Music, like books, can take us on unexpected journeys. It can make us feel happy, energized, and even emotional. It can attach itself to memories and bring us together. Proof of how important music is to Canadians is how often they listen to it. According to data collected for the Canadian Leisure & Reading Study 2021, 32% of Canadians listen to music once a day, with an additional 32% listening to music more than once a day.
This past October 1, the world celebrated International Music Day which inspired us to make music books the star of this instalment of our Subject spotlight series, featuring quarterly data-driven insights into a specific corner of the Canadian book market.
Let’s get the show started!
Buying Non-Fiction / Music
Just by glancing at the graph below, we can see that September was the best month for Non-Fiction / Music titles during the third quarter of 2021 and 2022. In 2021, for example, sales increased by 54% from July to September. In 2022, sales increased by 138% during the third quarter.
One reason why the sales of this subject might see an uptick in September is likely due to the impact of schools resuming classes around this time of the year.
Looking at the year-over-year differences, we see that in July 2022 sales decreased by 26% compared to the previous year, but even after that drop, August and September saw increases in sales of 9% and 14% respectively compared to 2021.
These are the BISAC subcategories with the highest year-over-year increase in sales :
Non-Fiction / Music / Lyrics — up 216%
Non-Fiction / Music / Reference — up 129%
Non-Fiction / Music / Religious — up 178%
From July to September, the most purchased Non-Fiction / Music subcategories were:
Non-Fiction / Music / Instruction & Study — 52% of all Non-Fiction / Music sales
Non-Fiction / Music / Genres & Styles — 20% of all Non-Fiction / Music sales
Non-Fiction / Music / Individual Composer & Musician — 10% of all Non-Fiction / Music sales
Borrowing Non-Fiction / Music
At Canadian libraries, there were more loans of Non-Fiction / Music titles in 2022 than in 2021. In fact, despite a small decrease of 2% in July, year-over-year loans increased by 10% in both August and September. When comparing the overall increases in loans during the third quarter, we see that loans increased by 14% from July to September 2022 whereas the increase in loans during the third quarter of 2021 was only by 1%.
Renewals were also higher in 2022. The quarter started with July having a year-over-year increase in renewals of 8%. August and September had increases of 32% and 20% in renewals respectively. Overall, the renewals of Non-Fiction / Music increased by 34% during the third quarter of 2022. The increase in renewals during the third quarter of 2021 was 22%.
Which Non-Fiction / Music BISAC subcategories were the most popular in Canadian libraries? From July to September 2022, these subcategories saw the greatest increases in library circulation compared to 2021:
Non-Fiction / Music / Lyrics — loans up 1,286% and renewals up 367%
Non-Fiction / Music / Individual Composer & Musician — loans up 62% and renewals up 50%
Non-Fiction / Music / Essays — loans up 29% and renewals up 223%
The most circulated Non-Fiction / Music subcategories at Canadian libraries during the third quarter of 2022 were:
Non-Fiction / Music / Printed Music — loans up 23% and renewals up 24%
Non-Fiction / Music / Genres & Styles — loans up 22% and renewals up 18%
Non-Fiction / Music / Instruction & Study — loans up 17% and renewals up 22%
Reading Non-Fiction / Music
Here are the top selling and top borrowed non-instructional Non-Fiction / Music titles from the third quarter of 2022.
Top borrowed
The Storyteller by Dave Grohl
The Lyrics by Paul McCartney, edited by Paul Muldoon
Hearts on Fire by Michael Barclay 🍁
Acid for the Children by Flea
Leonard Cohen by Harry Freedman
Top selling
The Storyteller by Dave Grohl
The Lyrics by Paul McCartney, edited by Paul Muldoon
Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis
Acid for the Children by Flea
Dilla Time by Dan Charnas
Until next time!
Stay tuned for future instalments of this series or sign up to our eNews for more digestible data on the Canadian book market.
In this podcast episode, we talk to Simon Crump to discuss the EUDR and its impact on the book industry.