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Report: CD Sales Further Decline
AP via Yahoo! News ^ | 8/26/02 | Simon Avery

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.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: compactdiscs; digitalcopying; riaa
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To: 2OOOll
Napster was the best advertising indeed. There is no way to explore new music without buying a CD, then you can't return an open CD to the store when it sucks.

Just a nitpicky point. Radio has played that role in the past, and probably still does now.

81 posted on 08/27/2002 7:16:57 AM PDT by AmishDude
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To: RobbyS
No artist should get any more for an album than a writer gets for a book.

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?

82 posted on 08/27/2002 7:19:06 AM PDT by Protagoras
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To: ThomasJefferson
Are you saying it is OK to steal things if the price is higher than someone is willing to pay?

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/

83 posted on 08/27/2002 7:19:12 AM PDT by Snowy
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To: Brookhaven
Well, I must admit The Dave Matthews Band is pretty good (my sixteen year old son turned me on to them).
84 posted on 08/27/2002 7:20:30 AM PDT by freebilly
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To: Illbay
THE CURRENT STATE OF POP MUSIC SUCKED!!!!!! Now, isn't it JUST POSSIBLE, JUST POSSIBLE mind you, that this is the case today? Britney Spears. I rest my case.

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.

85 posted on 08/27/2002 7:20:43 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: tippytoes
The music industry is a wasteland compared to those artists from our past.

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.

86 posted on 08/27/2002 7:24:35 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: bvw
I see you stole someone else's name.

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. :-)

87 posted on 08/27/2002 7:24:45 AM PDT by Protagoras
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To: Snowy
Lots of good ideas there. Many artists are selling their own music that way on the net.
88 posted on 08/27/2002 7:26:17 AM PDT by Protagoras
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To: ThomasJefferson
WRT Hennings, I just thought that one presumptuous whinner should pay to another.
89 posted on 08/27/2002 7:26:50 AM PDT by bvw
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To: Illbay
THE CURRENT STATE OF POP MUSIC SUCKED!!!!!!

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.

90 posted on 08/27/2002 7:27:30 AM PDT by r9etb
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To: AllSmiles
You can't pirate what my company sells but sales are down at least 7% for us too. This is a scam. They are using a bad economy to fight free downloads.

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.

91 posted on 08/27/2002 7:28:34 AM PDT by js1138
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To: MarkL
Yep... YES is great..I Love Olias of Sunhill also. I disagree though that there isn't any new, good music. I've heard a number of great new artists, such as: Vanessa Carlton, Avril Lavigne, Pete York, etc.I have to admit though, that's about all the new music I've heard that I like.

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.

92 posted on 08/27/2002 7:36:45 AM PDT by Chuzzlewit
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To: bvw
Whine? Please cite that.
93 posted on 08/27/2002 7:39:04 AM PDT by Protagoras
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To: ThomasJefferson
You waltzing in without a warrant and accusing people supposedly secure in their places and effects of stealing. That's a whine.
94 posted on 08/27/2002 7:42:41 AM PDT by bvw
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To: bvw
You waltzing in without a warrant and accusing people supposedly secure in their places and effects of stealing. That's a whine.

Cite where I did that. Or withdraw and climb back into your hole.

95 posted on 08/27/2002 7:48:29 AM PDT by Protagoras
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To: 1Old Pro
I knew for sure that it was over when RAP was winning awards. Political correctness helped kill the music industry.

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.

96 posted on 08/27/2002 7:53:17 AM PDT by jpl
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To: ThomasJefferson
You mean the hole you dug when you claimed Thomas Jefferson's bones as your own?
97 posted on 08/27/2002 7:53:46 AM PDT by bvw
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To: ThomasJefferson
How's this: Stop charging $14.99 for a f****ing CD and then maybe people will start buying them.

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.

98 posted on 08/27/2002 7:54:46 AM PDT by LexBaird
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To: bvw
I guess that means you can't cite the post. Changing the subject to my screen name won't work. Cite it or crawl away.

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.

99 posted on 08/27/2002 7:55:58 AM PDT by Protagoras
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To: Illbay
Now Playing: The Clash "Combat Rock". It really never got any better than that.

Are you Overpowered by Funk?

100 posted on 08/27/2002 7:56:33 AM PDT by Hemingway's Ghost
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