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White Collar Criminals

ALBUM SALES WAY DOWN IN ’08; UNSURPRISINGLY, RECORD BUSINESS MORALE ALSO DOWN

 Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 12:32pm by

riaa toilet paperAlbum sales in the United States have taken a big dip so far in 2008; according to Nielsen Soundscan [via Digital Music News], aggregated physical and digital album sales dropped 11% from the same period in 2007.

Though digital album sales are up 34% from a year ago and comprise 15% of the overall album market, the jump is not nearly enough to make up for lagging physical sales. Making matters worse (for the record industry, anyway), single digital track downloads moved up 30% to 524.7 million units. While this may seem encouraging on the surface, the record industry is losing money on the lower profit margins that digital singles offer compared to full albums.

What this means: no one wants to pay for music!! I can’t remember where I read this, but I recently saw that something like 40% of ISP bandwidth is used by illegal downloaders. But make it easy and affordable, and the people will come.

I’ve harped on this point in the past, but the record business needs to catch up if it hopes to survive. You can wax all you want about how those who steal are hurting the business — and you’re right — but the fact of the matter is, the CONSUMER determines value. This is a truism of all business. For so long the labels controlled the means of distribution and there was not a choice in the matter of price; but the Internet has democratized the playing field, and the consumers have spoken loud and clear that a CD is NOT worth $14.99. So, label folk: get with it! Introduce a subscription service, an all-you-can-eat buffet at an affordable monthly price, and the people will come flocking.

-VN

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  • J cantrell

    NAME 1 TRULY GREAT ALBUM OF 2008 THAT IS WORTH SPENDING MY GAS MONEY ON AND MAYBE JUST MAYBE I WILL BUY IT…

    THE GREAT WHITE HOPE FOR 2008 HASNT HAPPENED YET AND THE YEARS IS HALF OVER

  • J cantrell

    ITS ALSO POSSIBLE THAT SINCE US METAL HEADS PURCHASE ALBUMS AT MOM AND POP STORES THAT DO NOT COUNT TOWARDS THESE SOUND SCAN REPORTS BECAUSE THEY DONT HAVE THE THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS REQUIRED TO BE SET UP FOR S S REPORTING

  • Guill

    I totally agree w/ VN

    –Introduce a subscription service, an all-you-can-eat buffet at an affordable monthly price, and the people will come flocking.–

    include all kinds of metal – not just your average stuff -

    I’d sign up right now

  • Dr J

    Monthly subscription fees are the future.

  • d.o.g.o.b.g.y.n.

    “I’ve harped on this point in the past, but the record business needs to catch up if it hopes to survive.”

    The record labels are clearly far more content to sit around, do things the antiquated way, and play victim instead of getting off their asses and doing something that doesn’t involve bitching about the economic principle of consumer demand.

  • http://noyokono.blogspot.com noyokono

    The monthly smörgåsbord plan hasn’t worked thus far due to a number of factors, not the least of which being the reluctance of the music business. More troubling to me, however, is the issue of artist compensation in such a scheme.

    This post has inspired me to write at length about my proposed solution for the majors to stay afloat. More to come at my blog shortly…

  • Sammy

    If you heard that 40% of all ISP bandwidth is used for music (illegal) downloading, then how can 95% be used for porn?

  • http://noyokono.blogspot.com noyokono

    @Sammy: maybe that’s 40% of the remaining 5%?

  • http://www.idiotfreeamerica.net centralscrutinizer

    “…something like 40% of ISP bandwidth is used by illegal downloaders….”
    That sounds like one of the many numbers Comcast pulls out of their asses to justify their idiotic behavior. According to most 3rd-party sources, that 40% is actually legal streaming content.
    I know, it’s beside the point; it still costs the labels US$3.25 to make, market, and ship a CD. The technology was paid for 15 years ago. When the major labels go back to charging US$8 for a new release, I’ll go back to the old way of buying them at a store.

  • attackmole

    I don’t think an affordable service will beat out downloading. People have been downloading too long, it’s gotten too ingrained. Going from paying nothing to paying something is not something that consumers go for. Maybe a subscription service will work, but I’m even kinda doubtful of that. I just see things getting way worse before they start getting better.

  • Tommy Leebowitz

    Comcast can suck it, centralscrutinizer!

  • http://stuntgranny.blogspot.com Dave Hoffa

    Vinyl is coming around, once again, as the best music format.

