The IFPI has all the hot new press releases
these days. The latest one is that overall
music sales fell another 2 percent in 2005, bringing the total drop in sales to 20 percent since 1999. Losing a
fifth of your business is a pretty tough blow to take, but surprisingly not all music executives are blaming piracy:
"Piracy in all its forms has been the major factor in this reversal but not the only
factor," said Eric Nicoli, chairman of EMI Group PLC, the world's No. 3 record company. "Twenty years ago there were no mobile phones, no DVDs, no computer games to speak of," he
said. "In categories that did exist, like magazines, cosmetics and designer clothes, we've seen a massive explosion
of choice and accessibility to consumers. So no surprise, then, that music sales have come under pressure."
Bingo! Nice job, Eric. I wish more execs would get clued in to this simple fact. If they were we might actually see
some realistic strategies develop that would actually help the music business grow instead of just playing defense all
the time. Meanwhile I have to say that 2% isn't all that bad compared to other drops we have seen over the past 6 or so
years. Compare the graph I made at the left, and it's pretty clear that 1999-2001 was where all the damage was, and the
biz has been treading water ever since.Music Sales On The Decline
The IFPI has all the hot new press releases
these days. The latest one is that overall
music sales fell another 2 percent in 2005, bringing the total drop in sales to 20 percent since 1999. Losing a
fifth of your business is a pretty tough blow to take, but surprisingly not all music executives are blaming piracy:
"Piracy in all its forms has been the major factor in this reversal but not the only
factor," said Eric Nicoli, chairman of EMI Group PLC, the world's No. 3 record company. "Twenty years ago there were no mobile phones, no DVDs, no computer games to speak of," he
said. "In categories that did exist, like magazines, cosmetics and designer clothes, we've seen a massive explosion
of choice and accessibility to consumers. So no surprise, then, that music sales have come under pressure."
Bingo! Nice job, Eric. I wish more execs would get clued in to this simple fact. If they were we might actually see
some realistic strategies develop that would actually help the music business grow instead of just playing defense all
the time. Meanwhile I have to say that 2% isn't all that bad compared to other drops we have seen over the past 6 or so
years. Compare the graph I made at the left, and it's pretty clear that 1999-2001 was where all the damage was, and the
biz has been treading water ever since.Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. This is what burns me. Has anyone tried to correlate the decline in CD sales to the fact that:
a) The Boomers and Gen-X'ers have all replaced their vinyl/tapes of The White Album, Dark Side, Zep IV etc... with CD’s?
b) Much of the music coming out now sucks? What was the decline in sales between Buddy Holley’s death and Elvis going into the army and the arrival of the Beatles? That was a time when sales were dwindling because the record companies were putting out crap
c) People are directing much of their $15 discretionary spending to video games and DVD’s?
This is some pretty elementary logic and do not understand why it isn’t being discussed. Probably because it takes thought and reasoning when a knee-jerk reaction to P2P is easier.
Jim Kirkhoff
Posted at 4:09PM on Jan 24th 2006 by Jim Kirkhoff
1. This is what burns me. Has anyone tried to correlate the decline in CD sales to the fact that:
a) The Boomers and Gen-X'ers have all replaced their vinyl/tapes of The White Album, Dark Side, Zep IV etc... with CD’s?
b) Much of the music coming out now sucks? What was the decline in sales between Buddy Holley’s death and Elvis going into the army and the arrival of the Beatles? That was a time when sales were dwindling because the record companies were putting out crap
c) People are directing much of their $15 discretionary spending to video games and DVD’s?
This is some pretty elementary logic and do not understand why it isn’t being discussed. Probably because it takes thought and reasoning when a knee-jerk reaction to P2P is easier.
Jim
Posted at 3:43PM on Jan 24th 2006 by Jim Kirkhoff