Music sales cut in half last decade

[X-14]

http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/02/news/companies/napster_music_industry/index.htm

... which includes the understatement of the year (nay, decade):

"The industry is adapting to consumer's demands of how they listen to music, when and where, and we've had some growing pains in terms of monetizing those changes."

Another key observation contained in the article:

Now just 44% of U.S. Internet users and 64% of Americans who buy digital music think that that music is worth paying for, according to Forrester.

 

[TheRealOtherNeil]

Nielsen SoundScan says music sales are up, so says Chicago Tribune's Pop Music Critc, Greg Kot (http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune....or-2009-are-up-but-numbers-are-deceiving.html).

Any guesses on the number one selling CD in the last decade? Here's a hint, this artist hasn't released any new material in over 40 years.

 

[jabba17]

Part of it is the fact that most of the time, unless you are a big-name act like Aerosmith or AC/DC that can force fans to buy the entire album, you can now buy songs a la carte, instead of shelling out $10-$15 for an album. Unfortunately for Big Music, that's a big revenue hit--and when they account for units sold, a single song is only counted as 1/10 of an album.

Interesting about vinyl sales. Prior to the online music stores, I was still buying 45s from jukebox suppliers, well into the late 90s, when I wanted one song but didn't want to buy the whole album.

What still amazes me is how many MP3 devices and music-management apps (iTunes, etc.) still operate in terms of the album paradigm (especially all the devotion to cover art and album directories/containers). I wonder how many people still listen to much/most of their music by listening through all x-number of cuts of an album (excepting obvious long-form creations such as The Wall, Sgt. Pepper, etc.), versus homemade playlists or shuffle modes.

 

[gregg75]

I think the last decade was ruled by Rap and Hip-Hop.......which turned more people OFF
than on. Now the times are a changing. Will a return back to the core product again bring
back sales and interest? Rap and Crossover Hip-Hop seem to be on their last lap.

 

[TheBigA]

Yet for some reason, the RIAA wants to replace comsumer payment for music with media royalties. So consumers continue to steal, while radio and streamers are forced to pay a percentage of their revenues.

The problem is if the public wants music for free (ie, no subscription fees or commercials), then how do media companies make revenues to pay the royalties?

 

[secondchoice]

Nielsen SoundScan says music sales are up, so says Chicago Tribune's Pop Music Critc, Greg Kot (http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune....or-2009-are-up-but-numbers-are-deceiving.html).

Any guesses on the number one selling CD in the last decade? Here's a hint, this artist hasn't released any new material in over 40 years.

Was it the Beatles?

 

[agentUrge]

Jabba..interesting post. I got a turntable for xmas and the other day my youngest wanted to hear an LP so I was telling her about how I had to pretty patient to listen to records and cassettes because there was no real 'easy' way to get the song I wanted without listening all the way through..unlike today where one can randomly access any song they want.

I'd say the reason mp3 players and software still use the album scheme is because it's what we're used to. I've been used to that for almost 40 years...it's the scheme I recognize. Our kids are really the last generation to have that as the new model came around during their childhood years. Their kids will likely ever experience purchasing music in such a way buying an entire CD or album but who knows?

I've noticed that rock hasn't really been on the radar as much as it used to be. At one point in time, the best rock category was given just as much airtime as best pop. Not so much these days. Don't get me wrong, there's a ton of crappy music out there in the first place so there's no doubt in my mind that likely plays a role. (how many Coldplay or John Mayer copies do we really need?)

 

[jabba17]

Yet for some reason, the RIAA wants to replace comsumer payment for music with media royalties. So consumers continue to steal, while radio and streamers are forced to pay a percentage of their revenues.

The problem is if the public wants music for free (ie, no subscription fees or commercials), then how do media companies make revenues to pay the royalties?

Many countries have compulsory licensing schemes, whereby royalties are collected by other means, such as taxes on blank media and media devices. I was originally opposed to them because of the potential to "punish" non-music consumers or those who pay for their music by other means, but nowadays sounds like the least of multiple evils. The biggest issue is how you get the money to the artists; the US media tax has basically become an RIAA slush fund with artists benefiting little if any.

The best option I heard was an ASCAP-like license, where people would pay a set monthly or annual fee for all the music they could consume, however they consume it--also similar to a British TV license. BMI was all over the idea (with the potential not just for collecting royalties but administering the program, too), ASCAP less so, and RIAA hated it (no upside for them). The biggest question I see with this is enforcement.

 

[jabba17]

Jabba..interesting post. I got a turntable for xmas and the other day my youngest wanted to hear an LP so I was telling her about how I had to pretty patient to listen to records and cassettes because there was no real 'easy' way to get the song I wanted without listening all the way through..unlike today where one can randomly access any song they want.

I'd say the reason mp3 players and software still use the album scheme is because it's what we're used to. I've been used to that for almost 40 years...it's the scheme I recognize. Our kids are really the last generation to have that as the new model came around during their childhood years. Their kids will likely ever experience purchasing music in such a way buying an entire CD or album but who knows?

Yeah, my daughter had some "baby" storybook cassettes when she was first born, and several CDs (mostly soundtracks of movies and TV shows, and favorite artists), but most of the time today when she hears a song she likes she just wants me to download it and burn it onto a CD for her with various others, or put it on her MP3 player. Imagine the kids of today trying to deal with cueing up a cassette, or dealing with the vagarities of music search. They will gripe about the clicks and pops of vinyl or the hiss and poor treble response of cassettes, but won't mind the "swirlies" of a poorly-compressed MP3.

The funny thing about "albums" is that the concept started with bound books to hold random 78s--like a photo album--to store and protect them. I actually have one of these books, complete with the legend "Record Album" in gold leaf on the cover. Later these bound books became convenient to hold anthologies by a single act, or long classical pieces that wouldn't fit on a single 78. I'm not sure when the album came into its own as a long-form work in and of itself, although it would have been the early-to-mid-1960s at the absolute latest with some of the Beatles' mid-career stuff.

 

[TheBigA]

The biggest question I see with this is enforcement.

Exactly. Who becomes the music police, and what's the difference between controlling music usage and controlling music content? It's a very narrow line to walk.

 

[jabba17]

The biggest question I see with this is enforcement.

Exactly. Who becomes the music police, and what's the difference between controlling music usage and controlling music content? It's a very narrow line to walk.

A lot of people who run small businesses that got caught by ASCAP playing a radio in the background and threatened with fines considered ASCAP to be the Music Nazi. However, ASCAP was a lot more generous than the RIAA ever thought of being. Essentially, ASCAP would ask them to buy a license, and there would be no more trouble. You can even subscribe to satellite with a plan that already includes the ASCAP license.

Now, I wonder what kind of compliance ASCAP gets overall. Taking reports from pizza parlors and following up on them has to be quite inefficient, but as the word's gotten out that you got to get legal I am sure most of the remaining cases are from ignorance rather than willful unwillingness to pay, and are dwindling overall. Anyone got any numbers, etc. on this?