CD Sales are down? Maybe it's the lack of new releases

I remember when the Christmas CD release season used to be the mother lode of exciting releases. We'd get stacks of release sheets. It was impossible to keep up with all the artists releasing new CDs in the months of November and December. CDs by major artists would be specifically targeted for release during these months. You knew if a title made it onto the schedule during that time period, it had to be a pretty good record. And if the title was bumped to the release wasteland that was January -- you knew the label was quietly dumping the album where no one would see it. If a major artist had an album scheduled for January release, you knew it was bound to be a major stinker.

There were also the greatest hits collections, some from current acts, some from acts that had not had a comprehensive set until that point. There would also usually be 4 or 5 major box sets, filled with a ridiculous amount of goodies.

Every Tuesday leading up to Christmas would get increasingly crazy and manic, with bigger and better from bigger and better acts, except for the Tuesday right before Christmas -- that would usually be quiet because even the labels knew major releases would get lost in the insanity of Christmas shopping (though I do seem to recall a Garth Brooks CD released on Dec 23).

This year was a lot different.

Here's a brief list of what CDs came out this year from the beginning of November:

Nov 6:

• Chris Brown, Jimmy Buffet (live), Cassidy, Five For Fighting (live), Jay-Z, Monster Magnet, Ricky Martin (live), Sigur Ros

Nov 13:

• Boyz II Men, Dane Cook (live), Celine Dion, Duran Duran, Aretha Franklin (duets), The Hives, Alicia Keys, Queenscryche (covers album), Seal, Shaggy, James Taylor (live), Trisha Yearwood

Nov 20:

• Sebastian Bach, Melissa Etheridge (live), Craig David, Genesis (live), Jordin Sparks (American Idol winner)

Nov 27:

• Chuck D featuring Kyle Jason and The Banned, Jesse Dayton and Brennen Leigh, Rob Jungklas, Pitball, The Rumble Strips (EP), Renee Zawawi (I don't recognize most of these acts, but this is the entire list of US releases I can find for this week. Someone, please tell me I missed something).

Dec 4:

• Daft Punk (live), Nelly Furtado (live), Ghostface Killah, Wyclef Jean, Scarface, T-Pain, Rufus Wainwright (live)
  

Dec 11:

• Chris Barber (live), Birdman, Bow Wow and Omarion, Hi-Tek, Mario, Dave Matthews Band (live), Beanie Sigel, Wu-Tang Clan

Dec 18:

• Mary J. Blige, Chingy, Jaheim

Obviously, next Tuesday is Christmas, so this is the last week of pre-Christmas releases. Tell me, how many of those titles were you rushing out to buy? There were certainly one or two major releases in there (Alicia Keys being the most notable), but nothing like the release schedules of the past.

And is it just me or are there way too many live albums padding the release schedule?

I'm not including hits collections or the "box sets" that were mostly just entire catalogs re-packaged and fancied up for a premium price (Radiohead, Pink Floyd -- thanks EMI!).

So when all the execs start talking about "disappointing" Christmas CD sales and the labels and retailers point at the godless consumer for downloading, think about this release schedule. What exactly was out there to buy?