Apple iTunes Sees Big Drop in Music Sales
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Re: Apple iTunes Sees Big Drop in Music Sales
#2Try this if it asks you to sign in:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c...
Re: Apple iTunes Sees Big Drop in Music Sales
#3So now the race to the bottom continues down to streaming services that pay artists even less.
Re: Apple iTunes Sees Big Drop in Music Sales
#4I'm curious what the net amount of money going to musicians are, as opposed to the amount of money going to record labels. That's much more important to me, because I don't care if the music labels starve, but if the musicians go broke, then there is no more content. And in this age, it seems strange that there isn't a good way for a musician to completely bypass labels altogether and just release music on their own, in a profitable manner.
Based on the numbers I've seen from posts here, Spotify clearly isn't the answer, it's just another mechanism to drive the value of content to $0. Maybe we'll see Spotify start their own music label and give artists money more directly, the way that Netflix and Amazon Prime are essentially creating their own TV stations.
Re: Apple iTunes Sees Big Drop in Music Sales
#5Personally, I have not bought music since streaming services started covering 90% of the music I listen to.
Re: Apple iTunes Sees Big Drop in Music Sales
#6Personally, I have not bought music since streaming services started covering 90% of the music I listen to.
Personally, I've bought more music since streaming services (iTunes Radio with iTunes Match) exposed me to more music than I normally listen to (i.e. my existing iTunes library). Not a lot more music, but a couple more albums and a dozen more singles than the few new releases I normally would have purchased from my favorite artists. That ability to, on demand, listen to any song I want to listen to... it's too valuable to me to let go of completely even if much of the time I'm okay with listening to whatever comes on a stream.
Re: Apple iTunes Sees Big Drop in Music Sales
#7I'm curious what the net amount of money going to musicians are, as opposed to the amount of money going to record labels. That's much more important to me, because I don't care if the music labels starve, but if the musicians go broke, then there is no more content. And in this age, it seems strange that there isn't a good way for a musician to completely bypass labels altogether and just release music on their own,…
I think for this reason we will see more distribution platforms like Tidal started up because of this to challenge this even if many of them fail. Almost a renaissance that is similar to when Charlie Chaplin and others setup United Artists. Being your own artist + label isn't enough, now you need the distribution platform to really own the revenues.
Re: Apple iTunes Sees Big Drop in Music Sales
#8I'm curious what the net amount of money going to musicians are, as opposed to the amount of money going to record labels. That's much more important to me, because I don't care if the music labels starve, but if the musicians go broke, then there is no more content. And in this age, it seems strange that there isn't a good way for a musician to completely bypass labels altogether and just release music on their own,…
I think for this reason we will see more distribution platforms like Tidal started up because of this to challenge this even if many of them fail. Almost a renaissance that is similar to when Charlie Chaplin and others setup United Artists. Being your own artist + label isn't enough, now you need the distribution platform to really own the revenues.
Yeah, as a music consumer I'm looking forward to using the next dozen music distribution platforms.
Re: Apple iTunes Sees Big Drop in Music Sales
#9Something to keep in mind is that music "ownership" may be a generational thing. My parents were members of the silent generation (born in the 30s) and they owned very few physical records. And it's not to say they didn't love music, they did -- but the way they enjoyed music was listening to the radio. So if you had a love of opera and classical music you'd listen to WQXR 24/7 (here in NYC) which isn't too different than a millennial who is into streaming.
As a Gen X member we grew up imitating Boomers by buying music in our youth (see side note below). But something to keep in mind is that unlike digital music, this was very much a tactile experience. This was because you were by the physical album as much as the music itself. And if you look at those albums you realize that the package acts as a mini-poster so it was really merchandise (as much as buying a t-shirt).
Also in a pre-digital age you'd get the lyrics included with the album as well. This doesn't sound like a big deal, but in a pre-Google era getting your hand on the lyrics was something that you'd have to work at if you didn't own the album (you might have to go to a sheet music shop, and those weren't in every town).
So streaming (or what we use to call radio) may in fact be the natural order of things. Part of this may also be that music as a medium isn't on the cutting edge of culture anymore. We tend to forget that from say the 60s until the late 80s music was leading the way as a voice for cultural change, but sadly as rock as a genre is now about 65 years old, and even rap is about 35 years old.
So I think the biggest challenge for the music industry isn't technology at this point, but focusing on how to be culturally relevant again. So it's not about a decline in digital sales, but a decline in connecting with their audience.
Side note: It should be noted that while Gen X did buy records we tend to forget that in the 80s the music industry was terrified by declining sales which were attributed to the youth market spending their money on new things like video games. Of course we loved music as much as previous generations did, but thanks to MTV we were experiencing it also as a streaming medium.
Re: Apple iTunes Sees Big Drop in Music Sales
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think for this reason we will see more distribution platforms like Tidal started up because of this to challenge this even if many of them fail. Almost a renaissance that is similar to when Charlie Chaplin and others setup United Artists. Being your own artist + label isn't enough, now you need the distribution platform to really own the revenues.
Yeah, as a music consumer I'm looking forward to using the next dozen music distribution platforms.
Louis CK created his very own for his comedy and I prefer it for sure, I know he does as well. You can still get it from all the normal channels, there will just be channels that you can get it better and more direct. I hope it doesn't turn into exclusives though and into a mess, it could if the labels keep with their greed.