Latin music CD sales rose in 2001

LOS ANGELES (Latin Congress/RIAA) - Sales of Latin music CDs rose 9 percent in 2001 over the year before, representing one of the few bright spots for the U.S. recording industry in the past year, a trade group said Tuesday.

The upswing in Latin music CD sales contrasted with an overall 10.3 percent decline in U.S. shipments by record companies in 2001, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reported. But, while Latin CD shipments rose, the Latin music market overall was not immune to bad news.

The RIAA said that shipments of all Latin music products declined slightly due to piracy in the marketplace and a decrease in the number of cassettes shipped.

In 2001, net shipments of Latin music decreased slightly by 1 percent to 48.7 million units, down from 49.3 million units the year before.
"Latin music is still a growing market, and 2001 sales, while not as strong as previous years, still were very positive compared to the rest of the music industry," said Hilary B. Rosen, president and CEO of the RIAA.

In 2001, 42.3 million Latin music CDs were shipped, in comparison to 38.8 million CDs shipped in 2000. The dollar value of CDs also grew from $515.6 million in 2000 to $582.7 million in 2001, a 13 percent increase.

Last year, the dollar value of the Latin music market as a whole grew 6 percent, from $608.5 million in 2000 to $642.6 million in 2001.