The first quarter of 2007 has brought a drop of 20% in the sales of pressed CDs in the US. PC Pro reports that a number of things have coincided to bring this about. Piracy, of course, is always one of the culprits, but we have also seen 800 music stores close their doors and the increase in DVD media competing for our limited entertainment dollars.
But also hitting store sales, is the huge increase in the download sales of the individual music tracks, up a whopping 54%. The industry has been counting on downloads to turn things around, but it certainly appears that the gains in one form are costing sales in another. Top selling albums these days are barely one tenth of what they have been in the past. Lastly, of course, is the generally negative image the music industry has rightly earned for their DRM policies. My feeling, based on very non-scientific sampling, is that there is just not enough time anymore to seriously listen to music. DVDs, the Internet, Cable and Satellite offering hundreds of channels, Sirius and XM, and of course the hopefully occasional real human contact; these all eat into our leisure hours. Music is still just music. Cell phones and MP3 players are different but they are just new style Walkmans. Maybe they need a good HD format war to get everyone interested in music again.
