the REAL state of the music industry.....

[hover]

Is much, much worse than you think.

http://www.businessinsider.com/these...ndustry-2011-2


And I say hell yeah. DiY for the win. In other news, Wilco is starting their own indie record label 50 minutes from my house.

[StyleOverShow]

Was talking about the effects, unintended perhaps, of the internet and media including newspapers, books and most relevantly to this post, music, over the weekend in reference to the Borders bankruptcy.

The charts in the article don't represent the switch from live music to DJ's and that probably impacts more people on TB than record deals and sales.

The state of the music industry is us, right?

[Jim Nazium]

Originally Posted by StyleOverShow

The state of the music industry is us, right?

Yup.

It isn't the "music industry" that's dying, it's the "recorded album industry". That's what happens to industries that cling to outmoded business models and ignore what their customers want. Not many people want to pay $16 for a CD that only has one or two good songs. They'd much rather pay $1 each for the songs they like. The labels fought that for so long, people found other ways (legal and otherwise) to get their music.

And now, with the labels all but dead, I have access to more recorded music at lower prices than ever before (completely legal). Who misses the labels? Not me.

[daystcity]

As far as the live vs. DJ thing: if there isn't any significant reason to see the band live over a DJ, the DJ wins. There's nothing wrong with not being a live band, but if you don't bring anything special with you onto the stage there's really no point.

With the rise of the single, it's almost as if artists are getting lazy. Rather than put out an album you can enjoy start to finish they just put out one or two good songs. Not to lump all artists in that category by any means (there are TONS of artists putting out awesome work), it's probably a consumer issue more now that I think about it...

Edit: Yeah, groups putting out quality cheap albums is quite awesome

[MrLenny1]

Not me either.

[Deluge Of Sound]

I think the "1-2 good song albums" are just as outdated as the major record labels. I haven't bought one of those in years.

[ThisisCraigP]

I still buy albums. Usually I download it and see if I like it first though.

[zachoff]

"They" should probably start recording better music. It may very well be that pirating is causing some of this but I'd blame it more on the fact that radio rock really sucks these days.

[hrodbert696]

I generally buy CDs if the album as a whole is good and download singles, so I guess I fit the overall trend. The chart doesn't show live music revenues (not to mention things like TV appearances) and the article as a whole ignores what seems to be generally reported, that touring is where the big-name acts make their big money. These days you put out an album to support your tour, not vice-versa.

The other thing I notice about the chart, corrected or otherwise, is that the huge peak in sales comes in the SUV-driving 90s and the really steep drop-off in revenues comes in the 2005-2009 period, during which time, if memory serves, we were stumbling into this recession thing. It would be interesting to set this chart against the economy as a whole. The earlier trough in revenues comes in the late-Carter/early-Reagan recession, too, looks like about 78-82 or so. People buy fewer albums when they are having their homes foreclosed on and are struggling to buy groceries -- no big surprise. Luxuries are the first thing to go when the budget gets tight.

I think that it is, as usual, too soon to prophecy the death of the record industry. It's clearly in a trough, but I'd predict it to show recovery over the next five years or so - probably not back to 1999 levels, but maybe where it was around 73-76/88-91/03-05 (on the "corrected" chart).

And yes, better music wouldn't hurt. The top40 is overloaded with canned crap that everyone forgets six months after it's released. Then again, it always has been.

[lenosgood]

Originally Posted by zachoff

"They" should probably start recording better music. It may very well be that pirating is causing some of this but I'd blame it more on the fact that radio rock really sucks these days.

This. The only option (for me anyway) are the classic rock stations and occasionally country. The only other choices are crap like Nickleback or pop, which is mostly hip-hop BS, which doesn't count as music, IMO. The only bright spot on local radio is the college station which has blues segments, jazz, and other choices like world music and classical.

[NickMonti]

Buy the vinyl => digital downloads.

This might be the greatest music sales combo.

Not only do you get the beautiful artwork, unreleased tracks,
high quality legal mp3s, and save a few bucks, But you support the group!