US CD sales continue to plummet as people turn to digital music downloads
Posted March 22, 2007 — in Music News
US sales of physical CD’s plummeted 20% in the first three months of the year as downloading of songs continued to knock the underpinnings from record studio revenues.
89 million CD’s were sold from the start of the year through March 18 as compared with 112 million CD’s sold during the same period in 2006, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Sales of individual songs in digital format on the Internet rose from 242 million tracks during those months last year to 288 million this year, according to SoundScan.
Consumers are sending a message to artists that “while you may have put a lot of thought into the sequence of the album, I only like these three songs,” said digital music industry analyst Michael McGuire of Gartner Research.
“It comes back to consumers being in complete control of their media experience, and that is not going backwards,” Gartner told AFP while discussing the drop in album sales and the rise in single-song track purchases.
“This is a tough business being a record label because they have to find new sources of revenue.”
Album sales continue to decline and singles continue to rise. This is a product issue. Artist’s need to make sure they are offering a complete product with more than one single. I still can’t comprehend why major and indie labels allow product to hit the shelves with one single. KOAR will say this again and again…consumers will not purchase music until there is something worth to buy. Nickelback ain’t complaining with 5 million sales, Kelly Clarkson ain’t complaining, Carrie Underwood isn’t moaning, and Daughtry isn’t crying. You can’t contribute ALL this success to American Idol since the TV show has peddled plenty of STIFFs.
HIT Songs that are carried by HIT artists’ will sell records. This is a fact. Now stop hiring bloggers and new media monkeys to peddle more crap and spend some time finding artists that can write hits.
Album sales continue to decline and singles continue to rise. This is a product issue. Artist’s need to make sure they are offering a complete product with more than one single. I still can’t comprehend why major and indie labels allow product to hit the shelves with one single.
HINDER????
Comment by DB — March 22, 2007 @ 10:03 am
No one starts listening to track 6 on their mp3 players or cruising in their car off of an artists album until the label or radio says its the next big single. People these days are just way too easily influenced and want music spoon fed to them and their mind is not big enough for a whole album.
It’s all good though because I just got two floor tix for Daft Punk in LA.
Comment by A2daC — March 22, 2007 @ 10:30 am
Why Tower didn’t start selling digital downloads years ago is beyond me. I know they had other problems but the loss of that brand name is a huge blow to the record industry. To anyone between 25 and 50 Tower Rcords was synonymous with buying music.
Comment by Brett — March 22, 2007 @ 12:21 pm
back in the day we would sit on the floor with headphones and listen to Johnnie Winters and….yea i know…it’s funny that a band in concert would play live, the songs that would end up on an album and i’m darn sure they wouldn’t think of them being not good or just “filler” tunes.someone likes tune 6 or 11.but times have changed with over saturation of a song on fm radio thats really what people kinda know the artist by.no modern rock station would ever reach into an album any deeper that the current hit.maybe singles will be the only hope that labels have.could a band be signed to a label for just one song and if it sells then another?
Comment by larry anderson — March 22, 2007 @ 4:51 pm
Actually, I’m all for signing artists to a singles deal. If they cant write more than one song, they don’t deserve a full blown record deal.
Full blown record deals should be for bands like
COLD PLAY, AFI, James Blunt, Nickelback, Three Days Grace, etc..They deliver albums with a bucket load of singles.
Comment by koar — March 22, 2007 @ 5:00 pm
at first it sounds dumb..but a short term contract for one song.in this day unsigned are getting pro recordings so cost would be down to labels and please if we had to just focus on a single, effort would be tripled.all out into one song.it is today no different than hearing the same one song over and over on modern rock radio.so why not go for it.if the bands song doesn’t do well then the band and the label can moved on.then a dj could pick a song off an album now the station justs rips the one song and the physical cd collects dust.and maybe word of mouth from fans would talk about other tunes on the album.we would take a single deal in a minute.bottom line is the bands writing and playing would be on line and if the song is good?…well you know the rest.
Comment by larry anderson — March 22, 2007 @ 5:48 pm
Yeah…the music industry would right itself and everything would be fine if artists would start making albums full of songs like Nickleback. And the American Idol finalists. And Hinder. And…I’m sorry. I’m having trouble typing this because I’m laughing so hard.
Because a song is 3-3:30 minutes in length, has the typical verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus formula, and reaches the “hook” within :45 seconds of the song’s first note, it is classified as a “potential single”. If the song has an especially memorable “hook”, its classified as a “potential hit”. IT HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN THIS WAY! We have been programmed like robots to believe this is the only way its done, and you’re feeding into this bullshit.
You are calling for artists to buy into this formulaic style of writing? Making entire albums of “hit singles”? That’s the last thing we need right now, man. I know you’re a big fan of GNR. Listen to Appetite. Listen to either of the Use Your Illusion records. The reason people fell in love with those records is because they were different from the same old crap being put out. Yes the songs were memorable. Yes they had good choruses and hooks. But they weren’t all “hits”. GNR didn’t give a flying fuck if radio played their songs. You know Axl didn’t. He’s out of his god damn mind. And that’s exactly why they did get played!
