Via: Billboard

With the first quarter of 2010 now completed, the good news for the U.S. music industry is the slowing decline of album sales. And another observation is the emergence of the non-traditional sector as the largest U.S. retail channel, displacing the mass merchants.

The bad news, however, is that for the first time since digital track sales took off in 2003, a quarter has closed with a downward trend. But that decline is mitigated by the Nielsen SoundScan calendar adjustment.

Album sales were down 7.9% to 82 million units, from the 89 million scanned during the corresponding period in 2009, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That’s in contrast to the 13.5% decline that occurred in between SoundScan’s first quarters in 2009 and 2008. [Read More]