Posted on 08/26/2002 7:07:13 PM PDT by GeneD
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Compact disc music sales decreased 7 percent during the first half of the year, a further indication that online music sharing sites are hurting the recording industry, a trade group said Monday.
The decline cost the industry $284 million in lost sales, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
The decline, measured by PricewaterhouseCoopers, compares with a 5.3 percent drop in CD shipments in the first half of 2001. The RIAA said the industry uses just-in-time delivery, so CD shipments are reliably indicative of actual sales.
Also Monday, the RIAA released a separate survey of Internet users' music habits, which found that most consumers between the ages of 12 and 54 bought fewer CDs as they downloaded more tracks.
Previous studies independent of the music industry have suggested that access to free music on the Web actually encourages consumers to experiment with new acts and buy more CDs.
"We find a striking connection between people who say they are downloading more and buying less," said Geoff Garin, the pollster for Peter D. Hart Research Associates, who conducted the random telephone survey of 860 consumers for the RIAA in May. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
Of consumers polled whose downloading increased during the last six months, 41 percent reported buying less music, compared with 19 percent who said they were purchasing more, he said.
Among those polled who said they were downloading the same amount as six months earlier, 25 percent said they purchased less music, compared with 13 percent who bought more, Garin said.
The survey also reported that 35 percent said they go straight to an Internet file sharing site whenever they hear an unfamiliar artist they like. Only 10 percent reported that they immediately buy the artist's album.
The poll did not provide information about consumer attitudes on other factors widely considered to be affecting CD sales, including the quality of new releases and the lack of easy-to-use online services from the major recording labels.
"I very strongly conclude that the ability to get music for free is an important factor and has an adverse effect on music purchasing. I would not argue that it is the one and only factor," Garin said.
From time to time during my life, I have observed that sales of recorded music slump. Prior to this time, no one EVER tried to allege that it was because of piracy--even though recording onto cassette tape from LPs and the radio and CD were always done (remember "C30, C60, C90 GO!" by Bow Wow Wow?)
No, at that time the consensus was that sales were down because
Britney Spears. I rest my case.
They got greedy and lost!
People who don't buy a certain quota of CD's will be thrown in jail. It's the only way.
seriously....the state of music is baddddddddddd.....I had bought a lot of country up to three years ago or so...but it is just so terrible out there....I have to check the radio to make sure that I am on the right station
I hae bought all the classic rock that I care too....I have ventured far into the celtic realm of music...there is just not enough out there anymore to get excited about..
and of course it would help if the artists were a little more likable.....
As was so eloquently stated by an earlier poster, the absurd price of CD's also has a lot to do with it. Just as an example, I went out and bought "Lord of the Rings" on DVD for twenty bucks. In addition to the movie, there were lots of extras added. The movie is less than a year old, and cost approximately $100 million to make. I can buy "Animal House", "Back to School", "CaddyShack", and lots of other DVD's for ten bucks or less. A Hank Williams CD, which was the exact same album I owned in 1972 (including the cover art) was going for $13.99. It probably cost less than $1000 to cut the entire CD in the forties. These guys want nearly as much for twenty minutes of fifty year old audio that was recorded on seriously inferior equipment as the movie industry is getting for two hours of audio and visual entertainment made within the last year.
If the record companies spent more time developing talent rather than lobbying Congress, perhaps it would be different. I wonder if new talent going directly to the MP3 market has had any effect.
I hae bought all the classic rock that I care too....I have ventured far into the celtic realm of music...there is just not enough out there anymore to get excited about..
I know. Three more years before the next Enya release if she follows her regular schedule. I just converted all my Moody Blue CD's to MP3, so they'll fit on single CD. That will tide me over for awhile.
The CDs are expensive.
People are cutting back on luxuries, I know I have. I like to have a month or two of money in the bank just in case my job is the next one that goes belly-up.
That is quite true. I buy every CD Phil Keaggy releases as soon as I can, but very little out there interests me anymore. I have about 400 CDs, for crying out loud, how many more do I need to buy?
I remember the music industry was in the same sort of duldrums in 1979. They whined and moaned, but the 80s turned out to be very very good for them. I am sure they will turn this around, as well.
It couldn't be that the music sucks - or the economy. Nah!..
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