US CD sales plummet as people turn to digital music downloads
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 919 Registered: Oct-04 | http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070322121539.enwwmbqh&show_article=1 This is just one mans opinion, but it's fitting. |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 4353 Registered: Feb-05 | You're right it's one mans opinion. Certainly not mine. |
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Bronze Member Username: StryvnPost Number: 68 Registered: Dec-06 | The article is way off base IMHO. |
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Silver Member Username: StefanomVienna, VA United States Post Number: 443 Registered: Apr-06 | My opinion is simple: make better music, and I'll buy your CD. Somehow I don't think that if a band with the vision and talent of say, The Beatles, were around today, they would suffer all that much. As it is, most of what is produced now is crap. I have a total of maybe five CDs with music produced after 1980. Conversely, I've got Rubber Soul, Revolver, The White Album, One, Sgt Pepper, and well, you get the idea. |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 4355 Registered: Feb-05 | There is a lot of great new music. Problem is Americans are so "radio" focused and pop music focused that most Americans don't know what's available and really don't care. In a country where American Idol and all of it's associated dreck is a super hit, good new music goes by without notice. |
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Silver Member Username: ClaudermilkCA USA Post Number: 448 Registered: Sep-04 | Really a shame. I miss Tower already--they were the only place you could really find Jazz, Classical, and world music. I had to run from my local one before my stack of CDs grew too large--where else to find a store with a room dedicated to Jazz & Classical? Sigh. Like Art said, when the top-40 garbage & American Idol nonsense is all you can find, the good stuff becomes so overwhelmed it simply disappears. |
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Silver Member Username: StefanomVienna, VA United States Post Number: 444 Registered: Apr-06 | There might be a lot of great new music (depending on your definition of such) out there, but I don't think they are the ones that are suffering. |
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Bronze Member Username: StryvnPost Number: 71 Registered: Dec-06 | Britney Spears Christina Aguilera Pink Justin Timberlake Kevin Federline Hillary Duff Why are record sales down? |
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Silver Member Username: StefanomVienna, VA United States Post Number: 445 Registered: Apr-06 | Well, at least a Johnny Cash album is still in the top 10 sales of 2006. Might be a sign of some hope. |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 4358 Registered: Feb-05 | Stryvn, there has always been junk on the market. That's why we have brains so we can chose either to buy music or dreck. Can anyone think of pre 1980 garbage: The Partridge Family The Osmonds The Bay City Rollers Bobby Sherman and the list goes on and on! |
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Silver Member Username: StefanomVienna, VA United States Post Number: 446 Registered: Apr-06 | Yes, but what is the crap too good stuff ratio like now as compared with back then. Moreover, what was the crap to good stuff advertising ratio like now as compared with back then. |
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Bronze Member Username: StryvnPost Number: 72 Registered: Dec-06 | You're right, Art, there has always been garbage. But do you think there is a higher percentage of garbage today than there was when Captain and Tennille were having their Muskrat Menage? More choices.....or should I say more BETTER choices back then? And how much of the music back then was aimed at 13 year old girls as compared to today? Who spends more money on cd's...the 13 year old or guys like you and me? I'm not trying to be combative....I think it's an interesting topic. As is the music file swapping debate and the recording industry's response to it. But that's like politics and religion..... |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 4360 Registered: Feb-05 | "But do you think there is a higher percentage of garbage today than there was when Captain and Tennille were having their Muskrat Menage?" That's a good question Stryvn, and I don't think so. I buy new music weekly and find no shortage whatsoever. Naxos has made accessible to us music by composers that would not have been recorded just 20 yrs ago. Independent labels bring us fabulous new straight ahead and alternative jazz. I'm exploring Alt country and other roots music sub genres where new music is released all of the time. The good stuff is out there in abundance, you just have to explore. The top 40 has always been dominated by mass popular dreck with a few kernels of quality that accidentally