The Music Industry's Crisis Writ Large 554
The NY Times has an opinion piece that makes starkly clear the financial decline of the music industry. It's accompanied by an infographic that cleverly renders the drop-off. The latest culprit accelerating the undoing of the music business is free, legal online music streaming. "Since music sales peaked in 1999, the value of those sales, after adjusting for inflation, has dropped by more than half. At that rate, the industry could be decimated before Madonna's 60th birthday. ... 13- to 17-year-olds acquired 19 percent less music in 2008 than they did in 2007. CD sales among these teenagers were down 26 percent and digital purchases were down 13 percent. ... [T]he percentage of 14- to 18-year-olds who regularly share files dropped by nearly a third from December 2007 to January 2009. On the other hand, two-thirds of those teens now listen to streaming music 'regularly' and nearly a third listen to it every day."
Re:Film at 11. (Score:3, Funny)
We'll be providing blow-by-blow coverage.
That's great! Just don't forget the hookers.
Re:Streaming services (Score:0, Funny)
I love sharing my listening habits with the RIAA! Spotify - fuck yeah!
Re:Decimated... (Score:5, Funny)
If their sales are down by half, they've already been decimated five times over.
Actually, if sales had been decimated once, they would be at 90% of their previous level. Twice, they'd be at 81%. Five times, at 59.049%.
To get to 50%, they'd have to have been decimated approximately 6.578 times.
Pedantic even longer.
Re:The traditional music industry is a buggy whip (Score:3, Funny)
The rumors of our death are highly exaggerated [jedediahsbuggywhip.com]
Re:Let it die. (Score:2, Funny)
Regarding live performances, you have to realize that many bands aren't exactly sober when they play.
That's the reason to go see them ... it's like going to a Nascar event for the crashes.
Re:CDs are for old people (Score:3, Funny)
Don't be selfish. If you have good stuff, start a torrent of it!
Not streaming: missing option (Score:5, Funny)
The graph is indeed pretty illustrative, but to suggest the CD is being killed off by streaming is misleading, because they don't graph the main competitor to the CD.
That's right, the minidisc.
Re:Homemade music is best (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Homemade music is best (Score:3, Funny)
... it cheers me up...
Yeah, right... You just get off on the lesbian frission when she sings "When I Saw Her Standing There".
Re:Let it die. (Score:1, Funny)
all playing the exact same line up paid for by the "recording industry"
Radio stations don't get paid by recording companies to play music. That is called payola; it is illegal. The stations pay various licensing fees to play the music that you hear.
Also, most program directors choose their programming lineup based on testing of the songs, and sometimes intuition.
Finally, you mention a ". . . transition from edgy to safe FM stations . . ." have you ever thought that this has to do with a shift in the taste of the general public? Contrary to your earlier belief that radio stations are paid by record companies, radio stations generate money through ad revenue; radio stations with higher ratings in their market can generally sell more ads. Therefore, if your market wants the safe music that you mentioned, the radio station will follow suit and play the music that their listeners want to hear. That is, if the radio station wants to stay in business.