The music industry is on the brink of oblivion. With album sales reaching all-time lows in recent years and established artists struggling to remain commercially viable, it is evident that the music market is in disarray. What is the root cause of this sudden collapse in sales? The answer is simple: illegal downloads.
At the break of the new millennium, record sales soared to new heights with artists such as Britney Spears, Eminem and N’Sync debuting on the charts with album sales easily surpassing the 1 million mark. Indeed, labels enjoyed their booming profits while continuing to charge exorbitant prices for their products. However, even the most astute industry pundits could not have foreseen the almost catastrophic decline that was perched on the horizon.
The advent of file sharing services including Kazaa, Limewire and, of course, Napster, ignited a shift in the balance of power. Consumers were now the bearers of discretion; allowed the freedom to download their favourite tracks without cost. This increased audience power has since broken the monopolistic grip of labels on the music industry thus leading to a substantial decline in sales. In fact, the last album to be certified diamond in the US was Usher’s ‘Confessions’ LP of 2004. Undeniably, artists now find themselves struggling to sell records; incapable of matching the successes of their predecessors.
Coincidentally, this chaos has led to the revival of quality. As acts face stiff competition from not only the contemporaries but also music pirates, they have been forced to fight for their stake on the charts. Performers such as Beyonce and Kanye West are being pushed to continuously evolve in an effort to remain relevant. Indeed, Usher himself has felt this pressure with his ‘Here I Stand’ album selling substantially less than his preceding release. Therefore, it has become increasingly apparent that there is absolutely no room for error.
Hence, with an embattled music market and the incessant demand for new material that was created by the arrival of the ‘Digital Age’, artists are being mobilised to improve their crafts. As Susan Boyle and Taylor Swift have recently demonstrated, consumers are indeed willing to purchase albums. However, the presence of several mass media outlets (most notably the Internet) has increased their demand for not just quantity, but also quality.
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illegal downloading shouldnt be done
but let’s be serious here
half the time artist have this concept
where they want you to buy a cd and then
you who is the fanatic does so willingly
and there’s like 1 or 2 good songs on the album
besides the whole recession thing, albums are expensive to
buy especially if you love more than just one artist work
bottom line is if we love the artist enough we will buy it
but other priorities come up and we dont want to download
anything illegally, we just want an opportunity to hear what
are stars are working on and try to catch that vibe before the
album comes out
now i think if the artist took the initiative
to release their songs themselves maybe on their websites
then that would be better
majority of people downloading musically dont even know
how legal or illegal the source of where they are getting
their information from
and lets be real its usually minors and teenagers
now if people are doing it and giving it to other people
or they are uploading it on their computer and stuff
then thats wrong, now limewire also has a yearly fee
if you get the pro instead of the basic
now does that still means that it is illegal
cause i know people who do that and they maybe
thinking that b/c they paid for it then its ok to download it
No!! I think it’s not fair to Artist that put soo much hard work into their Artist. It’s not fair to them at all. Someone should shut down LimeWire and others! Its not fair at all. iTunes is part to blame as well,they shouldn’t allow people to buy singles until the Artist releases it as a single. Young People DON’T BUY MUSIC WHICH IS SOOO UN FAIR TO THE ARTIST!
well, if u look @ who really sells albums, it is the white people- sorry BUT WHITE FOLKS SUPPORT-I support all artists I really love…but white people realllllly support !! hahaha… O well, they ALL RICH, they will b just fine, I promise u-
why u alway gotta mention beyonce she aint the be all and end all of music jeez
how do we get songs that are not released legally?
when we like a song, we want it right now… waiting is LONG until the official release date.
Half of these artists LEAK there own songs…
Ethnic people don’t support their own. no wonder they’re fav artists get dropped (Amerie, Ashanti, Tierra, etc. etc. or disappear, ATL).
Its not suprise that artists are all making music that sound the same (pop, electro-pop, rock-pop), its because POP sells… t*** boopers, white rich folks are buying.
I laugh at these things cos im only in my mid 20s, and i feel that the music has gone down in quality for some time now. Its not just me who thinks that there are so many people that i no that think’s that as well. I mean looking back before 2004 i could have at least 20 albums in my collection from that year that i would still play even now. But these day’s im likely to get not even half that, and most of the timesthey are not that good that i would play all the time. I mean look at Timberland, Shock value was a fantastic album, and when the second one came out i have to say that i was really looking forward to it, but as soon as i got the second album i was feeling short changed. As for the whole illegal downloading i can see why people do it, i my self from time to time do it, not proud of it but where im living at the moment i have to treck very far to get the albums that i want and as a student that does a 4 day a week course plus working on the days off i find it hard sometimes to go out on long journeys to purchase my cds. Before anyone says it i like buying cds i dont no what it is but going into a shop and looking at whats out i find more nicer than buying from Amazon etc. im a big fan of Robin Thicke and Mary J and i will admit that when it comes down to my fav artists i can’t illegally download there songs.