  • http://lordsofmetal.nl Fleischberg

    I don’t think record companies would take risks, they just put the price up higher.
    As for me, I always buy/order cd’s at the nearest metalstore or the internet and never downloaded anything, and I’m one of the few people in my hometown that actually buy’s cd’s.

  • jaime

    “Vinyl is coming around, once again, as the best music format.”

    I prefer Edison cylinders. they provide a “true warmth” that you just can’t get with vinyl, I guess only my sophisticated audiophile ears can notice and appreciate.

    Or, more likely, digital music is the clearest, cleanest source for music.

  • Revrant

    Well, I got Indestructible for ten dollars, the only reason I did that was so I could have a physical copy with all the liner notes and what not that very day it came out. Otherwise I prefer to buy a chunk of the physical albums from some of these bulk music stores at great prices and then rip them into lossless as I really don’t care for the DRM and low quality most of the subscription and iTunes-esque services offer.

  • http://noyokono.blogspot.com noyokono

    @Revrant: Regarding DRM, I’m a big advocate for Amazon’s MP3 store. No proprietary nonsense, though it might not meet your needs if you have enough of your hearing still to tell the difference between MP3 and FLAC. (Some of us spent too much time at concerts and in clubs…)

  • http://www.aversionline.com AVERSIONLINE

    I disagree that new models wouldn’t overcome free downloading. Will they eliminate it? Hell no, but I would spend hundreds of dollars tomorrow, and probably every damn month, if all labels/bands, old and new, woke the fuck up and digitally distributed their material (in print and rare, out of print classics) – without DRM via Amazon, eMusic, iTunes, on their own, etc. – for fair, low prices. I mean, think of all the forums and blogs and shit out there posting rare old albums. If that shit was all available for like $5 an album or something at a high bitrate, don’t you think people would fucking pay? It’d be much easier to find the stuff, way faster, far better quality, etc.

    Easier said than done, I know, but I can’t help but think that shitloads of people are actually losing easy money right now. And if they don’t care, fine, even better, fuck greed and just let the music be there for people to experience, but… there are just soooooo many awesome albums out there in the world… if they were all available as mp3′s… there are a lot of people that would pay if the price was right (i.e. not charging the same for downloads as for a CD).

    A damn shame…

  • http://truthinshredding.blogspot.com/ laurie monk

    >but the Internet has democratized the playing field,
    Since when has the theft by illegal sharing and downloading of copyrighted material been democratizing the playing field?

    European law makers are already beginning to act

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/06/europe_drafts_law_to_disconnect_filesharers/

  • http://www.conorschaefer.com/blog/ Conor

    Wow, this post sure got the commenters out!

    Regarding AVERSION’s comment: Word. Give me a whole album in FLAC for $2-5 and you have yourself a deal!

    Just was at a concert, saw Psycroptic. I bought two t-shirts and didn’t have enough money for a CD, so the vocalist (working his own merch table, mind you) just gave me the CD for the change I had. Said he wanted me to have it.

    And you know what? I’m gonna buy more Psycroptic shit now. WAKE UP, RIAA!

  • http://www.myspace.com/corrosivefaterox Corrosive Fate

    Anybody ever look at the Indian market?

    They combine the music and movie markets together, YEs they do make horribly gay musicals thatll even make elton john’s stomach churn….But they are rolling in the cash.

    By mass marketing the two biggest forms of media, TOGETHER nonetheless, how hard can it be to sell stuff? Ever notice that movies are downloaded less then music?

    Or you don’t even need to make gay musicals, just have metal soundtracks, which is probably the better idea. How many movies would be better if you heard Opeth or something in the background?

  • 36Thoughtless

    I don’t know about all this: I still love having the physical cd.

  • http://www.myspace.com/corrosivefaterox Corrosive Fate

    obviously the cd will always be there, but just saying that that artists need to expand.

    I feel like most artists/labels would be horrible investors because they don’t know how to diversify. Advertising the same lame shit on mtv and myspace just won’t cut it. Look to other forms of media, like i said, expand to Hollywood.

    Or even porn for christ sakes. I rather hear blastbeats than the same cheesy almost-funky bass groove. Imagine hearing Behemoth’s “Slaves Shall Serve” in a bondage porno. I don’t know if I’ll be turned on but I’ll be extremely amused.

