DVD-Audio Sales Five Times that of SACD Says RIAA Survey

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by stereoptic, Apr 23, 2004.

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  1. stereoptic

    stereoptic Anaglyphic GORT Staff Thread Starter

    Location:
    NY
    From High Fidelity Review

    So what is your ratio of SACD - DVDa?

    I have 8 Dylan Hybrids, most of the Rolling Stones' Hybrids, Searchers, Valens, Donovan, Zombies but no DVD-As.
    =======================================================

    DVD-Audio sales doubled in 2003 and are more than five times that of SACD, according to an RIAA survey – that is the news from the DVD-Audio council circulated today:

    In a world where a drop in music sales is the expected norm, DVD-Audio, the leading high-resolution audio format, bucked the trend, more than doubling its sales in 2003, according to the RIAA’s 2003 consumer survey released recently.

    DVD-Audio offers surround sound and stereo along with images, lyrics, videos and other extras, and is compatible with existing DVD-Video players, delivering the highest level of quality on DVD-Audio/Video players.

    The RIAA survey concludes that DVD-Audio sales in 2003 were over five times the level of competing high-resolution audio disc formats, with a 2.7% market share – up from 1.3% in 2002 – in comparison to SACD’s 0.5%.

    John Trickett President of the DVD Audio Council said “The growth in DVD-Audio demonstrates that the format is being rapidly adopted and poised to move into mainstream music sales. This is clearly a product that the consumer wants to buy. The increasing number of titles being released by many labels including releases by superstar artists such as Britney Spears, R. Kelly, Sting, The Who and Neil Young will further help the development of music in DVD Audio. We are very excited about the future.”

    The RIAA survey also showed continued growth in sales to older consumers, with 26.6% made by buyers 45 years old and up, 35+ purchasers making up 47.8% of all sales. “They are one of the two primary markets for DVD-Audio,” said Trickett. “DVD-Audio is also becoming popular among younger consumers for the added-value music videos, artist commentaries and web links that are often found on the discs – a market segment where conventional music sales are falling.”

    For the RIAA survey, Peter Hart research questioned over 2,900 consumers in the USA. Over 730 DVD-Audio titles are currently available. http://www.riaa.com/
     
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  2. Larry Geller

    Larry Geller Surround sound lunatic

    Location:
    Bayside, NY
    Waiting for Lee's reply!
     
  3. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    That jibes with what I've observed. Just last month the local Best Buy sold five DVD-As to people who thought they were buying DVDs or CDs, but were stymied by the store's return policy on opened items. Meanwhile, the lone SACD sold was a copy of HOT ROCKS purchased by someone who had no idea he was getting an SACD layer: "Are those like bonus tracks?"
     
  4. Michael St. Clair

    Michael St. Clair Forum Resident

    Location:
    Funkytown
    A couple dozen of each at last count...a few more by now. I have several local friends with DVD-A discs, bought intentionally for the lossy surround tracks (actually, I've learned that most people don't even know that DD/DTS is lossy or that there are higher resolution tracks on the discs). I have no local friends with SACD discs...other than a couple of coworkers with stealth Pink Floyd discs that they think are regular CDs. I'm not surprised at these numbers at all. Mainstream consumers aren't interested in better quality, but some are interested in surround. DVD-A lets them listen in surround without buying new hardware. SACD does not.

    So to account for the total market share, your Best Buy sells 182 CDs every month? The music industry is in much worse shape than I thought. :D
     
  5. AKA-Chuck G

    AKA-Chuck G Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington NC
    The only way DVD-A is outselling SACD is if they are NOT counting the hybrids. :D

    I have about 7 or 8 DVD-A and closer to 20 SACDs (about half are hybrids).
     
  6. indy mike

    indy mike Forum Pest

    "Rapidly being adopted"??? With the haphazard way both DVD-A and SACD's have been marketed it's a wonder anybody buys either one. I don't have a DVD-A capable player and won't dip my toe in the water until my current Sony DVD/SACD player gets to be unusable. By that time, I'm sure some newer format will come along that will make me rebuy the CCR as mastered by Steve catalog once again...
     
  7. Michael St. Clair

    Michael St. Clair Forum Resident

    Location:
    Funkytown
    Single-inventory hybrids that are being marketed as CDs?

    You could add up every Stones, Dylan, and Pink Floyd hybrid and it would be less units than the latest Beyonce album.

    Virtually all of the single-inventory discs are reissues...such titles sell well to old geeks like us, but not to the public. Most Stones fans just bought 'Forty Licks' on redbook CD...and that's all!
     
  8. Michael St. Clair

    Michael St. Clair Forum Resident

    Location:
    Funkytown
    Again, I have three non-audiophile friends locally who intentionally bought DVD-A to get surround of artists like Beck, The Flaming Lips, and Porcupine Tree. I don't know anybody locally who intentionally has bought an SACD, and only a couple who have 'accidently' bought an SACD.

    You and I are in no way representative of the general public.

    Neither format has sales worth writing home about. Though I'm sure Warner is encouraged by the growth.
     
  9. AKA-Chuck G

    AKA-Chuck G Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington NC
    Michael, you are right about us not being representative of the general public.

    But like you pointed out, many of the DVD-A sales are from buyers who are in no way thinking of the DVD-A hi-rez tracks. So even though they intentionally bought the DVD-A disk, I see that as almost identical to those who buy the hybrid SACD and only listen to the redbook.
     
