They are the bands that form the core of most dusty vinyl collections, the soundtrack to many a lost or fading youth. But this Christmas record labels are pinning many of their hopes on rock’s back catalogue to bring in sales, with forthcoming releases by everyone from the Who and Pink Floyd to Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.
As music companies begin their push for Christmas – their most profitable period; December accounted for just over a fifth of all records sold in 2013 – it seems ’tis the season for the return of “Dad rock”, with deluxe re-releases of classic Led Zeppelin albums leading the charge. It’s a genre many of whose adherents still purchase albums rather than streaming tracks or playlists.
David Rowe, the co-MD of Universal Music Catalogue, estimates that his team has “about 200 things” coming out at the end of the year, but says this year’s priority albums are re-releases and music boxsets. The first is the Genesis R-Kive boxset, which the label hopes will receive a boost from the recent BBC documentary about the band, while another is The Who Hits 50, released on 3 November, which will feature Be Lucky, a new recording by the band.
“The holy grail of catalogue marketing,” Rowe explains, “is having something exclusive, having something new, and also telling the act’s story that inspires their original fans from back in the day.”
It is a similar story with Warner Music catalogue label Rhino, which promises three releases from the rock legend archives in the coming weeks. Their major Christmas treat is Pink Floyd’s “final” album, The Endless River, featuring music recorded in 1994 but unheard until now, which comes out on 10 November. New editions of Led Zeppelin’s fourth and fifth albums, IV and Houses of the Holy, were released on Monday, and Nothing Has Changed, a David Bowie greatest hits compilation featuring a new track, is out on 17 November.
“Since we launched the campaign [at the start of October], The Endless River has not been moved from the No 1 pre-order spot on Amazon,” says Dan Chalmers, Rhino’s MD. “Demand is huge. We are going to be aggressively marketing this leading into its release.”
Other records aimed at a more mature audience include AC/DC’s Rock Or Bust, their first album without founding member Malcolm Young, as well as Queen Forever, a new album by the band featuring new Freddie Mercury material, and all Bruce Springsteen’s albums from 1973 to 1984, which have been remastered and will be out on 17 November.
Mark Mulligan, a music industry analyst, said it was entirely understandable why record labels were hedging their bets on older bands, remastered old albums and re-releases, but said there was an element of desperation to it.
Certainly, 2014 has been a tough year for the album in the face of the continuing rise in streaming and digital downloads. There were 30m fewer albums sold in the UK last year compared with 2009, while UK fans streamed an estimated 7.4bn songs in 2013.
“Quite simply, the Christmas period has always been the most important period for the music industry in terms of selling records,” says Mulligan. “That is declining and at the same time album sales are declining, so you have all of this uncertainty in the market. A bad Christmas period is absolutely disastrous for record labels, so they are doing everything in their power to try and remove some of that risk. Playing it safe by releasing lots of remastered albums and new albums by old bands with a dedicated fanbase is one way to do this.
“With these albums you are selling to people you know who will buy. Artists who appeal to an older age group and have a proven market, like Rod Stewart, will do these really quite cynical Christmas albums, and they are still some of the biggest festive sellers over here and in the US.
“It’s the same with the retrospectives and greatest hits – both are absolutely targeted at an older audience, 40-, 50-, 60-year-olds who have disposable income and still buy hard copies of albums.”
He adds: “For the next few years, we can expect more and more of this. But of course, there is only so much appetite for re-releases, so I’m not sure how long the labels can continue this trend. After all, how many times does someone want to buy the Best Of these same bands every Christmas?”
Yet the youthful album-buying contingent has not been entirely abandoned this Christmas, and two other albums expected to sell in vast quantities over the next couple of months are ones that will be bought by those same older shoppers to put in their children’s Christmas stockings. Taylor Swift’s 1989, released to much fanfare on Monday, has already been tipped by trade magazine Billboard to be the only album this year to sell more than a million copies in the US.
Another likely to perform well is One Direction’s fourth album, which, like the previous three, is being released in the runup to Christmas.
Countdown to Christmas
27 October
Taylor Swift – 1989 Teen favourite’s first ‘pure pop’ album.
Led Zeppelin – IV and Houses of the Holy Deluxe brush-up for back catalogue.
3 November
Damien Rice – My Favourite Faded Fantasy His first album for eight years.
Bob Dylan – Basement Tapes Complete Holy grail for devotees.
Calvin Harris – Motion The emperor of EDM.
Neil Young – Storytone Legend’s orchestral album.
10 November
Foo Fighters – Sonic Highways Cross-generational appeal.
Pink Floyd – The Endless River Leftover material.
Queen – Forever New Freddie Mercury material miraculously found in time for Christmas.
17 November
Nickelback – No Fixed Address Reviled by critics, loved by fans.
One Direction – Four
Bruce Springsteen – The Album Collection Vol 1 1973-1984 All the Boss’s albums up to Born in the USA remastered.
