CNN Money: Music's lost decade: Sales cut in half

[greenspandan]

It is. It just doesn't get the same enthusiasm. Go support it.

well, that's my point.

i do go see local bands when i can. recently i went up to the sidebar in baltimore for a show. back in 1999 i could go to pheer.com and see 30 show listings for a given weekend. i'm lucky if i can find out about 1 or 2 now, and i've been trying. i'm pointing it out not to complain about the scene, just to point out that music is not in the same place in young peoples' lives as it was. (and therefore blaming piracy is missing a huge cultural shift)

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Everyone is really missing the point. This is a business issue more than it is an artistic issue. Arguing the merits of music in 2010 versus, I don't know, the glory days of the Spice Girls is just silly.

I'm not even sure a Netflix type service will work, because I don't know how you could do that and reward the individual songwriters and artists in any way that really works for them. Would I be renting music under that system (like I am with DVDs)? Or would I be borrowing it?

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

well, that's my point.

i do go see local bands when i can. recently i went up to the sidebar in baltimore for a show. back in 1999 i could go to pheer.com and see 30 show listings for a given weekend. i'm lucky if i can find out about 1 or 2 now, and i've been trying. i'm pointing it out not to complain about the scene, just to point out that music is not in the same place in young peoples' lives as it was.

For the millionth time, this is a business issue, but a artistic issue. Those local shows were filled with people who found out about them at indie record stores, indie radio stations, and indie magazines. All of those concepts are dead as door nails right now.

It takes dollars to do everything - even put a band into a coffee shop or empty loft.

[greenspandan]

Everyone is really missing the point. This is a business issue more than it is an artistic issue. Arguing the merits of music in 2010 versus' date=' I don't know, the glory days of the Spice Girls is just silly.[/quote']

no no no, i am not saying music was better then. i'm saying music was central to kids lives then. today it's just not. sales are down not because music sucks, or because kids are stealing it, it's because kids just plain don't acquire huge music collections like they once did.

[Blackest Eyes]

What if you want to play your music on a device that doesn't support the brand of DRM your music is under? What if the DRM provider shuts down? (which has happened a couple times. Answer: your music turns into a pile of bits.)

All DRM does is prevent information from persisting. It prevents you from copying it into another form that can be preserved. DRM ultimately kills information, which should be an anathema.

Fair enough. You make some good points.

It is funny to me that so many people complain about there only being 3-4 good songs on many albums these days. It sounds to me like a lot of people just listen to bad music. If an album has 3-4 good songs on it, obviously the "artist" is not that fantastic to begin with or they gotten incredibly boring and predictable. There are so many more deserving artists who are making music that are incredibly under appreciated by the majority of people.

If record labels got back to promoting artists who truly are artists and deserving of recognition, we would see a huge increase in album sales. But instead, the music industry is obliterating itself by promoting people for all the wrong reasons.

[Captain Wiggles]

I'm not even sure a Netflix type service will work' date=' because I don't know how you could do that and reward the individual songwriters and artists in any way that really works for them. Would I be renting music under that system (like I am with DVDs)? Or would I be borrowing it?[/quote']

I agree a Netflix type service wouldn't work. Actually I think iTunes and other services do a good job. Their not the problem. The problem is Foos downloading/uploading albums for free. There seems to be no solution for it at the moment. Which is why all sales are down in the industry.

[Koolblue13]

Everyone is really missing the point. This is a business issue more than it is an artistic issue. Arguing the merits of music in 2010 versus' date=' I don't know, the glory days of the Spice Girls is just silly.[/quote']

I agree. I just think the product being sold is over priced trash.

I'm not saying Prince should be making Curtis Mayfield type of success, just that maybe Prince shouldn't be making Price type success.:pfft:

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

no no no, i am not saying music was better then. i'm saying music was central to kids lives then. today it's just not. sales are down not because music sucks, or because kids are stealing it, it's because kids just plain don't acquire huge music collections like they once did.

I disagree. Granted, I only know, like, five teenagers currently. But they all have larger music collections at age 16 than I did at age 35. And I spent my 20s living like a charcter in a Nick Hornby novel.

