I.B. BAD BREAKS DOWN THE BIZ
AT THE QUARTER POLE

With Q1 nearly in the books, certain noteworthy facts and figures emerge. Not surprisingly, Doug Morris’ UMG retains the biggest piece of the marketshare pie (even as the pie itself continues to shrink) at 30.4%, while IGA regains the top spot on the label side with 7.9%. The recovery of Jimmy Iovine’s empire follows a down year punctuated by the firings of 60 staffers, while longtime second in command David Cohen revealed that he was leaving the company. IGA is getting a boost from U2, which has the biggest-selling album released during the first 12 weeks of 2009 with 696k (despite a disappointing first single), and from diva-in-waiting Lady GaGa, who has a pair of worldwide smashes under her belt and is shaping up as an early contender for the year’s biggest breakthrough, with 357k on her ’08 debut.

Comparing the top-ranked and bottom-ranked music groups, front-line labels IGA, Universal (#3 at 6.4%, led by Taylor Swift, #1 on the year; 2.9m since release) and IDJ (#5 at 5.5%, paced by Kanye West, #6 year-to-date; 1.45m since release) collectively accounting for two-thirds of UMG’s overall new-release share, but EMI’s lone front-line operation, Capitol Music Group (#11 at 2.5%, led by Coldplay’s 2.4m and Katy Perry’s 950k), accounts for less than one-third of the British company’s 8.7% share.

On the bright side, the second Capitol release from The Decemberists, available last Tuesday at iTunes, a week before the physical release, sold just shy of 20k, putting it at #1 on the iTunes album chart. Many industry watchers are pegging the band as another possible candidate for a breakthrough.

The Rolf Schmidt-Holtz-led Sony Music is #2 at 23.4%, as is Columbia on the label side at 6.9%, while Steve Barnett’s team has the #2 album released this quarter in Bruce Springsteen, with 485k, along with solid sales on Beyonce’s Q4 ’08 LP (#3 on the year; 2m since release)… At Epic, Amanda Ghost’s arrival coincided with a sizable jump in the label’s long-anemic share, from 1.8% at the end of the Charlie Walk era to 2.4%. The Fray leads the resurgence with 420k, making it the #3 Q1 release.

Barry Weiss’ RMG (#6, 4.3%) appears to have a hit with Kelly Clarkson’s return to form following her 2007 misstep, with a two-week total of 340k on her new LP, putting it at #4 among Q1 releases. Along with Weiss, those responsible for Clarkson’s comeback are Clive Davis, who A&R’d the project with Pete Ganbarg, and new manager Narvel Blackstock.

Weiss’ combined RMG/JLG share is 6.8%, while his SMEI counterpart Rob Stringer has a combined 9.3%.

Warner Bros., for decades one of the industry’s most successful and admired companies, continues its slide under the recently re-upped Tom Whalley, with a paltry 3.4% on the quarter. Concurrently, Atlantic has undergone a turnaround and sits at #4 on the quarter with 5.8% Some claim, however, that WMG’s East Coast offices are top-heavy with overpaid executives, cutting deeply into the bottom line, which pales alongside those of most other competitive labels.

Meanwhile, Edgar Bronfman has received a $3m bonus as a reward for transforming WMG into the AIG of the music business. WMG artists and employees have greeted the news of Bronfman’s windfall with disbelief and outrage.

For a complete breakdown of the marketshare scoreboard, along with Q1’s top sellers, click here.