  10. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    I have only one DVD-A disk - Deep Purple's Machine Head. I probably won't buy any more unless SACD disappears, because, I don't have a DVD-A capable player, and consequently, it only sounds really good on my home theater system.

    I was really disappointed to discover AFTER purchasing my home theater system that there was a difference between DVD players and DVD-A players. I'm no tech expert, but as a consumer, it just pisses me off. There's a stereo layer and videos on the DP DVD which I can't access because I don't have DVD-A. It just seems like a stupid, needless complication.

    I don't have an SACD player either, but I go out of my way to get SACD Hybrid disks because I can enjoy them NOW, with a regular CD player, and, when I do get an SACD player in the near future, I'll have an instant upgrade. It's a win-win, plus I won't have the experience of finding out that I've got the WRONG KIND of SACD player.
     
  11. GabeG

    GabeG New Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Guys, did you notice who posted that story??

    The head of the dvd-a council - Jacqui Chazen. It's pr again. Same as sony's bs. Don't believe it until you see the numbers they used to come up with that story.

    As someone said above, I suppose it could be possible if they were only looking at single layer sacds.

    Please, please, please, please, please think about the source for these "stories". Sony, et al. are pr spin kings.
     
  12. GoldenBoy

    GoldenBoy Purple People Eater

    Location:
    US
    If I am not mistaken, SACD sales, especially hybrids, are tallied with CD sales. That would more than account for the apparent discrepancy in sales figures.
     
  13. GregY

    GregY New Member

    Location:
    .
    I am impartial to both formats, more or less. I don't believe those figures. If by DVD-Audio they mean music/concert DVD-Video discs, then I might believe it.

    I don't think the general public cares about either one, but I would bet money that SACDs (including hybrids) have sold more units than DVD-As (not including music DVD-Video discs.)
     
  14. Michael St. Clair

    Michael St. Clair Forum Resident

    Location:
    Funkytown
    1) That would affect scan data, but it wouldn't affect the responses of 2,900 surveyed consumers (surveyed by the RIAA, not the DVD-A council).

    2) Unless single-inventory discs (ABKCO Stones, Dylan, PF DSotM, Police EBYTtC) account for 2.2% of all record sales (no way), DVD-A would still sell more than SACD.

    I have always suspected that DVD-A sells more. Not to audiophiles, but to the public. This seems completely logical to me and I don't understand why anyone would think otherwise.

    I would take that bet. I don't think there's any way that SACD sells that well, even including the tiny amount of single-inventory discs.

    None of this affects my purchasing decisions. And I've got a killer universal player.
     
  15. GoldenBoy

    GoldenBoy Purple People Eater

    Location:
    US
    Lies, damn lies, and statistics my friend. Surveys are notoriously inaccurate. I will take the bet with anyone that SACD's outsell DVD-A's. Until I see actual sales figures, not survey data, then I'll take it all with a grain of salt. I too am setup and capable of playing both formats. IMO, they are both stuck in the mud.
     
  16. Khorn

    Khorn Dynagrunt Obversarian

    Right on, most of those buyers haven't the slightest clue about the Hi-Rez layer and a good portion think they are hearing it even though they don't have a DVD-A capable player. They're buying it for the surround aspect to reproduce the same on their HT systems.

    I sincerely hope SACD becomes the realm of specialty Audiophile companies like Audio Fidelity and Groove Note and such. To hell with the mass market. I would prefer talents like Steve Hoffman doing the mastering rather than the in house people at the majors. Just let the majors license out the titles. I will gladly pay a premium for the better quality in smaller numbers. In that scenario I'm only too happy to leave DVD-A to the masses and increased sales.
     
  17. Michael St. Clair

    Michael St. Clair Forum Resident

    Location:
    Funkytown
    This is based on your observations of the buying habits of the general, non-audiophile, public?
     
  18. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven

    They need to read the stickers to know what they are getting somewhat if the discs have stickers.
     
  19. therockman

    therockman Senior Member In Memoriam

    Myself, I have about 125 SACDs and 1 DVD-A, Neil Young HARVEST.
     
  20. Tony Plachy

    Tony Plachy Senior Member

    Location:
    Pleasantville, NY
    It sucks that the stores do not make it clear to the average Joe what he is buying and then do not take it back. I have 0 DVD-A's and about 100 SACD's (and growing).
     
  21. oxenholme

    oxenholme Senile member

    Location:
    Knoydart
    How curious. I have 19 DVD-A and 60 SACD. I hardly know anyone else who has any of either.
     
  22. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    I don't concern myself with how the two formats are selling. First off, I have no control over it. Second, I feel the figures are dubious because some reporting organizations and media outlets have agendas. Third, the two formats have been marketed so poorly (or not at all), that the sales figures for both of them have to be meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

    My hi-rez collection:
    SACD = 127
    DVD-Audio = 34
     
  23. Michael St. Clair

    Michael St. Clair Forum Resident

    Location:
    Funkytown
    I don't own any albums by Beyonce or Christina Aguilera. I find it very curious that they would supposedly be bestselling artists.

    Folks, what we buy has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with what the american public is buying.
     
  24. Gary Freed

    Gary Freed Forum Resident

    I don't know many people apart from folks here on the forum who own either SACD or DVD-A. My perception just from the Elusive Disc and Acoustic Sounds emails I keep getting is that there are more SACDs than DVD-A titles. Not sure how that translates
    into actual sales though.
     
  25. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    The FIRST thing I thought about. The whole survey sounds very suspect.
     
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