US music sales fall, but rate slowing

[llbbl]

CD sales fell by 2.1 per cent to 635.8m units last year, a much smaller decline than the 8.7 per cent fall seen in 2002, said Nielsen SoundScan, the music retail tracker.

US music sales have been falling for the last three years, a trend blamed on increasing internet piracy and home copying of albums.


http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1071251872625


What about the fact that they started suing the people who put food on their table? I swear the people who write these articles or edit them sure have a slanted view on things. They try to impose a twisted sense of morality on us to deflect the fact that their distrubution method is outdated.

[animekenji]

What kills me is that RIAA has the freaking gall to blame file sharers for all their woes. Could it possibly be the fact that we are in a global recession and that EVERY industry is suffering an economic downturn that has anything to do with their slow sales???? Nah, couldn't be that.

[ECA]

Or that most music on MTV, and such is FREE.
Or that there prices really SUCK. did anyone see them DROP any prices to recover sales. There product isnt competitve with what a hijacker can do with 1 recording, its NOT even close.
At:
.50 per burned CD
.35 to the artist per SALE
.50 per cd for art work and advert
5.00 over head and misc per CD.
Then a 50% markup at the seller.
$6.35 isnt a bad price.
Even $10 isnt bad.
But at $15-20, I aint buying a CD for 1-2 songs I like.

[Ioman]

I read that CD sales are plummeting, but online music sales (via download sites like iTunes) are way up, so maybe things are being balance?

[ECA]

They wont, as itunes Bought the rights to the songs(in my understanding) to sell. They dont have to pay the RIAA anything.

I heard they bought, the songs(not albums) at $1 each and bought ALOT. They can sell them for a certain amount of time. After that point they have to REBUY them.

But they are making so much money it wont be a problem.

[llbbl]

Originally posted by ECA
They wont, as itunes Bought the rights to the songs(in my understanding) to sell. They dont have to pay the RIAA anything.

I heard they bought, the songs(not albums) at $1 each and bought ALOT. They can sell them for a certain amount of time. After that point they have to REBUY them.

But they are making so much money it wont be a problem.

Can you find a reference to this ECA please? I would like to see more details about the deal that Jobs made with the RIAA. I have a couple articles upcoming that would benifit from this information.

[Ioman]

I am curious to see how this model works. Is Napster, iTunes, Walmart, Microsoft, Real Networks all doing the same thing basically?

[ECA]

http://www.gnutellanews.com/article/6830

About the deal to independents

* They said "We're going to give you the same basic deal we gave the big 5 major labels".
* Same deal. Same agreements. Same team of people. Same treatment, all-around.
* "We have to be more efficient, though. We're not going to deal with 200 lawyers."
* "Everyone is going to get the exact same deal. It's not negotiable. It's take it or leave it."
* This is a reseller agreement: Apple buys at a wholesale price. Apple resells them to users. "No complicated or messy licenses."
* Apple only deals with the partner/label. It's up to the label to pay the artists, writers, publishing, etc.
* Rights are a 3 year term. For iTunes only, of course. This is totally non-exclusive.
* THEY PAY EVERY MONTH!
* IMPORTANT: the details will be mailed to me soon. They haven't named specific amounts yet. Instead, they had us sign a contract request form, and they'll mail the contract to us. That's when I'll know more.

Still looking for contract...............

[animekenji]

You know, an idea struck me. Why not put vending machines with digital music up all over the place.College book stores, shopping malls, libraries, etc You insert a blank CD and $1 for each song you want on the CD, make your selections the same you would if you were playing a jukebox, and the machine burns them for you. This way everyone gets paid and the consumer gets music that they want instead of a bunch of crappy filler. I would definitely be more willing to pay $20 for a CD if it had 20 songs on it that I knew I was going to listen to, instead of 1 good song and 19 fillers.

[ECA]

Very true...
Want to see a Business I want to start, its based on your idea. I and a friend were discussing it sence 95'. A company(Xerox) is trying it out (I think) in Denmark(?).

[llbbl]

Originally posted by animekenji
You know, an idea struck me. Why not put vending machines with digital music up all over the place.College book stores, shopping malls, libraries, etc You insert a blank CD and $1 for each song you want on the CD, make your selections the same you would if you were playing a jukebox, and the machine burns them for you. This way everyone gets paid and the consumer gets music that they want instead of a bunch of crappy filler. I would definitely be more willing to pay $20 for a CD if it had 20 songs on it that I knew I was going to listen to, instead of 1 good song and 19 fillers.

I am sure that as soon as the brick and morters get wind of this idea then they will be quick to come to market with a profitable marketing scheme.

<damn this thread is rockin>

[ECA]

My idea concern distribution of CD games and progs, as well as music and Videos.
Each machine costs about $15000.
But it would save costs in Making progs, Advertising, and retail.
1000 CD/DVD's in 1 4x4 machine setup.

[llbbl]

Yesterday the entertainment industry trade body launched another round of lawsuits against alleged users of file sharing sites.

The latest legal action, against 493 people the RIAA has claims to have identified as sharing copyright music over the internet, brings the total to nearly 3,000.


http://www.vnunet.com/news/1155401

Anyone remember where I was posting this news at. I couldn't find the thread.

[Wendy]

Originally posted by animekenji
You know, an idea struck me. Why not put vending machines with digital music up all over the place.College book stores, shopping malls, libraries, etc You insert a blank CD and $1 for each song you want on the CD, make your selections the same you would if you were playing a jukebox, and the machine burns them for you. This way everyone gets paid and the consumer gets music that they want instead of a bunch of crappy filler. I would definitely be more willing to pay $20 for a CD if it had 20 songs on it that I knew I was going to listen to, instead of 1 good song and 19 fillers.

Yeah, this is what happening in HK. I went to HK last summer, There are a lot of muisc "vending machine" inside the shopping mall. You only need to plug in the flash memory drive mp3 players, input your credit card.. Then you can buy whatever songs they want.

Also, I read the article in FastCompany couple weeks ago. It said Starbucks is making a bold push into Music. It sounds crazy..

[ECA]

And Kodak is setting something like this in Europe with 1 store chain..

[Ioman]

Yeah, this is what happening in HK. I went to HK last summer, There are a lot of muisc "vending machine" inside the shopping mall. You only need to plug in the flash memory drive mp3 players, input your credit card.. Then you can buy whatever songs they want.

Also, I read the article in FastCompany couple weeks ago. It said Starbucks is making a bold push into Music. It sounds crazy..

I had no idea machines like that existed, but it makes sense. I heard about Star Bucks too, you can pay to burn music at some of their stores. The music industry is just shifting is all. The RIAA is probably having trouble tracking music sales in general.