Things are broken right now, man. I don’t know if it will ever be fixed. Especially for rock n roll. But don’t act like if everyone started writing entire albums with a bunch of 3 minute long pop songs filled with hooks, everything would be okay in the world. I’m not saying I’ve got the answers here, but if that’s your’s, then neither do you.
Comment by Sid — March 23, 2007 @ 3:17 pm
Yeah Sid… cause everyone knows what the public needs to get exposed to are more crap artists who dont care about writing hits. Sid, you dont know what you are talking about. All of the rock greats wrote BIG HITS; and it didnt take 5 minutes to get to the chorus. It’s not a formula; its what society, ESPECIALLY OUR SOCIETY, has always wanted to hear. You dont care about song structure, A BIG HOOK, or having a tune on the radio, go back to your dorm room and rock for the masses on your practice amp. The other 15-20 million people who bought those HIT records this year will care less.
Comment by mike — March 23, 2007 @ 4:07 pm
GNR’s Appetite consisted of all HITS. Thats why it sold 20+ million. It also helps with a star front man like Axl Rose. Guns N Roses got played because they wrote Welcome to the Jungle and Paradise City… A Huge Hit. I don’t remember Pretty Tied Up and Locomative off of Use Your Illusion being added to radio, even though they are great songs.
Several legendary life style artists wrote 3 minute songs. Forgoodness sakes, The Beatles who sold over 100 million records wrote 3 minute songs with lyrics and melodies that will last 100 Years.
The music Industry and the radio world would return to its healthy state If artists wrote great songs that freed people from there busy lifestyle. If that doesnt happen, expect the worse.
Comment by koar — March 23, 2007 @ 4:43 pm
the music industry would be right if they started to actually sign real talent .. instead of trends .. the singles issues come later
Comment by realmad — March 23, 2007 @ 5:59 pm
Communication: Breakdown.
There is definitely a ‘pop’ formula. There is a science to it. It’s mathematics. However, a Top 40 ‘hit song’ is very different from a ‘legendary artist,’ who may never see a chart position. A great artist is all about longevity and progressive evolution. A hit song is replaceable and generally has the shelf life of spoiled milk. Hit songs don’t have to come from legendary artists, as the past 15 years have shown us.
Dean is right though, there have been many legendary artists that came out of the major label system and the ‘formula.’ Despite the existence of a ‘formula,’ there is still plenty of room for creativity and originality. But, I don’t think that’s the debate.
There are artists who have ‘big picture relevance’ and artists who are simply temporary cash cows. GNR and The Beatles were both. It does happen. The Beatles as well as GNR wrote SONGS that will last forever, despite the relatively short careers of both acts (neither one ever reached the 10 year mark).
But Sid is right as to WHY they were successful… at the time they gave people something they weren’t getting. They won over audiences around the world because they had it all- they had the songs, they had the vibe, they had the rockstar qualities and they put on great shows. They were a total package. The real question is, could they have been that successful WITHOUT a label? At the time, definitely not. But with the way things are today, there is no reason why not.
I don’t think anyone will argue that things are really messed up right now. Although artists like Nickelback, Hinder and the Idol kids are still selling in the millions, if the major label system worked for everyone then MORE artists would be selling that well, not less. The options seem to be simple: either play the major label game as a singles-driven artist and operate in their long established system, or create a system of your own. One that works for you.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both the DIY and the label systems. Both can help you raise your status and both can get you in the public eye. Neither one can make any promises about how long your ride will last or how much money you will make…that’s up to the artist and the team they surround themselves with.
Wanting major labels to change is futile. They’re too big to make changes. If their existing system can work for your band (meaning you consistently write ‘hit songs’ with ‘mass appeal’), then jump in. If that’s not the kind of artist you are and cannot operate in that system, then you need to staff up with the right people and take it into your own hands.
Comment by AJ-KOAR — March 23, 2007 @ 6:49 pm
a-men…AJ-koar
Comment by larry anderson — March 24, 2007 @ 5:41 pm
labels don’t need to change when bands like Hinder, 10 Years, Nickelback come in .. they bring in revenue.
Comment by realmad — March 24, 2007 @ 8:50 pm
I second that AJ. Well said.
Comment by Sid — March 25, 2007 @ 12:00 am
It is still the music biz and what it comes down to is bringing in revenue. If you hate or love Nickelback it doesn’t matter, they make money. Pop rock in the style of NB, Hinder, Matchbox, Three doors down, sell music to a mass of people that are willing to buy it. This is not rocket science. That is where the market needs to turn even if it makes every music critic and cool emo kid cry like a little girl with a skinned knee.
Comment by Just a guy — March 29, 2007 @ 8:18 am