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.
Just a nitpicky point. Radio has played that role in the past, and probably still does now.
Who makes that call? You?
Price controls are a statist creation. They are enforced by violence or the threat thereof. Who will do your bidding?
I have the solution! If you have a cd burner, download what you want and then send the artist $4-$5. I have read where the artist gets a maximum of 14% of the cd sales. I think that is just wrong. This way, you can listen to what you want first, and buy what you want for a lot less while giving the artist(s), who really deserve the $, more for each cd. The only loser is the RIAA. Here are a couple of websites with good info...
http://monkeyfist.com/articles/650
http://www.boycott-riaa.com/
I agree. That's why I download the old stuff, which shouldn't significantly reduce overall sales. It;s that the "newer" stuff is crap. These entertainment execus are plain stupid, just like TV news execs. They don't know what is good or bad and what will sell.
Phil Donahue. I rest my case.
Yep, I could see it coming in the mid-80's when RAP was added to music awards as if it was good music. I knew for sure that it was over when RAP was winning awards. Political correctness helped kill the music industry.
Names aren't copyrighted. And you can't prove anything about Sally Hemmings. I guess you believe it because Billy Clinton's people told you so to get his sorry ass off. :-)
You are, of course, exactly right.
I think the reason it sucks is actually pretty interesting, because it's fairly typical of what's wrong with the general corporate trend toward huge megamergers.
As it happens, there's still a lot of really good music and there, but the good performers don't get the PR, because the megamedia corporations are too busy pushing their small stables of stars. (e.g., Britney Spears.)
The best example I can think of is AOLTimeWarner -- even if they don't pay any attention to the pop scene, AOL users will know exactly who the "big stars" are, because they're on the "Welcome" page day after day after day. Same sexy but vapid people, same stories, and only rarely does anybody new show up -- and the new ones are basically interchangeable.
One has to imagine that the various megacorps have deals with Clear Channel -- which has 1200 radio stations to play the same old crap. It's a big marketing circle jerk.
Bingo.
I think there are multiple causes. The bad economy is one. The lack of genuine stars that have a broad audience is another. People switching from tape to DVD sucks up some entertainment money.
I have one daughter who loves hip hop, and another that is totally into The Hives, The Strokes and that ilk. They buy about 1 CD, each, a week. They also download at least 10 songs a week. Seems right in line to me. I used to buy 1 a week or so, or whenever I earned a bit of money.
I think where the record companies are missing the mark is that they think folks who are 45 and older won't buy new music. I'm just looking for stuff that equals, Led Zepplin, The Who, Beatles, YES, Genesis, CSN&Y, Jethro Tull, Hendrix, Procul Harum. Still waiting. In the meantime I keep updating my collection with various artist's catalogue re-releases.
Coming out this month are the new CDs from Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins.
Cite where I did that. Or withdraw and climb back into your hole.
The music executives are far worse than just politically correct, they're utterly deranged. They think a child molesting freak like Michael Jackson still has credibility for crying out loud.
Are you saying it is OK to steal things if the price is higher than someone is willing to pay?
No, he is saying that when you charge more than people are willing to pay, your sales decline.
And then just admit that you don't like my screen name so you made up a reason to attack me instead of addressing what I said.
Are you Overpowered by Funk?
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