squeeze through. I think that the demographic around who spends more on CD's will shift just like that of the one around who buys more vinyl. The real question is who buys more downloads. I don't think that the quality of music is killing cd's, it's the convenience of downloads. Stephen, I think you're stuck on popular music and to that end I agree with you, but pop ain't all that there is. Once you step away from a pop focused music conversation you'll see that there is a plethore of great new music out there. |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 920 Registered: Oct-04 | The music industry has done its best to force oversexed under-dressed hussies & semi-literate street thugs down our collective throats for 20+years now, it shouldn't surprise anyone that that same culture they helped to create couldn't care less about what their music, music that seems so central to so many of their lives (There is now a Hip-Hop Caucus on Capital Hill http://www.hiphopcaucus.org/ ), sounds like or o it is procured, legal or illegal? That's why I see it as fitting that CD sales are down. |
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Silver Member Username: StefanomVienna, VA United States Post Number: 447 Registered: Apr-06 | Art, I understand that there is more than pop out there, but I think it is pop that is primarily suffering from downloading. I don't see the demographic who are big into jazz, classical, etc being huge downloaders. Meanwhile on the pop front, we have gone from greats like Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, The Beatles, etc to....Justin Timberlake, Lil Jon, etc. |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 4361 Registered: Feb-05 | If it were only the junk you are referring to I would concur, unfortunately it isn't. |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 4362 Registered: Feb-05 | "I don't see the demographic who are big into jazz, classical, etc being huge downloaders." You're right, so what happens to that demographic when the downloading pop culture puts the cd out of business. Will we be force fed single song menus in the same way we see pop now being marketed. In the end pop culture always wins and those who are into other music are forced to the fringe and that's ok as long as I can still get my fix. BTW - Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin didn't chart very often with singles and if you look at albums there is still great music that is charting. Someone mentioned Johnny Cash, there is Lucinda Williams and many more. |
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Silver Member Username: StefanomVienna, VA United States Post Number: 449 Registered: Apr-06 | I'm just talking album sales, not singles charting. |
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Silver Member Username: StefanomVienna, VA United States Post Number: 450 Registered: Apr-06 | Sidenote: We should all pray that the only form music is distributed in won't be 128kbps "CD Quality" mp3s. |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 921 Registered: Oct-04 | If vinyl is still (somewhat) available, then CDs aren't going anywhere anytime soon. |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 4363 Registered: Feb-05 | I already stated that cd's won't go away...point being, how much new music will be available in that format. Stephen, I agree...yikes! |
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Bronze Member Username: StryvnPost Number: 73 Registered: Dec-06 | Art: There's great music out there still, no doubt. But you have to know where to find it. And you're not getting it from the radio. How much has the "single" hurt cd sales?? Nobody wants to buy the New Radicals entire cd of 8 or 9 crappy songs or whatever for $15 because they like the one track- You Get What You Give. Not when you can buy it online for a buck. Now is it the downloading or the fact that the rest of the albums sucks? (Side note...I don't know if the album sucks or not. Never heard it. But I have NEVER purchased a single online. Nor, probably, will I ever) If the rest of the album had some better songs would more people be willing to go out and buy the cd? When I hear something I like, I buy it. All of it. The whole cd. It is my opinion though, that the better songs are usually buried somewhere on the album under the radio fluff. Since I've Been Loving You not The Immigrant Song. |
