Feb
03
Do people still listen to music?
Do people still listen to music? I raise this question rhetorically because I just read another article about how music industry profits have declined over the past decade. While I don’t expect much from CNN Money, the content of that article seems as irrelevant as ever and does not touch on any of the implications of what the RIAA is saying (maybe the RIAA shouldn’t have sued its consumers). In fact, the article just made me think: “so what?”. The article never mentions that the RIAA’s data is only about major (and their subsidiary) record label sales and it is only discussing revenue – how much profit are the Big Four Record Labels making? Is that more or less than what they made a decade ago?
Furthermore, the article makes me wonder about other reasons the RIAA’s revenue could be down and other ways people listen to music. It could be the case that the major labels are concentrating their profits in certain artists – i.e. there is less music to purchase because labels are focusing on squeezing as much profit as possible from Lady Gaga sales. Also, the goal of the music industry has been to make as much profit in one sales quarter as possible and this has a debilitating effect in itself on the quality of music – followed by sales going down.
All of this is to not even mention the role of live performance and independent artists in the music industry. How are live shows doing? When did live performance revenue drop-off? Are independent musicians selling more or less albums? Are people going to see more live music today? Who are the artists that they go to see? CNN Money’s article does not deal with any of these issues, it is simply concerned about the benjamins and only the benjamins of the Big Four Record Labels.
This article raises some intersting points about what constitutes the music industry. I’d like to see you answer the questions you end with! Keep us informed!
Comment by Jordan Michaels — February 10, 2010 @ 11:13 pm
I’d like to see the music industry answer those questions, but they won’t. The fact is that musicians are not doing any worse than they ever have in the past. The CNN article does not mention the plight of musicians, it only discusses the plight of the RIAA. One thing that I would like to see the RIAA admit is that the major record labels are actually the source of any musician’s problems. A record contract is actually similar to that of a share cropper.
Comment by Dave — February 10, 2010 @ 11:47 pm