The difference? These kids didn't pay a damn cent for their music. They pass flash drives around with hundreds of songs on them. And then randomly delete the fifty they don't like.

The only thing that has changed is that teenagers - and let's face it, that's who has to buy music in order for the music industry to thrive - have grown up in a world where "paying for music" is seen as crazy.

My neighbor's teenager loves Blink 182 to a degree that is somewhat scary. And she has never given the band a dime.

[Captain Wiggles]

no no no, i am not saying music was better then. i'm saying music was central to kids lives then. today it's just not. sales are down not because music sucks, or because kids are stealing it, it's because kids just plain don't acquire huge music collections like they once did.

Sorry but Torrents made getting large collections of music for free insanley easy.

[Blackest Eyes]

Sorry but Torrents made getting large collections of music for free insanley easy.

More than torrents. The Internet as a whole did this. But the sense of entitlement that people feel for this stuff is just freaking astounding. They think they are sticking it to the man, but really they are just hurting hard working individuals wallets and will to make music.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

I agree. I just think the product being sold is over priced trash.

I'm not saying Prince should be making Curtis Mayfield type of success, just that maybe Prince shouldn't be making Price type success.:pfft:

First of all....Prince?

I still don't think you get it. Prince made a ton of money in 1984, because he had 5 million fans and every single one of them bought his album, went to his movie, and then attended his concerts.

Flo-rida might have as many fans as Prince. (Is Flo-rida still popular? I've lost track.) The difference is his fans get his music for free and watch his videos on Youtube.

The guy brags about ring tone sales. Because that is his cash cow.

[Captain Wiggles]

I agree. I just think the product being sold is over priced trash.

I'm not saying Prince should be making Curtis Mayfield type of success, just that maybe Prince shouldn't be making Price type success.:pfft:

Lol, that's Princes/other artists own fault. He should have never taken all the sex out of his act. His halftime show 3 years ago was great. To bad it's last time you'll see the old Prince. His new stuff is just garbage, like that junk he wrote for the Vikings.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

More than torrents. The Internet as a whole did this. But the sense of entitlement that people feel for this stuff is just freaking astounding. They think they are sticking it to the man, but really they are just hurting hard working individuals wallets and will to make music.

This is bound to happen to movies in the next ten years.

News and music are free now. That's just the way it is. Movies will be next. (The porn industry is already in steep decline because there is now no reason on earth to ever buy porn again. Everything you could ever want is free).

Once someone figures out how to quickly download a two-hour movie in HD and there are drives big enough to store 500 of them, it's over.

[Koolblue13]

First of all....Prince?

I still don't think you get it. Prince made a ton of money in 1984' date=' because he had 5 million fans and every single one of them bought his album, went to his movie, and then attended his concerts.

Flo-rida might have as many fans as Prince. (Is Flo-rida still popular? I've lost track.) The difference is his fans get his music for free and watch his videos on Youtube.

The guy brags about ring tone sales. Because that is his cash cow.[/quote']

I just threw Prince out there, because I thought the comparison might be funny, but I think you get the basic point.

I have no idea who or what a Flo-rida is.

I'm a tad out of the loop and stopped watching MTV almost immediately, just out of principle.

[RonYoungEra]

WOW you need to get out more. Good example would be to go see Sound Tribe Sector 9 at the 9:30 club in a month. Young people are just into different genres of music today. Most arn't interested in what us old folks would call a traditional band. They think most bands play grandpa music. They usually just want to:

:dj:

did not expect to see a fellow sts9 fan on here..kudos!..going to see 'em in seattle on the 20th..can't wait!

[Koolblue13]

This is bound to happen to movies in the next ten years.

News and music are free now. That's just the way it is. Movies will be next. (The porn industry is already in steep decline because there is now no reason on earth to ever buy porn again. Everything you could ever want is free).