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Bronze Member Username: StryvnPost Number: 74 Registered: Dec-06 | Another question Art- you said you buy music weekly and there's no shortage of good stuff. What are you buying? I'm sure it's not heard before of after Oops I Did It Again. Perhaps not heard on the radio at all? I'm not saying anything about your musical tastes. Maybe it says something about what the recording industry is trying to jam down our throats as "good music". And whatever happened to bands/performers ACTUALLY PLAYING INSTRUMENTS?? And I have 3 kids. 3 young kids. They are into the Beatles and Pink Floyd and Michael Buble and Zappa and John Prine. Why? Because that's what they hear at home, I suppose. My kids don't know MTV exists. What will this mean for them later on when they have their own stuff? I know plenty of people who don't own ANY cd's or stereo equipment(what's wrong with these people???). Where are their kids getting their influence from? I'm not saying anything at all about how I or anybody else raises their kids....I just think what they hear at home does play into what might sell 15 years from now. I could be wrong. |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 4364 Registered: Feb-05 | Oh goodness Stryvn I buy all kinds of good stuff. This month I picked up a half a dozen recent releases on Naxos, Lucinda Williams, the latest from Russell Gunn, which is a great Miles Davis tribute...but redone...really redone. The latest Tomasz Stanko album and many many more. |
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Bronze Member Username: StryvnPost Number: 75 Registered: Dec-06 | What's your favorite Lucinda Williams disc? I don't have any. But I should. |
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Bronze Member Username: StryvnPost Number: 76 Registered: Dec-06 | I don't know if you're familiar with Stanley Jordan or not, but check him out. www.stanleyjordan.com This may actually tie into your discussion on "musicality" somewhat as he is a big believer in music therapy. Some interesting thoughts there. I doubt he sells a lot of cd's. Good stuff. I have them all. |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 4365 Registered: Feb-05 | I like all of Lucinda's cd's but the most complete package is the "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road Deluxe Edition". It includes a fabulous live disc. I am familar with Stanley Jordan and respect his ability. |
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Gold Member Username: Stu_pittIrvington, New York USA Post Number: 1645 Registered: May-05 | I agree with a lot of points made previously. Keep in mind that the author stated that CDs make up 90% of sales. That's 10% split up between digital downloads, digital devices like flash cards, vinyl, and so on. Could part of the decline be poeple buying more vinyl? Also, does DVD-A, SACD, Dual-Disc, and HDCD fall under the CD cartgory? A big part of people downloading single tracks IMO is the price of CDs. Best Buy has good prices - usually between $10 - $15. I think people stopped shopping at Tower Records because they charged absurd prices. Average CDs were $15-$20, and most are $17.99. FYE, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Coconuts, and Sam Goody's (am I missing any others?) all charge about the same prices as Tower did. This is OK if they're selling special or limited editions, or import versions. Take a look at Dark Side of the Moon. Best Buy sells it at times for $9.99, and up to $12.99. All versions are the same price. FYE charges $17.99 for the redbook, and $19.99 for the SACD. Sometimes the redbook version goes on sale for $15.99. My main point is that the music stores are charging way too much. Most CDs are $17.99 at the chain music stores, and $12.99 at Best Buy and Target. I always wonder why people are shopping in FYE and the like when they can buy the same product for a lot cheaper (relatively speaking). Take a look at their DVD prices too. Same thing. The only way I'll buy anything at the music stores is if I can't find it anywhere else. No wonder Tower went under. Good riddance. FYE is next. |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 4372 Registered: Feb-05 | Good points Stu. I shop for classical music at a local Eugene music store. However I buy most of my other music from Amazon, BMG and Your Music. I rarely pay more than $7-$10 for music. Occasionally when I buy from Amazon and the piece either is never discounted or seems to have hit bottom and is still high will I buy it and pay more. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 6457 Registered: Dec-04 | But Stu, these box stores have the microwaves in droves to offset the cost of the music. Music stores, thankfully, do not hawk toaster ovens. Hey, it's the same product, but music stores, good ones anyhow, have a vast selection of music, at a price. |
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Gold Member Username: Stu_pittIrvington, New York USA Post Number: 1647 Registered: May-05 | My post may be a little misleading after reading it again. I've got no problem at all with a Mom and Pop music store selling music for a few dollars more. If there were a local Mom and Pop music store within a reasonable distance, I'd happily shop there. In NYC there are a few very good ones. They also carry Vinyl. I just have a problem with the national chain music stores' prices. Also Nuck, the national chain music stores sell other things that can make up the cost as well. They sell mp3 players, mini stereos, accessories, music collectables, video games and systems, etc. I always wonder why at Christmas time, FYE in the mall is mobbed. They usually have the velvet rope maze filled with poeple holding a stack of CDs and DVDs priced far higher than other places. Then again, Best Buy has a few too many people buying stereo equipment too. |
