AfterDawn: News

Global music sales fell 10 percent in 2007

Music sold worldwide had a substantial decline in 2007 and fell faster than 2006 even while digital distribution sales have been seemingly soaring. As is the usual argument, the industry is claiming that they need to adopt a model that better protects against piracy if they are to reclaim sales of music.

Digital distribution sales rose some 40 percent in 2007, but it wasn't enough of a margin to offset the decline in physical media sales. With how fast and sharp CDs fell off the market, the industry as a whole is looking at a 10 percent loss overall. In response to this, industry leaders are contacting Internet Service Providers and encouraging them to take a stronger stance towards allowing the rampant illegal file sharing that occurs over their networks. They wish to discuss plans to either disconnect those who upload music or provide a medium to prevent the download of illegal music. Most ISPs have been reluctant to give into these types of suggestions, but the industry hopes they will take note of a recent move by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The President has mandated that Internet traffic is to be blocked to those found to be frequently downloading illegal wares.



IFPI Chief Executive John Kennedy told Reuters, "It is hard to persuade anyone to be a pioneer but what we have with the French government is a very energetic government understanding how important the French music industry is to French business and culture. That leadership shows that it's not as dreadful or as problematic as people think.



Written by: Dave Horvath @ 24 Jan 2008 10:24

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• 15 comments

• logan1957

  After reading this article it still amazes me how behind the times the music industry really is. They are STILL blaming file sharing for the drastic drop in CD sales. The real reason for this drop is the advent of digital music stores wherein for a 1.00 and up you can download your favorite artist's music and make your own compilation of their best songs, not just the one or two that they want you to accept on the CD's.
  It's a known fact that there are only two or three good tracks on a CD and to get ANY good music you have to take a number of them to make one good one. THIS, then, is the real reason for the dramatic drop in CD sales in stores, not the so called piracy that the music industry, like the RIAA would have you believe. Yes, there are a lot of people that get their music off the net, but in some cases it's the only way to find music that is no longer available in music stores or in some cases the artists are not on their lists so you can't get them. Changing the laws to reflect the wishes of the music industry is going to hurt one group of people only and that's the music industry themselves.
  Blocking content that they don't want shared is one way to go but if they do so there will always be some bright soul who will figure a way around it. Do we really have to take an example of a country that can't decide who is right or wrong so they will block everybody? That is nothing more than censorship pure and simple with the government behind it being told what to do by their money men who really pull the strings.

  24.1.2008 12:57 #1

• wCHUBBS

  That is the truth! Go Logan! I only buy what I like, yes I listen to the whole album at FYE or WHAREHOUSE music stores, then what I like I buy on iTunes or other places. BUT if I like the album artwork, I buy the cd, like TOOL's 10,000 DAYS was AMAZING! and so are their previous 3 Albums. Dont hate The Pirate Bay, hate AMAZON and iTUNES and other places like that!
  
  -wCHUBBS

  24.1.2008 13:47 #2

• snowlock

  Sarkozy's some kinda effin maniac with that move. All the french government had to do was 20 minutes of research to find out the truth: that cd's are dying out and the music industry is utterly refusing to truly adopt the digital distribution model that is taking over.
  
  Statements like "they need to adopt model that better protects against piracy" are doublespeak for "we don't support any format that's recordable or copyable." They flipped out in much the same way, I'm sure, when cassette tapes (recordable) rendered vinyl records obsolete.
  
  I've said it before; kiosks located in the same stores people buy their music in now that are filled with common titles and connected live for downloads of other tracks. Usb ports, flash card readers and maybe even cd burners in each kiosk for the customer to receive their purchases with. The industry knows that we're nowhere near the point where every one has high-speed internet, and not even my 11 year old cousin will pay $1/song to download them at dial-up speed. Many people are dying for a way to fill mp3 players they don't even own yet.
  
  It wouldn't matter if every track was $2 and crippled by the worst drm yet, sales figures would go from red to black in no time.

  24.1.2008 15:19 #3

• SamNz

  i agree with everybody so far, and maybe just maybe music isnt as good as it used to be, maybe they have just had a off year or 3, and hell even tho are making a 10% loss they're still making a sh*tload of money, whats 10% of a billion dollars, its still alot,

  24.1.2008 15:30 #4

• banned4gd

  Agreeeeeeed!!!!!!!!!!
  
