Top 5 Records That Are Now Twice As Expensive

[mannybolone]

Aaron,

I follow music news everyday - especially on digital music - as part of my work and believe me: the internet has had a LOT to do with the drop in music sales. No one even disputes this point.

Does it explain EVERYTHING? No, definitely not. The slump has to do with a confluence of factors, file-sharing and downloading only being part of the larger puzzle but the idea that sales are down having NOTHING to do with the fact that people are putting up entire CDs (new material) for download, not just through P2P networks, but even blogs now, has to have some kind of impact.

 

[DrWu]

Aaron,

I follow music news everyday - especially on digital music - as part of my work and believe me: the internet has had a LOT to do with the drop in music sales. No one even disputes this point.

Does it explain EVERYTHING? No, definitely not. The slump has to do with a confluence of factors, file-sharing and downloading only being part of the larger puzzle but the idea that sales are down having NOTHING to do with the fact that people are putting up entire CDs (new material) for download, not just through P2P networks, but even blogs now, has to have some kind of impact.

O, how much is Lindsey Lohan contributing to the drop in sales? I'm guessing 5%.

 

[Aaron]

Oliver,





You're right, of course. I guess what I was trying to get across is that, of all the studies I've read, none of them suggest that internet piracy was so out of control that the music industry had to switch from CDs to internet swapping.





I came across one article that argues that the current business model -- selling CDs -- is being defended tooth and nail by music industry lawyers, which has virtually bled them dry. Another article (and this is the one I quoted earlier where one major label conducted a survey and found that internet file sharing had no statistical effect on sales) suggests that the lack of creative artists has led to lost CD sales. What are your thoughts on those two hypotheses?

 

[NeverEnoughMoney]

Oliver,

You're right, of course. I guess what I was trying to get across is that, of all the studies I've read, none of them suggest that internet piracy was so out of control that the music industry had to switch from CDs to internet swapping.

I came across one article that argues that the current business model -- selling CDs -- is being defended tooth and nail by music industry lawyers, which has virtually bled them dry. Another article (and this is the one I quoted earlier where one major label conducted a survey and found that internet file sharing had no statistical effect on sales) suggests that the lack of creative artists has led to lost CD sales. What are your thoughts on those two hypotheses?

I don't think Paycheck was saying that piracy was so out of control that majors had to switch from CDs to combat it.

Rather that the digital swapping of music was an important avenue for music distribution and that record companies needed to jump in before it was too late and they lost their chance at having a handle on it. The record labels need to be a part of any important means of music distribution.

The effect of the record labels legitimizing and making music available on the net may well result in the depreciation of their value as the internet allows fans to purchase music cheaper.

 

[Jonny_Paycheck]

Oliver,

You're right, of course. I guess what I was trying to get across is that, of all the studies I've read, none of them suggest that internet piracy was so out of control that the music industry had to switch from CDs to internet swapping.

I came across one article that argues that the current business model -- selling CDs -- is being defended tooth and nail by music industry lawyers, which has virtually bled them dry. Another article (and this is the one I quoted earlier where one major label conducted a survey and found that internet file sharing had no statistical effect on sales) suggests that the lack of creative artists has led to lost CD sales. What are your thoughts on those two hypotheses?

I don't think Paycheck was saying that piracy was so out of control that majors had to switch from CDs to combat it.

Rather that the digital swapping of music was an important avenue for music distribution and that record companies needed to jump in before it was too late and they lost their chance at having a handle on it. The record labels need to be a part of any important means of music distribution.

The effect of the record labels legitimizing and making music available on the net may well result in the depreciation of their value as the internet allows fans to purchase music cheaper.

bing bing bing bing! we have a winner

This is it. The record labels need to compete with p2p, which is not going away, in order to do that they need to package superior product at a competitive price. Just common sense.

 

[DOR]

Oliver,

You're right, of course. I guess what I was trying to get across is that, of all the studies I've read, none of them suggest that internet piracy was so out of control that the music industry had to switch from CDs to internet swapping.

I came across one article that argues that the current business model -- selling CDs -- is being defended tooth and nail by music industry lawyers, which has virtually bled them dry. Another article (and this is the one I quoted earlier where one major label conducted a survey and found that internet file sharing had no statistical effect on sales) suggests that the lack of creative artists has led to lost CD sales. What are your thoughts on those two hypotheses?

I don't think Paycheck was saying that piracy was so out of control that majors had to switch from CDs to combat it.

Rather that the digital swapping of music was an important avenue for music distribution and that record companies needed to jump in before it was too late and they lost their chance at having a handle on it. The record labels need to be a part of any important means of music distribution.

The effect of the record labels legitimizing and making music available on the net may well result in the depreciation of their value as the internet allows fans to purchase music cheaper.
So true. The game might have been a lil different if the labels would have jumped onto the technology right in the beginning. I can remember being a mod on opennap servers back in late 99. Those were great years.

But instead the labels fought it tooth and nail. Oh well... C'est La Vie

 

[mannybolone]

I came across one article that argues that the current business model -- selling CDs -- is being defended tooth and nail by music industry lawyers, which has virtually bled them dry. Another article (and this is the one I quoted earlier where one major label conducted a survey and found that internet file sharing had no statistical effect on sales) suggests that the lack of creative artists has led to lost CD sales. What are your thoughts on those two hypotheses?

There might be grains of truth in all of these but I don't really buy either as having that much of an effect either. The whole "there are no good artists, ergo, no good CDs" just sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me; it's the same, "why isn't music good any more?" whine that every generation resurrects when their nostalgia kicks in.

The other thing to keep in mind is that in today's market, there's a lot of other media competing for attention: if you have only a finite amount of money to spend, it might very well be that you'd rather buy a DVD or video game or whatever instead. I also think the proliferation of MP3 players tends to encourage more song buying rather than album buying. See the other post I'm about to put up about this.