Single vs Album Sales

[tsw2008]

I was just thinking today how many single sales equal one album sale. I came up with the following math:

Albums:

Retail: ~ $10 (9.98 or 9.99)
Wholesale price: $7.50 (25% retail margin)
Packaging/manufacturing costs: $2.50 (???)

So assuming the following the label sells an album for roughly: $5


Singles:

Retail: $1.29
Wholesales price: $0.84 (35% iTunes retail margin)
Packaging/manufacturing costs: None

So given the following the label sells a single download for: $0.84

So...

500K albums sold = 500,000 * $5 = $2.5 Million

3 Million singles sold = 3,000,000 * $0.84 = $2.52 Million


So basically 3 Million singles sold is equivalent to 500K albums sold. Is my math accurate/correct ? People continue to discount artists and label them as "singles artists" (guilty of that as well) but is it really that bad ?

Some say Katy Perry's album might be under performing but if you factor in her massive single sales it really isn't the case. I think this is how artists like Taio Cruz and Flo Rida continue to exist.

If you convert Taio's sales for example (over 6 Million singles sold) you end up with a total equivalent to over 1 Million albums sold.

Thoughts ? Comments ?

[Adonis the DemiGod!]

Interesting topic. I Where would I look for more information on this...

[wallace]

secure.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/record-labels/how-would-a-900-000-gwyneth-paltrow-record-1005069222.story

Here's the breakdown of the breakeven point based on our source's numbers and Billboard's math: Between the recording fund and the additional expenses, the project would have outlays of about $2.9 million. CDs and digital albums have a gross margin of about $4 per unit while $1.29 tracks have around a 60-cent gross margin and $0.99 tracks have around a 40-cent gross margin.