  "Digital distribution sales rose some 40 percent in 2007, but it wasn't enough of a margin to offset the decline in physical media sales."
  
  Have some freakin' patience!!!!
  
  To honestly expect the industry to go a totally different direction (digital d/l's) in perfect sync with phasing out the CD is just plain brainless. A 40% increase sounds FANTASTIC and it appears that file sharing has NOTHING to do with their losses. That 10 percent is a direct result of the drop in CD sales. In several years when NO ONE buys discs anymore, that number will certainly change and 40% will increase to 90%.............then the whole CD copying fiasco will start all over again--->Just not as bad in my opinion because of instant availability and individual song pricing.
  
  I guess in a perfect RIAA, music prod, music composer, music exec. world we would have the advent of digital downloads fired up AT FULL SPEED on the very same day as the complete and total stopping of CD buying. "Ok world..............download and pay for all your songs and no more compact discs available" YEAH RIGHT. That's why they're called business "plans, projections and forecasts". To account for these inherent lapses. Sharing matters NOT to their losses and simply generates massive audience attendance at concerts where people buy 35.00 T-shirts that were made for 2.00 bucks.

  24.1.2008 17:25 #5

• sgriesch

  It's not from piracy. Did anybody hear the crap that came out all year last year?

  24.1.2008 18:23 #6

• mspurloc

  PRECISELY.
  Rap, Hip-Hop, R&B and Country sales plummeted this last year because nobody wanted them.
  The bottom's dropped out.
  It's not file-sharing, it's consumer fatigue.

  24.1.2008 18:54 #7

• snowlock

  Originally posted by banned4gd: "Digital distribution sales rose some 40 percent in 2007, but it wasn't enough of a margin to offset the decline in physical media sales."
  
  Have some freakin' patience!!!!
  
  To honestly expect the industry to go a totally different direction (digital d/l's) in perfect sync with phasing out the CD is just plain brainless...I can personally vouch for the fact that stores were full of cd's long before the cassette tape ever left the shelves. For a while cd's had their own small section, then over a period of time they switched and tapes had the small section with cd's occupying the rest of the space.
  
  There's only two big differences between the shift from tapes to cd's and the shift from cd's to digital distribution. The first problem (and what the music industry wants you to think is the biggest) is that there would be little to no physical sales.
  The real sticking point for the industry is this:
  Tape-->CD meant easily recordable/copyable/writable format to non-recordable (then) digital, so they loved cd
  CD-->MP3,etc. means current fairly copyable standard to far easier to distribute/record/copy standard, so they hate digital distribution
  
  They're horrified by the prospect of competition. Just like all the comments on here are saying, the consumer is tired of the same old junk; right now the big 4 can dictate what's widely available because it's far more expensive to physically distribute than it would be to do it electronically. The popularity of musicians, then, might not be based solely on availability but rather -gasp- talent.

  24.1.2008 19:04 #8

• Blackjax

  Well here's something else they didn't take into consideration. How many of those dollars came from people who lost jobs, people who lost homes, and last not but not least the rest of us who are paying higher prices for everything from food to gas. I guess they really do live in a bubble where they think everyone has cash like they do.
  
  I for one am not about to pull food from my kids mouths just to keep their sales numbers up. So I say to them pucker up butter cup I have something you can kiss if you don't like my statement!!!!!!

  25.1.2008 00:19 #9

• Gorgoroth

  Music sucks... Plain and simple... Well, that is, if all you have to go by is popular rock radio and MTV/BET/Bullshit... Truth is, there's THOUSANDS of artists the world over who are creating groundbreaking and innovative music. I should know I run a music magazine and have done so for over 15 years. MY favorite artists don't get radio play (well, with the exception of MY own online radio show). Yeah, majority of it's metal, but there's great bands like Kauan, who mix Finnish folk, acoustic and flutes/violins with clean sung male vocals and black metal vocals. Therion, who had the balls to make a metal album filled with male and female operetta choirs and a practically 30 piece orchestra! Tiamat's "A Deeper Kind Of Slumber" album was pure melodic Pink Floyd worship. Still think music's been done to death and there's no original ideas anymore? THAT'S what the RIAA wants you to think.
  
