The Real Reason Record Sales are Down

Record sales are down...at least traditional record sales.  Downloads are up.  It's not hard to go up when you're starting so low though.  Just a few years ago, we didn't even have downloadable music.

Of course, when you add everything up and include the downloads, record sales are still down.

Here's a list of the best-selling music artists.  It's likely we'll never see anybody added to that list.

Why?

It's not because of illegal downloads.  It's not because current music sucks.  It's not because of anything we did wrong.

Strangely enough, we'll never see another act added to that list because of something we've done right.

If your band was on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, you'd probably be pretty happy about it, right?  You'd be exposed to millions of people and chances are that you'll sell a few albums because of it.

If you'd been on Johnny Carson's version of the show 30 years ago, you would have been exposed to even more people...and sell even more albums.

If you'd been on the Ed Sullivan Show 20 years before that, you'd do more than just sell albums-- you'd be able to tour the country...and assuming you could keep up your level of performance, probably have a long career after that.

What's the difference? 

Choice.

When Ed Sullivan was on the air, we didn't have 400 channels to choose from...and that's how we was so big.  Johnny Carson has a similar situation.

Record labels were once like that.  Acts were able to sell millions of albums because consumers didn't have thousands of choices to pick from.

That's good news for you.  The "old school" system was great for the people who were on top.  If you were Frank Sinatra or Elvis, you got tons of attention.  There was no "middle class" though.  You were either getting the attention of record labels or you weren't.

Today, you can easily release an album.  In fact, it's so easy, you could literally record something today and have it available to the world by tomorrow.

That means more albums are being released...which means consumers have more choice.  Add that to other entertainment choices, such a video games, satellite television, and home video.  These things weren't a factor 30 years ago.

But they're a big factor now... And strangely enough, there is music involved in every one of them.

Because of this, I'd argue that while album sales might be down, music sales are not.  People are simply consuming music in a different way.  No longer do we have one format-- we can get it via our phone, a portable music player, video games, movie rentals, satellite radio, streaming online stations, and any number of ways.

This means that artists and songwriters are being paid in a different way.  They are getting paid though.

We might not have the "superstar" artists of the past and even the "Tonight Show" type of television shows might not mean as much as they once did, but there is still a ton of money to be made in music.

Personally, I'd rather have it this way.  The consumer wins because he has more entertainment options and musicians and songwriters win, since they'll have more options to be creative and be paid.

Thoughts?

Comments

[Will]

Great post! I hate when those statistics are quoted as it's not a true picture of the state of the music industry.

I'm also puzzled by the incessant focus on music sales, rather than the other income generating methods that are out there. Songs, if given away, can be used as lead generators that get people's attention, spread and draw people into a band's other products such as concerts, merchandise, or my recent favorite - selling access to the band.

[Jim]

Agreed that the possibilities of reaching ones music out to multiple platforms is a great thing. The difficulty now arises in making the connection. Most bands and probaby even indie labels do not have strong connections to video game publishers, tv, etc. One thing I have noticed is that media is still reliant in the top 10 %. Thankfully it is at least possible for a small I newer band to get onto the new media, but I do not believe that the gap in which they can actually make has been closed. Thoughts on ways to make the new ways of getting your music out there attainable?

[Phil Johnson]

The number of choices has steadily crept up in the last couple decades. In the mid-1950's, Martin and Lewis were selling out 7(!) shows a day at the Paramount Theater in New York for 2 weeks straight. That's roughly 4000 people per show.

Even just 10 years later, nobody could hope to do that. And now, the biggest acts in the world couldn't hold up to that. Not to mention they'd be hard pressed to even work that hard. ;)

[David P]

Choice coupled with a smaller spotlight in an age of 57 channels and nothing on is definitely a factor for diminished sales of recorded music... but the other truth is this: ownership of music is over-rated. Why buy when you can get the product for free or through wondering legit means such as Rhapsody for a blip of a price relative to your cable or celluar bills? What am I buying anyway? A shiny plastic disc which eventually gets lost and scratched and has no romantic attachment whatsoever to the owner unlike vinyl, or gasp, a mixtape?

The other reality is disposable income. People in their late 20's and 30's, the people who camped out for Pearl Jam's VS or Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness are now battling credit card debit instead of buying music.

And where does one buy music? You can hear crickets in most retail spaces. For every Amoeba in CA or Waterloo Records in Austin there's a thousand completely uninspiring places selling shiny plastic discs encased in hard to open cellophane.

