ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 21, 1996 TAG: 9612230025
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FRANKLIN, TENN.
SOURCE: KARIN MILLER ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sherree Harris marked one item off her holiday shopping list, spending $34.99 on a Smashing Pumpkins CD collection for her daughter.
``We buy a lot of music all year-round, but especially before Christmas,'' she said outside a Sam Goody music store.
The music industry is counting on people like Harris to lift it out of a troubling slump that has seen record retailers shut down and albums by once-dependable stars fall flat with fans.
Album sales through most of 1996 have grown by only 1 percent, while music shipments to stores and other outlets are down slightly. Country music sales are off about 10 percent.
The holiday season offers a chance at redemption, which is why the third Beatles anthology and new albums by Bush, Smashing Pumpkins, Whitney Houston and Dr. Dre are in stores.
As much as 20 percent of album sales each year come in the final five weeks of the year, said Mike Fine, chief executive officer of SoundScan Inc., a New York company tracking music sales.
``I think people are buying for Christmas. They're buying for themselves. They're in the buying spirit,'' he said. ``But it's also a self-fulfilling prophecy because the record companies hold their releases until the fourth quarter.''
But this year, albums that record labels thought would be big sellers - by R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Hootie & the Blowfish and Sheryl Crow - have all been disappointing.
Celine Dion and No Doubt are breakout hits, but there's nothing on the order of Alanis Morissette, whose debut album is finally starting to cool off.
``It's a hits-driven business,'' said Jay Berman of the Washington-based Recording Industry of America Association, which follows the number of music shipments. ``It's very, very difficult to duplicate hits. It's not like a car model, when you get a successful make, you continue to churn it out.''
Bob Barrett is so disgusted with the lack of good, new music that he may close his new-and-used CD shop in Brentwood, a Nashville suburb.
``It's hideous, but that's just my opinion,'' he said. ``I hope it's not that I'm getting old, but I just don't think the music is all that strong right now.''
Price wars with big chain music retailers may drive him out first.
Intense competition for music-buyers' dollars has caused discounting wars. And there have been some losers: California-based Wherehouse Entertainment Inc., Peaches Entertainment Corp. of Florida and Kemp Mills Music Inc. in Washington, D.C., have all gone to bankruptcy court.
The nation's largest music retailer, Musicland Stores Corp. of Minnesota, posted a $136 million loss last year.
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Ellen Brackin, 15, shops Friday at a new-and-used CDby CNBstore in Brentwood, Tenn. The music industry has been in a troubling
slump this year, forcing some retailers to shut down.