No, The Music Industry Outlook Isn't Grim... Just For Selling Recorded Music
from the it-ain't-the-same dept
JJ passed along a short article from a week or so ago, claiming that the "outlook" for the music industry is "still grim" according to some industry insiders at a conference. Except... that's not really true. Once again, it seems like there's confusion between the recording industry and the music industry. Yes, it may be true that the outlook for selling plastic discs or downloads may not look so hot, but that's hardly everything that encompasses the music industry -- and claiming otherwise is not at all accurate. The recording industry has pushed this myth for years, and it's too bad the press continues to parrot the same line. Yet, when studies actually look beyond just selling the music directly, they find that the outlook isn't grim at all. Claiming that the outlook for the music industry is grim is like claiming that the outlook for the transportation industry is grim in 1910 because the market for horse carriages is declining.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: future, music, music industry, recording industry
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And even if it doesn't and the current music industry does die, a new and infinitely more efficient music industry will arise from the ashes.
The notion that all of humanity will suddenly stop creating, playing, and writing new music is simply asinine.
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Wrong title
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What do you expect ...
What do you expect ... its the LA times .... LA is plastic disk central ....
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Re: What do you expect ...
Now a couple points
"One factor is the proliferation of free, advertiser-supported music services, which Crupnick said are cannibalizing digital sales.".... This one statement explains the rationale behind the rush to charge web sites ever increasing fees for streaming.
"as buyers have shifted from full albums to singles, the lower prices per unit haven't prompted them to spend more on music." ... The whole "lower price" piece is total crap. iTunes now charges 1.29 per song up from .99 per song where are these lower prices.
"The right course is to spend time investing in the relationship between artists and fans, so that relationship can be monetized later." .... Okay he has been reading techdirt .....
"Rather, the underlying message was that there are promising paths for artists and labels to take." .... Artists yes Labels ... not so much
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Now, I'm an ardent supporter of most of the things that are talked about on this blog, but I can't help it if I just love the stupid little plastic disks.
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Re:
Yeah, CDs at shows are the only ones I buy anymore. I'm a big fan of fanfilms, so I tend to buy their DVDs too.
I think Mike's maxim could be reworked as CwF+EtB (Connect with Fans plus Excuse to Buy)
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Yup, it's not grim.
As for the article from the UK you keep using, that is a number that includes all revenue from performances. Since ticket prices have more than tripled in the UK in the last 5 years, you would think that the income for the overall performance industry would be up wildly, and it is not.
So that article isn't exactly proving much, except perhaps trying to compare apples and oranges.
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Re:
Trying to discredit someone's source doesn't make your sourceless claims any more valid.
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Re: Re:
Here's is a quote that you can go look up:
"With Glastonbury festival coming up..How come the prices have gone from £58 in 1993 to £83 in 1999 to £175 in 2009? This equates to a 300% rise in ticket prices in 16 years."
For those who aren't good at conversions, that ticket price at today's exchange rate is $277US. per person.
inflation has not run at 300% in 16 years, so ticket prices have at least more than doubled net.
Double the income on concerts, you can lose the same amount in "record sales" and still break even. With concert tickets in the UK being out of control. Even comparative nobodies like Amanda Palmer are selling club sized gigs at $30 plus per ticket. Something wrong!
Basically, the price of concerts went up so much, that you can hide all sorts of horrible data in there. Mike just conveniently picks a report that happens to include the concert revenue, and tries to say there is nothing wrong in the music business. Yet, if record sales had continued and ticket prices had gone up the same amount, the music industry would be booming, not holding steady.
Using data in a misleading way, that's Mike's best skill.
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Re: Shill is a bad shill
Should be...
Double the income on concerts, you can lose the same amount in "useless middlemen and inflated Performers salaries" and still break even."
Fixed that for you. Doesn't matter what you want to call 'losses', the fact is that overall the MUSIC industry is doing fine.
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I don't follow.
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Re: Re: Re: (no subject, AC?)
The music files can be copied for free, but space in a performance venue is limited. It makes sense that those prices should go up.
Sounds like people like AP are still making good money -- just from live show tickets rather than plastic coasters.
Awesome! (Seriously)
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Re: Re: Re: Re: (no subject, AC?)
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Re: Re: Re: Re: (no subject, AC?)
It's the key, they aren't selling more tickets, they are just selling them at a signficantly inflated price, to the point where the vast majority of fans can't afford to go anymore.
Can't you see the dead end coming up?
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I think you just made Mike's point for him. The "music" industry is doing great even if the "record" industry isn't.
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Re: Re: Re: Re:
That the "music industry" in the UK isn't seeing massive increases in overall income is an indication that even with huge increases in ticket prices, they aren't really making up for what has been lost on the other side. Inflation has generally run at a few percentage points a year, so in 5 years you would expect 10 - 20% increase on the bottom line of both music sales and concert take. It didn't happen.