Digital is so convenient as a format. Vinyl is romantic, but a huge pain in the ass to actually listen to, store and move around.

It's funny, in all this rhetoric, so often it's the armchair loser bloggers of the world dissecting the death of recorded music and not the people who matter... the artists.

[Maurice Evans, Business Coach]

Someone emailed me and said - "coach, you said this to me THREE YEARS ago!"

Indeed, the day of the global superstar is just about over...will be very hard to be a household name anywhere, because instead of a dozen "sources" of information, there are now hundreds.

In addition, OFFICIAL sources provided info straight from the label...now even the least influential fan can set up a blog and create a news site.

No more filtered info on musicians.

Celebrity, though, still happens by design, just in a diversified instead of a closed market. The pond is much bigger.

And whereas there was NO WAY an artist in tupelo mississippi could have fans in ireland, south africa and china WITHOUT the help of a major label...now people can create a GLOBAL fanbase on their own.

Enter the Middle Class....not starving musician, and not superstar...but a comfortable living...doing music.

While you may not become a SUPERSTAR, you DEFINITELY have enough ways to make a living being a full time musician.

ACCESS to opportunities, INCREASED revenue streams, and more vehicles for promotion at low cost means there is NO EXCUSE (except laziness and ignorance -both of which have easy cures) why someone doesn't do music for a living

Keep Rockin N Rollin Guys & Remember to Picture Your Success.

[Universal Indie Records]

Yes there are more choices but there are also more people pursuing these choices as well... so the question again becomes how to rise to the top in a sea of artists/labels?

[Dave King, Cross Harp Chronicles]

All you need to do to get some idea of the choices that do exist is go to Myspace, or some other such social media site, search for a specific genre of music, then multiply that by the number of genres you can think of. This may give you an idea of the number of bands that are competing for attention from the same platform. Then add all of the social media platforms that exist. Of course the figure you come up with will have to be adjusted as there exists a great deal of overlap as many of these bands may exist on more than one site, and there more bands in some genres than others, this will give you some idea not only of the number of bands that exist.

While this compounds a band's difficulty in getting recognition and rising to the the top, it provides opportunity for the enterprising promoter who can effectively wend their way through the myriad different services that have been created to work with the musician.

[Vikki Flawith]

Things are changing, and perhaps getting more balanced. The "big is better, really big much be really better" philosophy is dying out. You don't have to be famous to make a living doing your passion (I know for a fact). IMO, there *always* were musicians and composers making a good living in music, who were not household names - even if they don't get radio play.

[tommy fell]

The music business does not suck!

Sales of recorded music is hurting for most of the reasons listed but with less money being earned by the general music buying public the less they have to spend on such comforts. There are some who beleive that digitally produced music has contributed to the uneasy mood of some music purchasers causing them to skip purchases they might have completed had it been produced in an analog format. there is something to be said about the matter of the product or if you will something to hold on to, to read, to look at and admire while listening to your favorite song and or artist. Digital has taken that reality away in the greater sense. How many young girls have you seen hugging a CD or a "down load"? For that matter how many "down loads", that you know of, that people have sought autographs on?

[JAY]

With sooooo many bands, and solo artists out there putting music out, and doing it cheeply at that, the listener runs into a big problem, they want to hear good new bands that are not played in the radio every 3 minutes, cause they themselves are sick and tired of the same crap. But they end up getting frustrated having to go thru thousands of very low quality, music that sucks from new upcomming bands, to finnaly find one good one. The problem remains the same how can a good band with better sound rise to the top, when there are soooo many crappy ones, that by the time the people searching for a new band, listen to the 3rd crappy artist they wont want to keep searching.

[Jimi]

Truly global (international) superstars do exist, just not here.
We are "standoffish, bigoted & closed country that believes all culture lives [here]" according to several articles I've seen.
There are few Americans who really know who the international touring superstars are, and in fact, many don't even bother coming to the USA because they can't fill large venue here while they can regularly pack stadiums in other countries. Corrinne May is an American artist who is at the top of the charts in Singapore, fills the largest concert halls there (tens of thousands) but recently played a 12 seat coffee house in Santa Monica CA. with little fanfare.
Dethklok was the largest selling metal band this year, & it doesn't even EXIST!
Music marketing is so diversely perverse ya gotta have a sense of humor to maintain your sanity!

