The music industry is a fascinating thing; always has been, and it always will be. On a human level, it is interesting to look at the music industry as how we (as human beings) have evolved to create, record, and distribute the songs that musicians create. Fundamentally, it is an industry that relies on the importance music plays in our life. We need music, and we need musicians to make music.
I smile a bit each time I read an article or statistic that talks about how the music industry used to be, how much money the records labels made, how little the musicians made, and how it “is” today. I think it is easy to think that technological advances have put the power back in the hands of the people (musicians), and think revolution. But I don’t think that’s the full picture, and the picture hasn’t even come close to developing yet.
Music history facts
Remember in the 1990’s when a CD would cost you $17? I remember carrying my Sony Discman (gently so it wouldn’t skip while I walked) and thinking this was it, the sound quality, the skip to a song ability, the best. Fast forward just a few years to 2003 and Apple is one of less than 30 digital music services in operation. Today, online sales are growing at a faster rate than physical sales are dropping. For example, from 2006-2007, CD sales dropped 20.5 percent while digital track sales went up 43.2 percent.
Besides “just” opening the world to digital distribution, additional formats emerged for artists to release and promote their albums: video downloads, conditional downloads (e.g. Rhapsody), on-demand streams (e.g. Pandora), ringtones, and full track downloads. For example, in 2003 there were less than 10 formats available per artist release (mostly consisting of CD’s and tapes). Just 3 years later, in 2006, Justin Timberlake’s Future Sex/Love Sounds album, released September 2006, compromised 115 different products that sold a total of 19 million units, of which only 20 percent were in CD format. (Music Law in the Digital Age, Berklee Press, 2009)
“This is about rebuilding an entire marketing infrastructure, a totally new set of best practices, and making the numbers make sense again. And for those willing to struggle through the disruption, this is also about serious opportunity – to fill the great music marketing void.” says Paul Resinkoff, Publisher of Digital Music News.
It is being involved in an industry that has such an open future, that has been turned on its head so drastically, and so quickly, that fascinates me the most; as well as seeing this open future as an opportunity for musicians to lay their ground and grab a bigger piece of the pie– without the music there would be no industry. I applaud Paul Resnikoff for saying it like it is (or what is is now).