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Bronze Member Username: StryvnPost Number: 78 Registered: Dec-06 | Tower was way overpriced. There was no Tower Records where I am but while on business to Manhattan once I stopped in one...was there for all of 2 minutes. The prices chased me out the door. Yes, they had a pretty large selection it looked like. But, sheesh, you could get better prices online and have the thing delivered to your door. When I'm not ordering cd's off the net, I buy at BB and a local mom and pop with good prices. I've been going to the mom and pop for 20+ years. They have a nice selection of vinyl, lots of imports and would always special order stuff you couldn't readily find. And a head shop in the back. With the internet, I don't need them to special order stuff anymore...but I still do. I like to go there and hang out and talk tunes. They don't have the head shop anymore. And I would never buy stereo equipment from the same place I got my dishwasher or garbage disposal unit or fondue fountain. |
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New member Username: BadassfajitaPost Number: 7 Registered: Jan-07 | This may offend some, but oh well! To me, music = youth. The pop trash that most are mentioning now are popular with the young folk, just as the Beatles and such were popular with you people in the 60's and 70's. Heck I even see it with myself, someone who loved 80's and early-mid 90's music including rap--now I can't stand the crap thats on the radio. Its just a sign that I'm getting OLLLLLD and you guys are already there!   |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 4378 Registered: Feb-05 | No BF, I'm old....Nuck's young he still listens to shite!!  |
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Bronze Member Username: StryvnPost Number: 79 Registered: Dec-06 | I'm 38. Me and my Dad are going to the Roger Waters gig in a few months. Does this mean Rogers Waters playing DSOTM in it's entirety is not music? |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 4379 Registered: Feb-05 | I hope you're not asking me I have the Roger Waters DVD. But hey I'm old!!!! |
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Silver Member Username: GavdawgUpstate, New York Post Number: 461 Registered: Nov-06 | I am 23, and listen to almost anything from the overproduced top 40 pop, some hip-hop and rap, R&B to country, jazz, smooth jazz, alternative, rock, and classical vocal. My music taste is a mishmosh of almost everything as you can see. However, the recording quality can't outright suck if I am going to listen to my recording constantly and be happy. On iTunes... sometimes I will download a song or two from an album that I don't want the whole thing of. Of course the quality isn't as good, but I am not going to pay $10 for a CD with only 2 songs I like on it. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 6466 Registered: Dec-04 | You pickin' on me, you old frat?(word puzzle) Indeed, my music selection is sadly lacking. Off to the bargain bins, I suppose. |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 922 Registered: Oct-04 | In NYC (I'm sure it's the similar elsewhere) people, young & old, buy what must amount to millions of dollars with of bogus CD & DVDs from street peddlers. I've always been astonished how seemingly law abiding people have NO problem stealing movies & music? |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 4386 Registered: Feb-05 | Ya I agree Christopher. It's not that way here in rural Oregon and I really haven't seen it much in the NW at all (incl Portland and Seattle) though I'm sure it exists. |
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Silver Member Username: GavdawgUpstate, New York Post Number: 492 Registered: Nov-06 | I am still glad that Amy Winehouse managed to find her way over here. Different, and definatly not for kids, but a refreshing change from what usually is on the new releases or "top sales" racks at the music stores. |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 923 Registered: Oct-04 | Oregon sounds like my kinda country. |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 4413 Registered: Feb-05 | C'mon out Chris I'll show ya the audio ropes...! |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 924 Registered: Oct-04 | Believe me Art, if I could be assured of earning a living out yonder, I would be on the next train out. |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 4417 Registered: Feb-05 | I understand... |