They just need to take it to the streets & tour. Radio is horrible so my m** player is my radio. I also agreed with what was said above. I got sick of buying albums for like $15 when only 2 or 3 songs would be on rotation. I support my live artists because they are the ones putting in the effort. Anyone can record an m** with the most trivial of computer programs, but the real survivors take it to the streets!
I think the problem is that the quality of music has gone way down and people don’t think there’s a point of buyin music when you can get it for free.
If these artist would start being original again, then maybe I would go and spend 13.99$ for that album! But until I start hearing real music again, kiss my ass record industry, cuz I’m tried of the “Oh if you look good fad in music you are automatically entitled to be called and artist! ”
The public has spoken!! We want real music again, wee at least I do!!!
Susan Boyle and Taylor Swift are fast sellers because of their demographic: Susan’s fans are too damn old to figure out how to work a computer and get it for free. Taylor’s fans are still in diapers and mommy will gladly run to Wal-Mart and buy the album for them. But people around my age (20s) rarely buy albums – me included. I have to truly love you as an artist, and I have to love your project, before I invest in you.
Also, artists need to get back to creating concepts and making music with actual good lyrics. Then people may give a damn about your album. Everyone is always hollering about how magical Beyonce is, but to me, she can do better. She is too damn old to be singing about her video phone or her ego. She needs to get on Janet Jackson’s status – when JJ was 24 she did Rhythm Nation – one of the best concept albums EVER!
using Susan Boyle as an example in your post is illfounded and wrong to support your theory that people will buy if the music is quality. If that were so, they would have purchased Barbra Steisand’s cd which came out in Sept seeing that she arguably has a much better voice than Susan and her album was original material not covers.
Susan is a fluke, a phenon so she ‘s not a good eg. Taylor Swift and quality…uumm no,child cant’ even carry a tune- she just tapped into teenage angst and life.
@Nick
It’s not all about white people buying & spending more money. Music that bought by the mainstream audience is mostly cheap forgettable hits, novelty songs.
Pop & rock artist get more promotion then other artist because it’s seen as what sell to the larger audiences. Black music has been in decline & waterdown over the years so that why they buy less. Mixtapes are still selling
What about Asian people they buy allot of music as well, it’s not a black & white issue.
@delroy: I agree with what you said
If the music is good you go & buy the album legally because you want to support that artist & own the album.
Most the music today is of a cheap standard compared to years before. If the industry didn’t produce crap to make quick hits more people would buy more to support the artist instead they control everything there no more creativity.
It about easy access, the reason why we even had music piracy is because the industry ignored the internet thinking it was just a tool geeks used. There was a huge convention years before about the internet issue before it became this big phenomenon.
We live in a time where you can hear the album before buying so if its crap you won’t want to spend your money on it.
personally i think artists should do away with albums altogether. selling individual songs is arguably easier these days; i wouldn’t think twice about spending $1 to buy a song I like. but dropping $15 for an album? i’d think twice, especially if it’s from an artist i’m not familiar with.
and if you want to do an album, do a true concept album. make it so that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
The whole Susan thing doesn’t really count I think. She sold on hype and we all know that. Not trying to put her down but if she didn’t look the way she looekd then no one would be talking about her. I’m guessing her 2nd album will probably flop. Anyone remember Paul Potts. He sold well 1st album, 2nd flopped. So it’s all down to black people not supporting artists etc.
it will be down 4 ever artists need 2 stop fronting like they dont use these types of resources for theyre own pleasure……i love limewire but it crashes my computer so now i buy my cd’s from amazon for $5.00 and less i dont like itunes everybdy is on there amazon m** download is a best kept secret 🙂
B.Mike… u hit the nail on the head!
”Susan Boyle and Taylor Swift are fast sellers because of their demographic: Susan’s fans are too damn old to figure out how to work a computer and get it for free. Taylor’s fans are still in diapers and mommy will gladly run to Wal-Mart and buy the album for them. But people around my age (20s) rarely buy albums – me included. I have to truly love you as an artist, and I have to love your project, before I invest in you.”
