Posted on 05/16/2007 5:23:55 AM PDT by urtax$@work
Digital singles thriving where 45s once ruled Music industry pays price for expecting fans to buy $15 CDs......... NEW YORK — It sounds like a horror movie: a beloved friend is callously exterminated, then reincarnated in a different form to wreak havoc on the killer.
That's the nightmare currently facing the music industry.
Almost a decade after virtually eliminating 45s and cassette singles, thereby forcing fans to spend more money on whole albums, the digital single is largely responsible for the industry's woes.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
“That’s the nightmare currently facing the music industry.”
The nightmare that is currently facing the music industry is most of the music sucks! We are so desperate to find something worth listening to we flock to by even a mediocre Nora Jones CD.
I remember once trying to buy a 45 that was at the time a #1 hit according to Billboard, but they stopped printing it. At the time, I didn't buy too many albums that I hadn't heard before, so I never got the song. Which is probably okay, because I can't even remember what the song was.
Shameless artist plug: http://www.myspace.com/marenmorris
Digital singles? I thought maybe this was some sort of kinky dating thread.
Probably something by Gary Lewis and the Playboys...
this reply contains an excerpt of above article for discussion purposes:
Consumers no longer need to buy an album if they want that cool jam they heard on the radio — and in growing numbers, they’re choosing 99-cent downloads over $15 CDs.
Some worry this trend is worsening the quality of albums as a cohesive musical work, and that label executives are more and more interested in quick hits than lasting music or artists.
While the vast majority of music consumers still buy CD albums, they are buying less of them, while digital tracks are exploding: According to Nielsen SoundScan, sales of physical CDs this year have declined 20 percent from the same point in 2006, from 112 million to 89 million. Digital tracks are up to 288 million from 242 million at the same period last year. And that’s not counting the millions of singles that are illegally downloaded.
“Now, we’re in a very difference place in terms of the single business,” Jim Donio, president of National Association of Recording Merchandisers, said in an interview. “The single business is alive and well, and it’s in the form of track downloads.”
The same cannot be said, however, for albums. Even counting albums that are downloaded along with physical CDs sold, album sales are down 10 percent from the same period last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan, continuing a decline that has been growing for several years.
The industry’s hard times are evident in recent label consolidations, widespread layoffs, reduction in budgets and an overall air of belt-tightening.
In 1996, music companies shipped more than 1.1 billion units — all physical product — for a value of $12.5 billion, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Ten years later, despite a decline in physical product sold, they industry has “shipped” approximately 1.6 billion units — but its value is down by a billion dollars, to $11.5 billion.
by = buy
geez
Oh please.
I remember David Lee Roth made an album once with only four songs. People complained about the short album, but he said that most albums are a few good songs plus several crappy filler songs, and he just left out the crap.
Very true. I can only think of a few exceptions to this rule.
The new music released today just sucks. I heard a brand new release from Elton John and one from Paul McCartney. They are both simply awful. The only reason those two releases got played was because of John’s and McCartney’s previous work.
I can’t remember the last album I bought that remotely resembled a “cohesive musical work” - maybe “Synchronicity” by the Police?
Limewire.
The Wall
Chicken or the egg bump
Well, call me crazy, but I would have missed some of my favourite tunes if I had only ever listened to the radio and bought singles. In fact, many of my favourite songs, which I never heard on the radio or anywhere else, only became my favourites after several listenings of a full CD that I bought.
Siamese Dream
I thought it was like, an AARP dating thread for cool, computer-savvy people over 45. Never mind. Now where did I set my Metamucil?
lol
P.S. I still have a turntable. Scary.
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