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Gold Member Username: Stu_pittIrvington, New York USA Post Number: 1657 Registered: May-05 | You wouldn't miss the peace and quite of NYC Chris? The absurd cost of housing? The great weather? Well at least NYC never gets boring. If someone's bored here, they lack serious immagination. Then again, with the previously stated cost of living, does any person with an average income have the time to do anything but work? One of these days... |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 6514 Registered: Dec-04 | CM, what's your scene? You want out? |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 4418 Registered: Feb-05 | If you get bored in Portland you lack interest in music...not a problem here I'm sure. |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 925 Registered: Oct-04 | This is not a matter of music, although music is in as sorry a state here as I imagine it is everywhere else these days. Felons that rhyme, shrieking soft-core p0rn stars, and Bush impersonators are just not my cup tea. NYC is in the cross-hairs of every jihadist on the planet, Southern Brooklyn, where I live, lost the cold war, and anyone who had the means of escaping the flood of legal & ill-legal immigrants did so a long time ago, Northern Brooklyn has all but been annexed by Manhattan, and unless you are a card-carrying member of the International Workers Party, it's just hard to fit in. Traffic is a nightmare, parking is worse, a decent one bedroom apartment cost well over 1/4-million dollars. On the other hand we do have some of best pizza on earth. |
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Bronze Member Username: StryvnPost Number: 88 Registered: Dec-06 | Having spent a few months on business in Manhattan a couple of weeks at a time in 2004, I can say that you have my sympathy, Chris. It is a GREAT place to visit. Plenty to do and see and GREAT food all over the place. But then it's nice to get back home....where downtown consists of a biker bar, a bank and a hardware store. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 6528 Registered: Dec-04 | CM, consider Canada for a few years. You can have the big city, or a smaller place, like London, Ontario.(500k). Or the middle of nowhere, 45 mins from Michigan, like me. You'd better cook, cause the restaurant scene ain't happenin' here. The restaurant also pumps gas. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 6529 Registered: Dec-04 | You know it's a small place when you go to the washroom and have to turn on a light. |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 926 Registered: Oct-04 | ...yeah Nuck, but then again, I'd have the Queens face on my money, no thanks. Don't get me wrong 'fellas, I'm a city boy, I can't imagine NOT living in this city, but I'm being forced out, I'm like the last of the Mohegans. The city is a microcosim of our nation, or like GM, or Social Security for that matter, IMHO, it's in free fall; a failure of leadership, elected & civic. You would think after 9/11 we might have got our priorities straight. Instead, we were told "go out & shop", "don't cancel your vacation", "continue to be tolerant". The same cast of useful idiots (on both sides of the isle) that were in charge before 9/11 are in charge today. Problems are not addressed until it too late. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 6541 Registered: Dec-04 | So how do you fix it? Run away or run for office? |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 927 Registered: Oct-04 | If I thought there was a viable political movement, or if I thought I had the organizational skills, or money to start one, I'd say stay & fight, but I think it's time to head for the hills. When you meet someone in the big city today, there's a presumption that you share the same, or at least similar, values? When you don't, as I often do, your persona non grata. "Hate is not a family value man!" I'd be happy if at least we shared the same language. |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 928 Registered: Oct-04 | you're, not your. Sorry. |
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Gold Member Username: Stu_pittIrvington, New York USA Post Number: 1659 Registered: May-05 | Head for the hills of Westchester. Sure they're obnoxious. Self centered. But there's a little more elbow room. More parking space. More peace and quiet. More people speaking English. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 6548 Registered: Dec-04 | CM, find what you need. You are obviously a creature of the city...but look a little further. There is more, unless you need the human closeness that you find in the city. |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 4421 Registered: Feb-05 | "The same cast of useful idiots (on both sides of the isle) that were in charge before 9/11 are in charge today." Amen to that Christopher. |
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Bronze Member Username: Golden_earPost Number: 14 Registered: Mar-07 | NORAH JONES, Her 1st and 2nd CDs sold 18 million and 20 million respectively. Good music always sells, Billy |
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