http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/25/technology/itunes-music-decline/index.html?iid=HP_LN
Apple's famous Music Store-iTunes has been in business for 10 years and it has changed the music industry. After a decade, it has reduced music sales in the US from $11.8 billion (2003) to $7.1 (2012). The interesting fact is, during that period of time, people bought so much more music than in the past. In 2000, the US consumed 943 million CD albums without digital sales. But by 2007, digital singles proved to be superior with, 819 sales, to the CD with just 500 million. However, music sales still decreased because iTunes made music cheaper. Steve Jobs- Apple CEO was able to sell a digital album for $10 and any track for $0.99.
The decrease in demand for songs and albums in the music industry is also a result of improvements in music piracy, which makes the customer more inclined to download a single song instead of buying the whole album since its is still easy and relatively consequence-free (when it comes to dealing with the law)to download a song online. Increasing prices of CD production also results in higher retail prices which substitutes the music demand to "digital" songs, which as the blog states is cheaper (and so will need a higher quantity sold to reach the same profit level from before).
ReplyDeleteNot only has piracy increased, but groups has started to release their music in new ways, namely singles for the radio. People have caught on to this ploy and now have the option of buying the songs they like as opposed to the whole album
ReplyDeletePeople in the music industry have almost given up on album sales. Although they still promote their upcoming albums, most of their income is financed through touring and public appearances.
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