Once Again, Betting On Digital Music Sales Is A Mistake: Digital Music Sales Flat

Music Industry

from the focus-on-more-important-areas dept

Thu, Sep 30th 2010 8:20am — Mike Masnick

We've suggested in the past that the recording industry was fooling itself in betting on digital music sales as a serious way to replace its revenue stream. As we've pointed out just selling music is not a very good business, but still there's been some fool's gold in the fact that digital music sales have been growing. We warned a year and a half ago not to get too excited about this, and now Nielsen is reporting that digital music sales have stalled out and will be flat this year, rather than growing. None of this means that there isn't money to be made or smart business models. In fact, we're seeing that musicians are making more money than ever. It's just that they're doing it by relying on other business models beyond just selling music.

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Filed Under: business models, digital music

13 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 30 Sep 2010 @ 9:10am

hrrm
....just say no to IP
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Sep 2010 @ 9:20am

Putting all your eggs in one basket is never good.
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- Anonymous Coward, 30 Sep 2010 @ 9:53am
  
  Re:
  Now, now. I manufacture reinforced, air cushioned, organically produced egg carrying baskets or eggskets™ (patent pending). With my revolutionary design I can guarantee the carrying of at least a dozen eggs without breakage, or your money back!
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  - Anonymous Coward, 30 Sep 2010 @ 9:56am
    
    Re: Re:
    Thank you for the laugh.
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  - mirradric, 30 Sep 2010 @ 11:05pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Now now, are you sure that you really have a patent pending or are you just practicing false patent marking? Ah.. I see that the lawyers are flocking... lol
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Spaceman Spiff (profile), 30 Sep 2010 @ 11:04am

Music - entertainment
Musicians that remember that they are primarily entertainers and provide the means to entertain their fans will continue to prosper. Those that think that "only the music matters" will likely fall to the wayside. My wife and I have many, many musician friends (oldtime, bluegrass, classical, etc) and those that understand this are making a good living doing what they love.
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- stinger (profile), 3 Oct 2010 @ 7:26pm
  
  Re: Music - entertainment
  Those that do both..will do more than just prosper,they will be fufilled..I have for 40 years!
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Jun Mhoon, 30 Sep 2010 @ 7:06pm

Change is Here to Stay!
Your right of course. It's amazing that these major labels with all their resources can't get somebody to read the tea leaves for them. Their model is 60 years old and dead. I saw this coming 20 yrs. ago while I was still at A&M records. Change is here and Change isn't going anywhere!
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Thomboykt (profile), 1 Oct 2010 @ 6:47am

Really
Please enlighten me with specific details. I can't find ONE professional musician that I know that would agree!
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- Mike Masnick (profile), 1 Oct 2010 @ 9:16am
  
  Re: Really
  Please enlighten me with specific details. I can't find ONE professional musician that I know that would agree!
  
  Details on what?
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Hephaestus (profile), 1 Oct 2010 @ 9:14am

"and now Nielsen is reporting that digital music sales have stalled out and will be flat this year, rather than growing."

Yeah yeah .. and in the next year or so digital music sales will begin tanking. In 5-8 years ever major record label will have failed.

Mike, this is news how? I sent techdirt charts of this almost a year ago. They were included in the disruptive technology paper I sent also. Again how is this new?
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stinger (profile), 4 Oct 2010 @ 2:08am

Music-Entertainment
The problem with the music business today quite franky is the same problem with the American Media...Us...the products and programs we buy ain't shit,on televison and from music companies, its all about the capitalistic mono-ethnic point-of-view, not refective of America's diversity or creativty. Still selling,manufacturing pre-colonial American ideals of the history by one monolithic minority group rather then reflecting the reality understood by the majority,why of course it is to munipulate,control opinions and values the worse part is its sold as entertainment and we buy it. Nobody cares either. Why do we need 30 shows with police themes on network TV/cable or music about just about made up adolesence feelings. Is it really profit? Or are we just a country consumed by materialism, sex and political dogma.. thats bull-shit packaged and sold to us as truth!....
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Dan Cain, 30 Jul 2011 @ 4:31am

Evolution of the industry
Recently Elton John commented that he believes it is only a matter of time that the old industry model dies completely, and earning will be from the live performance experience.
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