Teenagers Shun CDs
You knew music sales were bad, but I bet you didn't realize just how bad they are:
• 48% of teenagers bought no CDs at all in 2007, up from 38% in 2006.
• Apple iTunes (AAPL) has surpassed Best Buy to become the second-largest music retailer in the U.S. They now trail only Wal-Mart Stores (WMT)• The number of CDs sold in the U.S. fell 19% in 2007 from the previous year while sales of digital songs jumped 45%, Nielsen SoundScan said.
• Legal online music sales jumped 21% to 29 million last year from 24 million in 2006. The increase in legal online sales was driven by people 36 to 50;
• In 2005, teenagers accounted for 15% of CD sales. In 2007, the figure was 10%.
The recording industry likes to blame downloading as the source of all their ills, but I am compelled to point out a few things to them:
a) the economy has been weakening for a year now;
b) teenagers today have a universe of entertainment options that didn't exist 20 years ago;
c) The RIAA litigation tactics has completely disenchanted what was once their biggest consumers.
Whoever thinks they can harass, menace, threaten and sue their biggest clients without repercussion obviously has never worked a retail business.
Teenagers have quite predictably responded with a giant "fuck-you-and-your-shiny-silver-discs, dude."
I am not surprised one bit . . .
>
Sources:
More teenagers ignoring CDs, report says
Michelle Quinn and Andrea Chang
Los Angeles Times, February 27, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-music27feb27,0,4432240.story
Apple's iTunes: We're No. 2!
Bit Player, February 26, 2008
http://opinion.latimes.com/bitplayer/2008/02/apples-itunes-w.html
Monday, March 03, 2008 | 06:01 PM | Permalink
| Comments (45)
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Well said, Barry. The demise of radio station diversity (thanks to Clear Channel, Citadel etc.) is also playing a significant role, in my opinion. Radio used to be where you heard new songs and new bands and where you or your friends then bought the new release. Here in Maine, there are almost no commercial radio stations left that actually play new releases or new bands. If people don't know it exists, it's hard for them to want it.
~~~
BR: Hey Douglas, thanks for the reminder:
We covered that topic extensively in Radio's Wounded Business Model
Posted by: Douglas Watts | Mar 3, 2008 6:19:53 PM
Another trend I see with my teenage relatives is that they spend tons of time on the computer doing all kinds of stuff, but very little time listening to music. While I'm dating myself (I am 43), my peer group of teenagers spent massive amounts of time listening to music, and hence, buying music. I wonder if teenagers are buying and downloading less music today simply because their time is spent on other stuff, particularly the entire universe that has been opened up to them on the intertoobz.
Posted by: Douglas Watts | Mar 3, 2008 6:26:06 PM
Those numbers are shocking but not really surprising. Too often for too long, music has been an afterthought in the minds of retailers, marketers (radio, MTV, etc), and thus purchasers.
I live in the SF bay area and can think of four places within a 10 mile radius of where I live that sell music: A bookstore (Borders) and three electronics places (2 Best Buy's and a Fry's). The demise of places to buy music is a whole thread in and of itself, but if MTV doesn't play music (the "M" in MTV, after all), radio plays the same 20 songs ad nauseum in between commercials, music press is all but dead, the record companies produce fewer titles, and there are increasingly fewer places to buy those titles, then it is easy to see where the business is headed.
And that's too bad since people would buy more music if they had the opportunity. I know I would.
Posted by: Mikey | Mar 3, 2008 6:50:09 PM
I'll bet they still want to rock and roll all night and party every day.
Posted by: Marcus Aurelius | Mar 3, 2008 6:52:41 PM
Maybe the music "s*cks"?. I stopped listening to the radio over 10 years ago when that hip-hop and rap-crap infected the airwaves, so I have no idea whats out there now, and just listen to music I own from the 60's-80's. Guess I sound like my old man in the 60's.
Difference is, the kids do not seem too excited by the music of today either, at least not enough to pay for it. People forget that from the 70's we could tape music from the radio which is not much different than downloading a file. If you liked it, you bought it.
Price relative to quality may be an issue as well. The minimum wage, which most kids work at, has not increased as much
relative to music prices since the 70's. Maybe the music industry should consider sub-prime loans to the kids, or just drop prices.
Posted by: PFT | Mar 3, 2008 6:54:54 PM
I guess it's the same thing as with LDs in the past being replaced by CDs, except now it is the CDs' turn to be replaced with online music. As the kids interviewed in the article pointed out, it is all about convenience: not having to rip the tunes off the CD is probably a major reason behind the shift from CDs to digital music.
