Digital Downloads and the Dying Album – Penn State Gets It!
As I strolled ignorantly to my theater class this afternoon, completely forgetting that it had been canceled, I decided to pick up a copy of The Daily Collegian (PSU’s student paper) to kill some time before my next class. And I am very glad I did, because I came across a very refreshing article.
Digital Downloads: City Lights, other music stores wary of future
To be honest, usually most of the articles that come out of our newspaper aren’t the highest caliber. However, the author of this article really surprised me with her knowledge of the music industry! It was definitely an eye-opening experience for me because, until today, I had yet to meet someone at PSU with as much interest in the music industry as me.
If you get me rambling about the music industry up here in Happy Valley, I usually get incessant nodding or eyes rolling from listeners – frankly, it seems like they would rather do a kegstand. Not that there’s anything wrong with kegstands… :)
Anyways, here’s what I took away from the article (with occasional comments by me). Hopefully it is useful to you guys as well…
Digital Downloads
In the opening paragraphs, author Alexandra Fletcher (@ListenWriteHear) points out that the impact of digital downloading has finally struck good ol’ Happy Valley.
The only local brick-and-mortar music store in the downtown area, City Lights, is predicting it will go out of business by next year due to the rising popularity of digital downloads. UPDATE: City Lights has, in fact, gone under. :(
“There were 428.4 million albums sold nationwide in 2008, down from 500.5 million in 2007, according to Nielson Sound Scan. As for digital music, 844.2 million tracks sold in 2007, and in 2008 that increased to almost 1.1 billion…meanwhile, 65.8 percent of the 428.4 million albums sold in 2008, were purchased digitally.” – Nielsen SoundScan.
I’m sure most people reading this are already aware of these trends. Clearly the value of an album has diminished. DRASTICALLY. Why, you ask?
Alexandra goes on to quote local Roustabout! concert series promoter Jesse Ruegg, who believes that album value has decreased due to the recording industry’s business strategies throughout the 80′s and 90′s:
The art form of the album was abused as the industry ‘padded out’ an artist. The industry produced albums of 12 to 15 songs with mediocre songwriting, forcing consumers to pay ’18 bucks to find a few good tracks,’ Ruegg said.
An upside to consumers purchasing and stealing music via digital downloading is the leveling of the playing field. Amateur artists and small labels can distribute their music and merchandise through the same digital mediums the pro’s use!
Chenjerai Kumanyika, a Penn State grad student in entertainment and media studies, and former member of hip-hop group The Spooks, had some very insightful things to say about this:
This isn’t the first time the entertainment industry has had to change mediums. This is a time when listeners have more freedom to discern what’s good rather than have the music industry tell them what’s good…this is a time that has the potential to empower artists. Artists should try to use that power, and fans should recognize this as a time to choose.
Chenjerai, I concur.
Anybody remember the transformation from sheet music to vinyl records? Well, if you’re my age, then no, you don’t. But maybe you’ve read about it, or learned about it in school. The point is… shit happens, and the industry has endured and adapted to the change – who’s to say we cannot adapt again?
[Image credit: Click here]
