The Music Industry Is Dying!

Very good infographic from the New York Times conveys the dwindling death knells of the music industry. Analysts give it 10 years.

According to data from the Recording Industry Association of America, since music sales peaked in 1999, the value of those sales, after adjusting for inflation, has dropped by more than half. At that rate, the industry could be decimated before Madonna’s 60th birthday.

This industry is coming apart at the seams at an alarming rate. With the advent of various business models that offer "free" music to consumers, who would be interested in pirating or illegally downloading music?

Yes, piracy has played a huge role in it, but music streaming is poised to dot the i on the unwritten contract between content provider and user.

Teenagers, who were once the largest demographic purchasing music, numbers have fell way off according to the NPD Group, a market research group for the entertainment industry, 13- to 17-year-olds “acquired 19 percent less music in 2008 than they did in 2007.” CD sales among these teenagers were down 26 percent and digital purchases were down 13 percent. The numbers are even worse for teenagers in the UK.

There was a time that whatever format was available, if there were at least several good songs on an album, the consumer would weigh the difference between the good and bad songs, and it seemed worth it to buy the entire album. Now with so many artists putting oput content that is noit really good, the consumers were forced to convert to other means to compile their favorite songs from an album, without purchasing it.

I blam this on the industry itself which seems to have catered to the demands of shareholders and the pursuit of the profit margin. Nothing wrong with being profitable, but when you are putting bad product into the market, what do they expect. Would you purchase a half put together car from GM or Ford? The answer should be a resounding no. Until the Big 4 wake up and smell the burning cinders of the industry they have helped destroy, we will continue to see the business slide off into the abyss.