[Dana from Serious Vanity Music]

YES! I know it's been said a million times, but niche! Niche! Niche! Our "superstardom" isn't sacrificed, it lies in our ability to find that special corner we belong in, and dominate it, without trying to compete with EVERYONE, or to sell to EVERYONE. In fact, the key isn't in competing at all, it's in innovating. Blue ocean creation vs. red ocean, bloodbath competitiveness.

And it's not just music, it's in the other aspects of our daily lives. We've got more choices in how we spend our free time, what we study, who we befriend (since our social networks are global). Think of people who live mainstream lives...are they happy? Trying to make mainstream music and win everyone's attention would have the same effect.

There has never been a better time to make music. YOUR music.

[LMS]

I agree with the fact that there are many more options and choices for music lovers...I cannot agree however, with the theory that downloading is having little or no negative impact on sales...that is simply not true...
Although, it is great that the buyers have more choice, it still doesn't change the fact that one of those choices is to get the music for free...and make no mistake, that is making a negative impact on sales...the result...record companies come up with the '360 deal'...which basically means that now they put their greedy fingers on anything and everything the artist takes in, which even includes their live show!!

By your theory, illegal downloading isn't a problem...but if it wasn't then the same amount of music would be selling, just spread out among more artists...from what I understand, all statistics are saying that less music is being purchased overall...yet, music is being listened to more than ever before...somewhere, artists are getting ripped off...Although, it isn't only because of downloading, it is without a doubt part of the issue...I don't have much sympathy for the record companies, because they have been ripping the artists off from day one...but now the consumer is doing it too...I don't see that as being a better situation for the artist...so again, the very person or group that is creating what you love, is the very same person or group that you are mistreating...Think about it...People pay almost 4 dollars for a greasy Big Mac, but won't pay 1 dollar for a song...The most ironic thing about all of this is it's the big artists that continue to cash in quite nicely...it's the "middle class" that is not getting paid...The reasoning is simple...bigger push from the record company goes to the more established artists because they have a sales history and the record companies don't want to take risks on new or indie artists...So established artists get more push, which leads to more exposure and of course, more hits...then the consumer believes that CD is worth purchasing because of all the 'hits' it has and buys it...In the meantime, the new artist or indie act gets little or no funding from the record company...they manage to put out one song which the consumer deems as 'not worthy enough' to purchase...The entire CD might be great, but without the big money to promote the other tracks, no one will ever know how great it is...hence the 'middle class' ends up in the poor house!

I'm hoping that one day finally, all artists will be treated with the respect they deserve from both record companies and music lovers...Because from where I sit, all I see right now are Consumers and Record Companies bleeding the artist. Downloading and instant gratification has devalued music more than any other art and in all honesty, it pains me to watch it happen.

[Jeff Gee]

There is also a lot of confusion for top 40 cover bands. Looking @ the charts there are so many music categories, genres and sub genres. and so many more ways to chart the music. Not like learning a few songs a week will work anymore.

[DanoSongsBlog]

That's why Live Nation is taking names right now, concert revenues are way, way up in since 2000.

Also, look at the valuation of myspace, which is essentially a big radio station.

The next time you wonder if there is room fro growth in the music business...think of the millions of free gigabytes on iPods out there just waiting to get filled up!

Dan-O's Free Music Downloads
http://www.danosongs.com/music_blog/

[Terrance]

It's important to remember..
Building small now could mean big opportunity later. Things keep changing, but those who keep recording well written (quality) music will eventually have much to offer. Imagine having 10 quality albums over a 20 year time period. It all adds up. With all of the sales outlets, even making a tiny bit from each sales outlet could mean a nice side income.. or much more.

[David Hooper]

Yes, the key being consistent in your actions. Big things don't just happen overnight-- it's usually years and years of building brick by brick.

[David Verity]

I see your point, and you make a good one. I think it's one of the contributing factors, no doubt. But they are not mutually exclusive. You can't say that the REAL reason music sales are down is because there's more choices. There's lots of reasons why. Let's start with the fact that the majority of those record it tonight release it tomorrow "choices" aren't very good. Let's not assume that bathroom and bedroom studios compete in any way with the work of real-life professionals

Second, if this were true, we'd simply see less units sold in general, but we're not. We're seeing several - i'm talking as much as 10 - times less sales of particular artists who would have otherwise sold very, verl well.

You're right about it being CHOICE, but the article's slant is just a bit off, I'm afraid. The choice for consumers is now this: Why pay for something that they can get for free on the very first page of Google by simply typing in the artist and album name in the search string? That's the choice this articles should have focused on, and the REAL, real reason why album sales are down.