BLOG | APR. 6, 2009

Music Buying Habits of Teens Changes...


Expect to see more changes in the music purchasing/acquiring habits of teenagers as time goes by. Courtesy of theNPD Group's press release: "teens (age 13 to 17) acquired 19 percent less music in 2008 than they did in 2007. CD purchasing declined 26 percent and paid digital downloads fell 13 percent compared with the prior year. In the case of paid digital downloads, 32 percent of teens purchasing less digital music expressed discontent with the music that was available for purchase, while 23 percent claimed to already have a suitable collection of digital music. Twenty-four percent of teens also cited cutbacks in overall entertainment spending as a reason for buying fewer downloads. The downturn in paid music acquisition was matched by a downturn in the quantity of tracks downloaded from peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, which fell 6 percent in 2008. The number of teens borrowing music, either to rip to a computer or burn to a CD, fell by 28 percent." _____________________________ Some thoughts I've had: If a large quantity of most of the music ever recorded is available, online, probably forever somehow, then there's no urgency to buy a new or an old release, like in the days when you'd stumble into a record store in another city and just "have to" buy stuff because you knew you'd never see it again. A younger listener who never had this experience would take this world for granted. When you can say, "Who are these Rolling Stones?" and then in a few hours maybe have almost all their albums downloaded the music then becomes a resource, like having an encyclopedia where you don't read the whole book but pull it out when curious. I get the feeling, even from younger musicians I know, that many people have downloaded (for free) much more music than they actually get around to listening to. And then friends hand over a DVD-R or flash drive with tons of stuff that will be waded through over time and weeded out. Should people be paying for music they don't even decide to keep? So record labels are unhappy that people don'tpayfor music? What about used album/CD sales? They never had a cut in on that and it has gone on for years and years. What about the library? I've borrowed CDs from there to check out, and possibly dropped a few into iTunes. What about people recording music off the radio? Or off streaming sites? Show me an artist that makes millions of dollars from CD album sales on a major label. Not publishing, touring, merch, licensing or such. I wonder if there's anyone that could even live off a major label's doling out of a tiny percentage of the sales after recouping a trumped up figure. Artists aren't hurting, major labels are hurting. Fuck them.

MORE ENTRIES

Workbench Recordings present one song per week

December 24, 2009

Workbench Recordings present one song per week

BY Larry Crane

James Beaudreau is a former member of the Billy Nayer Show (1998-2003) and startedWorkbench Recordings- a netlabel, blog, and recording studio in NYC....

Alan Parsons Art and Science of Sound Recording

December 24, 2009

Alan Parsons Art and Science of Sound Recording

BY Larry Crane

I've interviewed and enjoyed Alan Parsons' company a number of times over the years, and a while back he even cornered me at an AES conference and vid...

Ronan's Recording Show features Jerks Behind Tape Op mag

December 24, 2009

Ronan's Recording Show features Jerks Behind Tape Op mag

BY Larry Crane

Our pal Ronan Chris Murphy does this cool "TV" show on his site,http://ronansrecordingshow.com, andthe most recent oneis with me and John Baccigaluppi...

Vinyl Lives?

November 3, 2009

Vinyl Lives?

BY Larry Crane

James Goss has interviewed many independent record store owners across the country to see how they stay in business and what they sell. Every month a ...

MICS FEATURED IN THE BEATLES?: ROCK BAND? VIDEO GAME

October 26, 2009

MICS FEATURED IN THE BEATLES?: ROCK BAND? VIDEO GAME

BY Larry Crane

So I just noticed an email in my inbox from a PR person with the headline: "XXXXX MICS FEATURED IN THE BEATLES?: ROCK BAND? VIDEO GAME". What's next? ...

Damian Wagner and the Sound of the Earth?

October 21, 2009

Damian Wagner and the Sound of the Earth?

BY Larry Crane

Ina previousblog post, we saw the beginnings of this project.Damian Wagnerwas in issue 64 - here's a crazyprojectwhere he's amplifying the sound of th...

Meeting Your Maker

October 17, 2009

Meeting Your Maker

BY Larry Crane

Well, not my maker but the man behind the baby that is our RND5088 console at Jackpot! I got to spend a little time (and a photoshoot) with Rupert Nev...

This happens EVERY week

October 7, 2009

This happens EVERY week

BY Larry Crane

I didn't do this video. But the guy who did must be spying on me. You can replace the style of music with any style, but the conversation is the same....

Nashville Recording Summit Nov. 13-15

October 7, 2009

Nashville Recording Summit Nov. 13-15

BY Larry Crane

Tape Op contributor, Chris Mara, has organized anamazing studio eventcoming up. I wanted to go but sessions have stopped me. If you can make it, this ...