Who is this blogger writing with self-perceived authority on topics that he has such glarringly obvious anecdotal knowledge of at best. I swear, everytime I come here the articles, with their self-righteous yet naive analysis, get more and more annoying. Did you ever think that the reason why these big name artist have not been selling well over the past four years is because the quality of music has pretty much sucked ass over the past four years! And now we have crap-artists like Lady Caca taking over the world with derivative gay-boy party music … I mean Bad Romance, seriously, who has not heard that thumping electro-pop beat in a thousand different club songs over the past decade. S*** is so bad that people actually believe her music is innovative. People don’t buy albums anymore because artists don’t make albums, they make singles, they make songs that sound like effing ringtones because ringtones are priced higher than M** downloads and youngins buy them buy the buttload. And regarding the decline in album sales, the counter argument there is the fact that countless independent artists are now able to have viable music careers as a result of the exposure gained from sharing their music online for free. Yes, those artists have to do a little thing called TOURING to make ends meet, but that’s what you are supposed to do if you call yourself a musician. People should be focused on making quality music and performing, not trying to put out some overly produced garbage and rake in millions of dollars. If illegal downloading does anything it forces artists to create music WORTH paying for and have at least a level of musicianship that makes you WORTH buying a ticket to see… hopefully that is the direction we will go in once the dust settles and record companies realize that this b******* they are shoveling ain’t working anymore.
Quality my bum! Mariah Carey’s Memoirs was terrible compared to E=MC2, and explain Lil Wayne’s Rebirth keeps getting pushed back. People also believed that Blueprint 3 didn’t do better than the first two. Those are only two of many examples.
And, thanks to illegal downloading, “push back” is the new key phrase in the industry.
The REAL upside is that I get to download those bonus tracks the label cheated me out of when I bought the CD at the store.
@ B. Mike Janet was 23.lol
There are a lot of reasons why people download music without paying, and not feeling like paying is not the only reason. I think it has improved music, actually, an ironic side effect because musicians are starting to perform more shows and with the advent of the internet having videos the next day, artists must also really have good vocal chords, just not produced in a studio.
Jay-Z’s DOA is all about singers being real, and we’re getting back to it.
well i think downloading is good since it gives unknowns a chance to be heard. plus the quality of music has gone down. i won’t buy an album unless it’s good. i preview before i buy. nothing wrong with that. law states that you have 24 hrs to delete what you’ve downloaded.
Especially for up and coming artists it is free promo and exposure.
Most of the time illegal DLs lead to word of mouth exposure too, so hey….
@Stan
I agree I have been thinking albums should maybe go away for a while and artists should just release singles and see how the music markets and its profits change.
This way if the song doesn’t pick up… go and create another one. I guess though for new artists, it wouldnt work, cause you can’t tour with just 1 song.
Trent said: “Coincidentally, this chaos has led to the revival of quality. ”
I must respectfully disagree. The quality of music has gotten progressively worse since the advent of illegal downloading. None of the songs or albums released in the last five years has been anywhere near the quality of say, “Who is Jill Scott?” or “Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite.”
It’s truly a shame.
SERIOUSLY???!!! file-sharers are ignorant, greedy and stupid. end of. read on if u disagree.
WTF this is an incredibly ignorant statement
“I have to truly love you as an artist, and I have to love your project, before I invest in you.”
the songs are their project, musicians put so much hard earned money from working in wal mart to pay for recording studio time, instruments, rehearsal time, travel, recording engineers, and also their accommodation/living costs/food (their not superhuman!) so they can earn a living selling their products!
if you want to love them before you invest in them check out their demos or listen on spotify / myspace music
if your going to take the time and effort to download it, buy it! so you do like them so much you can’t wait for the release date? destroying your own point!
and someone who has access to the album may leak it, but really…an artist leaking their own stuff ?? where is your proof? and ‘HALF’ of them, just full of exaggerations and excuses for your own impatience and greed, you will destroy the music industry and force the songs to all sound the same from the s***** rich folk who can bypass the need to make a living out of it!
so you think all artists sound the same, maybe if they had an incentive of you buying their music there would be more competition to win your admiration.
there’s a great amount of employment in the music industry, not just the musicians, but the technicals, your destroying an industry of art in this recession
sysan boyle and taylor swift are s*** yes, but wouldn’t win best seller if you stated buying!!
The problem here is not that the fans don’t want to support artists they love and admire. When Radiohead released “In Rainbows” they allowed their fans to pay whatever they felt they should pay — what they felt the album was worth. And you know what? The people paid for it. Maybe not all — I mean let’s face it, even when there were just cd’s people still borrowed them and ripped them onto their computer. But truthfully, if artists put out better music, people would gladly pay for it what it was worth, especially if the RECORD COMPANY middle men were out of the picture. They are the one’s pocketing most of the money, so the artist isn’t getting it anyways. Perhaps we should demand that the music artists put their music up themselves and let us pay what it is worth to us. We should let corporations dictate to us the price we are willing to pay for music.