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Music Sales Fall for 7th Consecutive Year

Thursday, July 05, 2007 | 10:24 PM

in Consumer Spending | Digital Media | Music

We now enter the 7th year of CD sale declines, and nary a person in the industry is willing to speaketh the truth ('cepting Lefsetz the pariah).

Forthwith, an outsider from the East was compelled to do so. He seeth what the pros do not, for they art dumbeth beyond their years, and yeah, have shite for whence there should be brains, and know not the difference between thine own arse and thine elbow:

Hence, from outside the industry, he removeth the scales from thine eyes, and he said unto thee -- GO FORTH AND SLASH PRICES BEFORETH ITS TOO LATE, YOU STUPID BASTARDS.

And lo, they heard but the did not understand. Instead, they chose to lobby for copyright extensions and engage in pederasty, but only on the weekends.

Sayeth unto me the truth, oh wise ass from the East, from outside the industry, so we may find redemption and rejoice once again in the land of profitability and unit sales growth.

Nay, sayeth the wise ass. Your products are over-priced, your clients have lost interest, your promotional machinary hath groundeth unto dust. Ye are like the elder woman, unable to conceive, yet unaware that your time hath past. I say unto thee like the Lord said unto Adam and Abraham and Moses: You best find a way to sell your product for half of what you are charging now -- $6.99-9.99 retail at mosteth -- or else you will continue your slide into oblivion, where you will be forced to walk the dusty earth, lost, hungry, with unslaked thirst, unable to get a good table at The Foundry on Melrose . . .

~~~

I have been saying this for more than a decade, but what the hell, let's repeat it one more time: CDs as a product are not competitively priced. People with limited attention and other interests simply no longer care about buying music all that much.

It is not just that DVDs are so much a better value -- that is merely the starter issue. CDs are competing with multi-player games, with blogs, with social networking sites, with online games, Wiis, YouTube, and the rest of the tubes on the internet.

That's before we even get to the issue of free downloads, which are not a legitimate business model in the eyes of the labels. As to the 1000s upon 1000s of artists freely streaming their music on MySpace to fans, well, they will give you a different answer as to what sort of a business model free is.

A few excerpts:

Variety:

"Despite a massive surge in digital music sales last year, the popularity of the fledgling market is still not making up for the slide in physical products, such as CDs.

According to figures released by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the global recorded music market in 2006 slipped by 5% year on year to $19.6 billion last year, down from $20.7 billion in 2005.

The gloomy news marks the recorded music industry's seventh consecutive year of falling sales, according to IFPI's annual Recording Industry in Numbers publication, as piracy continues to ravage the business around the world.

Sales of physical product fell 11% to $17.5 billion in 2006 as consumers turn away from purchasing CDs in favor of getting their music through other means."

The 85% increase in digital downloads (to $2.1 billion), plus mobile phone ringtone revenues, failed to make up the difference.

I love this line "The results reflect an industry in transition," said IFPI chairman and nitwit John Kennedy. An industry in transition. Kinda like VHS tapes are.

Billboard noted:

"Despite the global decline, 12 countries -- Japan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Ireland, Argentina, Indonesia, Hungary, Malaysia, India, China and Venezuela -- posted growth in their respective recorded music markets during the year.

The top 10 respective recorded music markets in the world last year were the U.S., Japan, the U.K., Germany, France, Canada, Australia, Italy, Spain and Mexico.

On digital value alone, the top 10 markets were the U.S., Japan, the U.K., South Korea, France, Germany, Canada, China, Italy and Australia."

Sadly amusing . . .

Sources:
Music biz sales off for a seventh year: study
Lars Brandle
Billboard, Thu Jul 5, 1:45 AM
http://tinyurl.com/2rv4ax

Music sales continue to fall
Digital fails to replace lost CD revenue
GORDON MASSON
Variety, Wed., Jul. 4, 2007, 6:54am PT
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117968039.html?categoryid=19&cs=1

Universal in Dispute With Apple Over iTunes
JEFF LEEDS
NYT, July 2, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/02/business/media/02universal.html

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Comments

add, of course, the Looooong awaited death of Rap....
Kids seem to have finally had their fill after hundreds of scowly self involved creeps with "Lil" in front of their names have come and gone over the last 20 (gulp) years....

good riddance... to them, the short sighted industry that spawned/marketed them and the lure of the "guaranteed" revenue stream that helped keep america "stuck on stupid" for so long.

Posted by: brion | Jul 5, 2007 11:06:59 PM

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