One point: it's not as bad as you put it, is it? Legal online music sales jumped 21%, that has to count for something - it doesn't matter whether the buyers of music are teens or 36-50 year olds. The problem comes when the teens grow up - if the music industry and the RIAA haven't gotten their act together by then...
Posted by: greentintedglasses | Mar 3, 2008 6:58:28 PM
You don't say. (insert sarcasm) Stevie Wonder could have 'seen' this coming.
p.s. rollingstone has had articles on this for just about four years now.
Posted by: Portland Refugee | Mar 3, 2008 6:59:08 PM
1) most albums released these days contain 1 song worth listening to (and it's been that way for over a decade, if not longer) -- why should we pay $15-$20 to listen to one track which the radio and MTV will play over and over anyways?
2) FxCK the RIAA :)
Posted by: Dave | Mar 3, 2008 7:08:19 PM
Did you know that many of these sales are for purchases of older music? (hendrix, led zep, clapton, kiss, alice in chains, nirvana, etc) Kids are discovering these artist because the current line up stinks. The major lables 'Focus Group' (a very flawed processes) artist before launching them. if the music doesn't make the focus group attendees stomp their foot, the artist is shelved.
the majors don't have the ability to nurture an artist anymore (too costly)...... so they settle for crap.......ex: CREED
Posted by: Portland Refugee | Mar 3, 2008 7:10:48 PM
I have a 15 year old and he listens to music. He listens to music I used to and still do listen to. I'm 40ish and grew up on rock and roll and concerts. I went to a Stones concert in the late 70s for 12 bucks. Now it would be hundreds.
There are a few innovative bands out there but most is packaged american idol crap that no one really wants to listen to. My son listens to my old Rock and Roll. I have vinyl, old casettes, and thousands of CD's. I bartered with an old Napster type several years ago and he gave me thousands of songs. Plus, I do still buy a CD or 2 and the first thing I do is rip it. It takes less than 2 minutes. All my music is backed up on two different hard drives and catalogged. I use my phone as my MP3 and it works good enough for me. One son and daughter HAD TO HAVE an ipod against my wishes as it is SO propriotory. It's a running joke in our family as he gets something new from Ipod he thinks I won't have, and I always do. My younger son got an Mp3 and it took me no longer than 5 minutes to load it. My son's Ipod took half a day. Plus the songs magically disapear occasionally in his Ipod catalog, imagine that.
I believe there is a host of reasons why CD sales are down but let's face it, there just isn't anything I would jump up and buy. Nothing any of my chldren really care about. Maybe they need to start taking drugs again, care about the music and not their PR.
BR put me onto JJ Mofro, nice, thanks!
That's why I like this blog, diversity.
Fucking great cartoons too Man!
Posted by: ken h | Mar 3, 2008 7:22:18 PM
In the Facebook / Myspace connected world of teenagers, the hot new band is just as likely to be an unsigned act with a Myspace page and no RIAA affiliated record company is involved to track sales. Jonathon Coulton is making a pretty good living giving away a lot of music and also selling quite a bit direct to his fans. Not mention the Tshirts, conference gigs, and concerts. When you have an infinitely reproducible good like an MP3 file, your business plan needs to revolve around selling something else.
Posted by: COD | Mar 3, 2008 7:42:53 PM
Slightly OT, but on topic of low corporate IQ:
Of the top ten most-efficient autos sold in the US, not one is from an American car company.
Go USA !!!
Posted by: Douglas Watts | Mar 3, 2008 7:43:40 PM
I haven't bought a CD in 8 years. Why? Two reasons - as a format the CD itself is a dinosaur. The CD is too large and too fragile. Physical media in general is dead. Secondly - I got tired of not being able to buy what I wanted to buy. Amazon.com temporarily prolong by CD buying by having a larger selection. But I couldn't get music that was released in the Europe or Asia for months or years if ever. The same holds true for video. If I had a legal way to acquire BBC shows that I want to see I would do so. But there isn't. So about 5 minutes after the show first broadcasts in the UK I download it off the net. And would I buy the DVD of the show if it was released in the US? No. Because its edited or the music is different than the aired version (I've been burned by that twice). The studios are clinging to a business model that no longer works.
re: music taste
Music taste is subjective. Just because you are too closed minded to like music by recent artists doesn't mean others are. Keep listening to that song for that 900th time that was playing when you first got laid - I like a little more variety.