Once someone figures out how to quickly download a two-hour movie in HD and there are drives big enough to store 500 of them' date=' it's over.[/quote']

It's already coming, thank goodness. Home theater systems are cheaper than ever, my couch is comfy, the popcorn is cheaper and I can smoke and drink what ever the hell I want.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

It's already coming, thank goodness. Home theater systems are cheaper than ever, my couch is comfy, the popcorn is cheaper and I can smoke and drink what ever the hell I want.

Yes, but you are still paying for the movie in some form.

In ten years, it will all be free. You will still be paying then, because you will be an old guy. (My dad bought far more CDs than I did last year).

Your children or grandchildren will think that paying for a movie is stupid.

[Captain Wiggles]

More than torrents. The Internet as a whole did this. But the sense of entitlement that people feel for this stuff is just freaking astounding. They think they are sticking it to the man, but really they are just hurting hard working individuals wallets and will to make music.

There killing the industry straight up. It's only old Foos like us that actually pay for music. I still like owning an actual real physical album. To bad I'm in the minority.

[Woofer]

Music sharing has always been a problem. I couldn't even guess at how many times my friends and I would make cassette copies of each others albums.

That being said, I still have 100's of vinyl records upstairs, so I did my share of buying, too.

I have not bought a "current hit" in 15 years.

The biggest reason I stopped buying CDs? The music that the record companies are trying to force down our thoats is terrible. Its all formula music, with no distinct sound. Don't get me wrong, there have been a few good songs here and there. But they have not been that good that I wanted to buy the CD or even pay to download the low quality MP3.

I have been buying the re-mastered Beatles CDs though.

[Koolblue13]

Yes' date=' but you are still paying for the movie in some form.

In ten years, it will all be free. You will still be paying then, because you will be an old guy. (My dad bought far more CDs than I did last year).

Your children or grandchildren will think that paying for a movie is stupid.[/quote']

I love movies, but I'm not paying to go see them. I may pay once a year.

Now, people give me discs with 7 or 8 new movies on them, it's great.

I've tried the downloading music thing, but never figured it out.

[Captain Wiggles]

did not expect to see a fellow sts9 fan on here..kudos!..going to see 'em in seattle on the 20th..can't wait!

Nice. I haven't seen them since my B-day over the summer. Really Psyched to see these those guys again.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Music sharing has always been a problem. I couldn't even guess at how many times my friends and I would make cassette copies of each others albums.

Everybody did that. But in the end, you were sharing your album with two or three people. You can do it today and share it with 300,000 instantaneously. Someone in your group still had to buy "A Stranger in Town."

The biggest reason I stopped buying CDs? The music that the record companies are trying to force down our thoats is terrible. Its all formula music, with no distinct sound.

Blah blah blah. Why is there no one as awesome as REO Speedwagon these days?

[Captain Wiggles]

blah blah blah. Why is there no one as awesome as reo speedwagon these days?

qft

[Destino]

There killing the industry straight up. It's only old Foos like us that actually pay for music. I still like owning an actual real physical album. To bad I'm in the minority.

The industry itself made a lot of mistakes. The way they went about attacking illegal downloads was horrible. Suing teenagers for tons of money is a sure fire why to piss everyone off, especially teenagers. Putting rootkits on CD's which allowed hackers to exploit people's computers was also shamefully irresponsible. They should have launched a PR campaign first and then tried to find a price point where quality, reliability, and safety were deemed worthy of the cost by the market at large.

Markets change and the perception today is that music is was too expensive and lets be honest here... this didn't start with Napster. The idea that music was a ripoff came before it when CD were almost 20 bucks a pop and contained 3 good songs. People flocked to napster in droves in part because they were already annoyed with what they were being charged.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

If they can't make any money, because of people getting their music for free, why was the Dead and countless other bands, so successful, while allowing designated areas for people to come professionally tape their shows.

If by countless, you mean "four or five," you are onto something.

As far as I can tell, the only bands that ever had a sustained career using the Grateful Dead formula is the Dead, Phish, Rusted Root, Widespread Panic, whatever that Spaghetii Incident band is, and maybe the Allmans, even though they actually sold albums unlike the others.

The Dead business model was basically that having 100,000 people who will see 250 times each was just as good as having 25,000,000 people see you once. Good luck re-creating that.