  • http://www.myspace.com/corrosivefaterox Corrosive Fate

    actually now that I think about it, I probably would be turned on lol

  • Revrant

    noyokono: Yes, being a geek myself I know all about that service, it and the new Napster are great stuff, but the quality is pretty easy to tell between MP3s and Lossless when using good speakers really, the thing I find impossible is the difference between the various lossy formats, and the difference between the various lossless formats as well.

  • concerned metalhead

    SEE NOT ONE POSTING ABOUT A GREAT ALBUM FROM 2008?!!!

  • MULLETHEAD MOE

    GEEZ

  • http://www.sithomeandrot.com/celebs/ manny

    the labels have been cultivating a ‘singles centric’ model since the end of the ‘alternative’ boom of the early ’90′s and they are now reaping the ‘benefits’

    No one wants to pay for a piece of shit album that has 1 or maybe 2 good tracks on it. People have done that for years and illegal DL’ing was a chance for revenge for all those shit albums people bougth thinking the song on the radio was indicitive of the overall quality.

    I still buy plenty of CD’s (I like the booklets, I’m a sucker for ‘em) I buy DL shit from Amazon too, however, I can’t remember the last time I haven’t DL’ed at least a few tracks to determine if it was worth it or not.
    Imeem.com and myspace have made it possible to stream without having to DL which is good, but the fact remains, I rarely buy shit anymore unless I’ve had a chance to fully preview it.

    I doubt I’m unique in that stance.

  • Mike Malice

    A good album from 2008, Veil of Maya.

  • Muttweiler

    I don’t know about the rest of you folks but why should you have to pay $8.99 to download any old turd when the same album is like $2-3 on ebay where the shipping then makes it cost prohibitive. I mean how much does it really cost to send shit from their server to yours. Make an album download $5-7 dollars maximum to make me forget about not having a booklet or put the lyrics and liner notes on a digital format. Anyways I’ve been mega cheap ass and been using Pepsi points to buy some of my downloads on Amazon!

  • Sammy

    The “singles” format for selling songs is not a new concept. Those little 45s from yesteryear were the precursor to today’s download singles, only now you have the freedom to pick and choose (and preview) the “singles” you want. It’s odd how the current generation (whatever we’re calling it these days) thinks it invented everything that’s new. Take a look at every 13-year-old’s shaggy haircut, then look at a yearbook from 1977.

  • Trainwreck

    @noyokono

    If the bitrate is high enough, no-one can tell the difference between flac and mp3. Hats off to Amazon for selling VBR 0 encodes…transparent to everyone (if you think you can tell the difference between a VBR 0 encode and a lossless source, I suggest you do a double blind ABX test so you can prove yourself wrong)

  • http://www.myspace.com/curseyourname Burnt

    Put out your own cd and then you’ll really have a hatred for this. Check out the band I play in, “Curse Your Name”. We put out a cd on itunes, smartpunk and all those places for $10. I think you can get it on Amazon for $8. It’s disheartening, I think we may have sold 100, I doubt it. There is some group of dickheads that play a game with other dickhead groups to see how many torrent sites they can put shit on and then brag about it. Anyway, every motherfucker in the world has this album now, and we will never be able to get a deal now off of it. Yay! Check it out, you will like it, I promise.

    Burntman

  • Revrant

    You realize your band is small and absolutely nothing in the business and you can basically never sell something yourself, and it’s just arrogant of you to blame torrenters(I might add there are NO torrents involving your band).

  • Burnt

    are you fucked? it’s on every site!

  • alex montenegro

    Thats easy (naming at least one album worth buying in 2008)….

    The new Oasis record which is due in October. The boys still make great music, the only band surviving the 90s… hell it’s Oasis. I don’t buy records either! Unless it’s Oasis – I dont care.

  • http://?GoogleiswhatIspendthemosttimeon Nathan Sanders

    WYLDSKY is coming…but I hear their stuff will not be easy to get until Jan 2009, so J. Cantrell maybe correct…a great Rock album usually resonates with all music listeners, dynamic. I have not heard anything, except for a few sneak peaks of those guys in No. Cal bay area and the person/company who is launching them sold a computer company in Silicon Valley because he loved their music so much (heard on a local radio station interview last month). I don’t think people on this site listen to oasis, I sure in the heck don’t, very cliche messages and boring…all of us on this site want to hear some great new rock music!