Posted by: yoshi | Mar 3, 2008 7:51:28 PM
I suspect if anyone actually audited all the Ipods they would find 90%+ of the music on Ipods was copied from friends Ipods.
This should not be a mystery to anyone and it continues to amaze me that it seems to be.
Posted by: Bob A | Mar 3, 2008 8:09:31 PM
The new Nine Inch Nails has been released via download only. Its a collection of instrumentals, 36 in all. 'Ghosts I-IV' also feature guitarist Adrian Belew:
"The full version of the new Nine Inch Nails album, Ghosts I-IV, contains 36 songs split into four volumes. Reznor (and/or his representatives) uploaded the first volume into BitTorrent, where it can be downloaded free.
The entire 36-song version can be purchased digitally (in the MP3 format) for a mere $5 from Amazon MP3 or the band's website, NIN.com. At this point, the site has slowed to a crawl due to the tremendous response to Sunday's release -- Reznor says they're adding more servers to cope with demand.
Taken as a whole, this is a remarkably extensive release that leverages BitTorrent distribution and word-of-mouth promotion in a way that would be impossible with most record labels. By embracing the best things about digital and physical releases, Nine Inch Nails has advanced the dialogue that Radiohead began with In Rainbows."
http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/03/nine-inch-nails.html
http://www.nin.com/
http://ghosts.nin.com/
Posted by: Max Thrax | Mar 3, 2008 8:14:58 PM
Bob, you've explained my awesome, but unlistened to, collection of German thrash bands, electronica, and Eurotecho I got from by brother-in-law and sister.
Posted by: toady | Mar 3, 2008 8:16:01 PM
@ Dave
I'm so tired of the lame generalization that most albums only have one good track and the rest are awful.
If you find that to be the case with albums that you acquire then you need to get some better music taste.
Posted by: MRW | Mar 3, 2008 8:18:18 PM
Amen, Barry.
I'm 71 and I too refuse to buy a damn CD or DVD. My attitude towards the MPIA and the RIAA is "fuck you."
And no, I've never downloaded music illegally.
Posted by: John | Mar 3, 2008 8:23:53 PM
With today's music if you really like something, you can fire up Youtube and listen to it as your hearts content. Most of the time the novelty will wear off on that one song and there is nothing else worthwhile.
The couple times I have decided to try a whole album out, I go to FYE or whatever and the CD is $18.99 because it isn't in the teenie boppers top 20. I turn and walk out swearing under my breath.
Posted by: Joe | Mar 3, 2008 8:25:36 PM
It works something like this. Person buys Ipod. Person goes to friends house. Person uploads 80gb of music from friends computer while doing whatever. Repeat millions of times. Thank you Apple!
Posted by: Bob A | Mar 3, 2008 8:49:57 PM
The music biz is going full circle back to the days (50s? 40s?) when touring produced more income than recordings. The record companies as currently organized are just cd-selling companies.
Posted by: Doctor of Love | Mar 3, 2008 8:55:09 PM
Let's remember that the Record Companies' Business Model when switching to the CD format was largely built upon re-releasing their enormous back catalogs of pre-CD music to people who already had this music on other formats and charging them all over and a lot of $$$ to listen to music they had already bought all over again.
This strategy, however, can only work on music that was released before the CD format came out. It's hard to re-release music originally on CD as "first time on CD." So that golden goose has sort of been cooked.
As Barry and others have noted, the big mistake of the Record Companies is to think that they are in the business of selling us plastic discs. They are in the business of selling art. The medium is not the message. They f*ed up.
Posted by: Douglas Watts | Mar 3, 2008 9:00:43 PM
It's like sign painters complaining about neons taking away their business a few decades ago!
Posted by: D. | Mar 3, 2008 9:11:36 PM
In 2006 EMI, the world's fourth-biggest recorded-music company, invited some teenagers into its headquarters in London to talk to its top managers about their listening habits. At the end of the session the EMI bosses thanked them for their comments and told them to help themselves to a big pile of CDs sitting on a table. But none of the teens took any of the CDs, even though they were free. "That was the moment we realised the game was completely up," says a person who was there.
-- Economist, January 10th 2008
Posted by: Anonymous | Mar 3, 2008 9:17:25 PM
um, perhaps the music industry should have thought a bit longer about how wise it was to go digital. Digital means you can copy it perfectly -- digit for digit. Their engineered planned obsolescence seems to have come back to bite them in the ass. Would Ford please put out a car that could replicate itself perfectly -- I'd be set.
Posted by: nick power | Mar 3, 2008 9:20:36 PM
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