  Let's face it, GONE are the era when record labels encourage bands to be creative and experimental instead of going with the point a to point b formula to generate cash. The will BE no more Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, etc. spending their entire careers with one label, because get them in, get the money and get them out is the answer. And you know who is to blame? That talentless half wit show "American Idol." STUPIDEST show to EVER come along on T.V. But ask yourself this: WHERE are these "contest winners" a year from now? Do you remember them? Do you think they have two or three album deals in the works?
  
  And people wonder why I DON'T listen to radio anymore, or watch MTV. Or even HAVE cable T.V. for that matter... Once people see that bands are being promoted and supported properly, instead of getting a measly 2 or 5 cents for EACH CD they sell, THEN people start buying albums again. Once bands put out a record that has MORE than one good song out of ten bad ones, once bands go on tour based on years of great hits (rather than forcing people to shell out $30 so they can hear their "one hit wonder," and hope the rest of the songs sound good live), THEN the music will pick up sales again. Yes, rap became a trend for the whiteys, but rap music isn't intended to speak messages to the young white suburbanites who drive 30 and 40 thousand dollar sport cars that mommy and daddy bought them. THESE kids don't know ghetto living, or the struggle of the streets, or the hope for a simple meal while wandering around homeless from day to day. THESE kids are slowly waking up to the fact that hip hop and rap AREN'T SPEAKING THEIR LANGUAGE....

  27.1.2008 01:46 #10

• snowlock

  Originally posted by Gorgoroth: ...Let's face it, GONE are the era when record labels encourage bands to be creative and experimental instead of going with the point a to point b formula to generate cash. The will BE no more Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, etc...the music industry killed that era with what's happened to radio and various other evil business maneuvers. what their afraid of is how digital distribution could put a serious reversal on that problem by making it way easier to expose the consumer to new stuff.
  
  the way i see it, that's the only reason there are no actual physical locations you can go and fill up an mp3 player. the people who decide how to distribute the music know both that most people don't have high-speed internet access, and that downloading songs on dial-up isn't worth US$1 per track to the average consumer.
  
  also...therion is effin awesome

  27.1.2008 03:00 #11

• Mez

  Gorgoroth, that has been my belief. Except the industry only allowed the artist to be creative now they don't. The industry has screwed there own music due to stupidity and greed. Now is a better time for independents thanks to the industry.

  29.1.2008 16:54 #12

• Gorgoroth

  >Gorgoroth, that has been my belief. Except the industry only allowed >the artist to be creative now they don't. The industry has screwed >there own music due to stupidity and greed.
  
  And they think THEY know what people want... WHY do you think Metallica has become so villified amongst true metalheads? THEY "hired" a team of people to help them figure out what the fans would want, and that mess was St. Anger. Underground production works, but not when you don't have the skills to back it up. And letting the artist be creative, TRULY creative, results in what is now considered "Experimental" albums like "Dark Side Of The Moon" and "Abbey Road." When we can get back to letting the artist dictate the vision, instead of corporate suits that THINK they know the target audience, then the people will come back in droves... THEIR corporate mindset is geared more towards kids who we all know will eventually grow up and out of their current state. But while the KIDS want what they want, WHO foots the bill? THE ADULTS... WHo are increasingly disillusioned with the music industry. Even the independents like Metal Blade and Century Media are being forced to jump the cash cow (but to be fair, in order for Metal Blade to release the Omen's, the Hallows Eve's, the Amon Amarth's and the God Dethroned's, they have to put crap out like The Goo Goo Dolls, and the metalcore stuff...
  
  
  Now is a better time for independents thanks to the industry.
  
  NOW is a better time for ALL. If you want to find good music, there ARE outlets. YOU HAVE CHOICES... You may have to search for them, but they ARE THERE... Try Doom Radio for instance.... (Shameless plug)...

  29.1.2008 17:41 #13

• goodswipe

  I'm sure this has been said already...
  
  The music out there today just SUCKS, plain and simple.
  

  HD-DVD...keep the dream alive!

  29.1.2008 17:57 #14

• borhan9

  Bring out the violins after only reading the first paragraph i can see this is just another silly cry for more attention and money that they are loosing.

  19.2.2008 00:44 #15