Read the report. Business to consumer up only 3% - business to business up 10%. What is business to business? PRS! Collections, mechanical fees, licensing, etc. The exact things that Mike wants to trash and get rid of. Remove those fees, those horrible licensing things, and the entire industry would drop 33% overnight.
So the only true growth is in licensing. Net music sales and performing are up only 3%, effectively the rate of inflation, even with hugely higher ticket prices.
Hmmm.
See the dead end yet?
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Demand has nothing to do with prices? Wow, you have now shown how truly ignorant you are of market economics. Thanks for enlightening us. With that kind of ignorance, there's not much telling what will come spewing out of your mouth next and it kind of makes replying to or even reading your further comments a waste of time. I wish you were using some unique moniker so I could avoid them.
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If the artist / management was taking in even $1 from every recording sale, and everyone was buying rather than obtaining them illegally, there would be no greed requirement to raise ticket prices. Demand isn't the issue here at all.
You really need to pay attention to the discussion. Perhaps instead of skipping posts, you could actually read them and understand what is going on.
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It's grim for morons. It's grim for trolls. It' s grim for shills. It's grim for the ignorant.
Oh, look, I can make things true by saying them too!
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with no more mega starts like the rolling stones or guns n' roses how will those poor heroin dealers get paid for their art?
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Re:
FYI, the internet did not kill off record/music stores. The labels did back in the early 90s. I worked at a small mom and pop music store back in the late 80s/early 90s. Starting in the 90s big box stores such as Best Buy and Walmart were selling CDs for less than we could buy them wholesale. This was a conscious decision on the music industry's part and the internet had nothing to do with it.
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This sounds a little familiar...
Although I'd prefer he'd said "and" rather than "so" in that last sentence, at least someone gets it.
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I promise to save music
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Why is the CD industry entitled to exist?
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Re: Why is the CD industry entitled to exist?
Because you can buy a politician to make it so.
What, did you think this was a free market economy or something?
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Re: Re: Why is the CD industry entitled to exist?
What, did you think this was a free market economy or something?
So what's not free market about politicians going to the highest bidder?
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Plastic Media
Plus, the media is so compact, its likely users will misplace or loose, generating even more sales when people need to replace there lost SD cards (not that this is a great option for the end user, but its something they could try).
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Re: Plastic Media
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These idiots are missing the obvious...
Or maybe they're just too stubborn to change their business model.
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Re: These idiots are missing the obvious...
Or maybe they're just too stubborn to change their business model.
i have been saying this for years. a blanket license for all media for non-commercial use. i call it "the piracy pass".
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Re: Re: These idiots are missing the obvious...
$20 per blank CD ought to just about cover it.
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music is doing fine
Lots of other things to sell and you don't even have to tour (I don't) - like music lesson products (video lessons, dvds, sheet music/tab, music licensing, affiliate products).
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Re: music is doing fine
The reality is all the ways you listed are dependant on strong copyright and artists rights. Mike proposes to remove all of those rights from you, and wants you to get your lazy ass out to play music in front of people, because that is the only way you are going to sell the lotsssss of t-shirts you will need to move to make a living.
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I wonder...
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play us out, keyboard cat
I hooked a thin client up to my stereo as a head unit to stream internet radio. Soma.fm, Digitally Imported, whatever the kids are listening to these days.
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Acrylic
The part of the music industry that used to rule the day by infecting the living creators with their hateful scabies and sucking the blood of talent like tics, never bringing anything to the table but cartoon sized ego, gold pinkie rings, and acrylic hair is gonna have to go get a real job. Ignore them. Do not buy what they sell...buy indie direct only....vote with your wallets for the downfall of the old.
bbb
wheatus.com
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Industry is changing
The biggest fight against piracy is freeing music not locking it down.
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Performance rights
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who cares about the "industry"
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Interesting where you find info to contradict the doom and gloom!
I nteresting excerpt:
"Cheryl Cole spectacularly proved her doubters wrong yesterday - by shooting to the top of the singles chart.
She sold an astonishing 292,846 copies of Fight For This Love which instantly became the biggest-selling single of the year so far.
And it marked a turning point for the resurgent singles industry, which had been predicted to almost die out but has now been saved by internet downloads.
This year has become the biggest ever for UK singles sales because of the download market, according to music industry experts.
Recorded music body the BPI hailed the 'astonishing' transformation of the market as it was revealed that 117million singles have already been sold this year.
The Official Charts Company data showed that sales have surpassed the previous record of 115.1million, set in 2008.
The total has been reached with ten weeks of trading, including the vital Christmas period, still to go.
Geoff Taylor, BPI chief executive, said: 'We've witnessed an astonishing transformation of the UK singles market during the last six years, with digital downloads rapidly overtaking sales of CD singles and cassettes to dominate the singles scene.'"
Despite the moaning hidden in other news items you find information like this!
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