RIAA – Latin Music Numbers .

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced its Latin music shipment numbers for the first of 2006.

Overall unit shipments of physical product declined by 21 percent in the first half of 2006. CDs shipped to retail outlets declined by 23 percent while Latin music DVDs climbed by 53 percent, versus the same period last year. For the first half of the year, Latin music accounted for 5.9 percent of the total music market.

Traditional physical or commercial piracy strongly impacted the Latin music in particular. Although Latin music made up less than six percent of the total legal market during the first half of 2006, nearly forty percent of all pirate product seized were of the Latin genre. Most disturbingly, Latin music represented ninety-two percent of all high grade professionally manufactured pirate product.

“The market for Latin music in the first half of the year was challenging,” said Rafael Fernandez, Vice President of Latin Music. “Latin music piracy, despite vigorous efforts that made a real difference, continues to take an unacceptably high toll.”

“Our Latin anti-piracy efforts have been surgical,” added Fernandez. “We have targeted the sale and production of counterfeit and bootlegged Latin CDs with a variety of anti-piracy strategies. Pirate seizures are way up, reflecting some successes, but clearly we need to do more. Disturbingly, our investigators increasingly find professionally manufactured pirate Latin product, which has the most potential to displace the marketplace. We need all our partners in the music chain distribution to be especially vigilant. If the industry is to have sufficient resources to invest in the next great Latin musical act, we must continue to protect our rights against those who pirate Latin music.”

In the first half of 2006, Regional Mexican, which includes Tejano, comprised 46 percent of all Latin shipments in terms of dollar value. Pop, which includes Rock, contributed 34 percent of all Latin shipments. The Tropical genre accounted for 9 percent of all Latin shipments. The Urban category represented 11 percent of all Latin Shipments.

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http://www.riaa.com/news/newsletter/pdf/2006midYrLatinStats.pdf