the wire |
