Is the pop album dead?

Album sales in Ireland are a third of what they were eight years ago. John Hearne wonders if this signals the end

YOU think the building sector has had a bad recession? Talk to someone in the music industry. Two thirds of the market has disappeared in the past seven years. Back in 2005, album and singles sales in Ireland stood at €160m. Last year, it was €52m.

Last June, after 77 years in Dublin, EMI upped sticks and moved out. Meanwhile, according to returns lodged with the Companies Office this month, Sony Ireland doubled their losses in the year ending March 2013, despite releasing huge albums by Taylor Swift and One Direction. All three of the boy band’s albums are currently in the Irish top 20. The latest, Midnight Memories went straight in at No 1 when it came out last month.