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8/8-14/10 - Album sales hit record low


GA Russell

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Here's an NPR article about the current state of record sales - the lowest since Soundscan started in 1991.

I blame it on:

1) very little of today's music appeals to adults

2) much of teen music is R&B

3) many teens spend their money on video games nowadays.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/08/25/129428450/album-sales-hit-record-lows

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Here's an NPR article about the current state of record sales - the lowest since Soundscan started in 1991.

I blame it on:

1) very little of today's music appeals to adults

2) much of teen music is R&B

3) many teens spend their money on video games nowadays.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/08/25/129428450/album-sales-hit-record-lows

Well, that and:

utorrent.jpeg

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I don't think people value music any less - I always see people at their desks with headphones on, and music plays in every restaurant and coffee shop. But people now see music as akin to a utility - you turn on the faucet and the water just flows, same for music, and they give no thought to the economics behind it. Minds smarter than mine are puzzling over how to monetize that stream.

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I don't think people value music any less - I always see people at their desks with headphones on, and music plays in every restaurant and coffee shop. But people now see music as akin to a utility - you turn on the faucet and the water just flows, same for music, and they give no thought to the economics behind it. Minds smarter than mine are puzzling over how to monetize that stream.

This pretty much sums it up for me too. I'd also add that "most people" have never had discerning ear or tastes, they just want something that "sounds like" what they want/need to hear at any given moment becuase let's face it - "most people" have more pressing issues in their lives than mulling over whether Eric Clapton is a real player, an erratic marginality, or pretty much worthless. They just ain't got time to go there, if you know what I mean. And really, why should they? Between raising a family (really raising it, not just being in the house & showing up at certain events), paying bills, keeping your relationship together, not getting fucked over on your job, fighting various illnesses, etc etc etc, why the fuck should anybody feel a mandate to figure out Eric Clapton's rightful place in the world?

The literal downsizing of the players & and of the media itself is in perfect sync with what "most people" like to use music for - a lifestyle accessory. Nothing more, nothing less. For people like "us", well, that's hard to fathom, but...we do it too. It's just that our lifestyle hings more on digging deeper. I know a lot of people say that they'd rather be dead than live without their music, but....really?

I'd like to see that put to a real-life test and see how many people blink at the last minute...I bet we'd see a whole lot of players getting carted off to the graveyard and a whole lot of fans crying as they watch them go.

And you know what, when it's all said and done, that's probably how it should be.

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I don't think people value music any less - I always see people at their desks with headphones on, and music plays in every restaurant and coffee shop. But people now see music as akin to a utility - you turn on the faucet and the water just flows, same for music, and they give no thought to the economics behind it. Minds smarter than mine are puzzling over how to monetize that stream.

This pretty much sums it up for me too. I'd also add that "most people" have never had discerning ear or tastes, they just want something that "sounds like" what they want/need to hear at any given moment becuase let's face it - "most people" have more pressing issues in their lives than mulling over whether Eric Clapton is a real player, an erratic marginality, or pretty much worthless. They just ain't got time to go there, if you know what I mean. And really, why should they? Between raising a family (really raising it, not just being in the house & showing up at certain events), paying bills, keeping your relationship together, not getting fucked over on your job, fighting various illnesses, etc etc etc, why the fuck should anybody feel a mandate to figure out Eric Clapton's rightful place in the world?

The literal downsizing of the players & and of the media itself is in perfect sync with what "most people" like to use music for - a lifestyle accessory. Nothing more, nothing less. For people like "us", well, that's hard to fathom, but...we do it too. It's just that our lifestyle hings more on digging deeper. I know a lot of people say that they'd rather be dead than live without their music, but....really?

I agree with everything said by mjzee and JSngry and will add that our lifestyle hinges more on digging deeper... in music. I bet in many other aspects of our lives we treat things like lifestyle accessory - in a way that a snob of those aspects would surely decry, much like people are doing in this thread.

Records sales <> music consumption

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A different perspective from:

frazer.jpg

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/27/music-festivals-record-industry

May not apply to the States but I know a whole bunch of young adults who are off at festivals this weekend; it may not be the music I like but their enthusiasm is genuine.

Maybe the way of experiencing music is changing and we're just not keeping up?

Edited by A Lark Ascending
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I don't think people value music any less - I always see people at their desks with headphones on, and music plays in every restaurant and coffee shop. But people now see music as akin to a utility - you turn on the faucet and the water just flows, same for music, and they give no thought to the economics behind it. Minds smarter than mine are puzzling over how to monetize that stream.

This pretty much sums it up for me too. I'd also add that "most people" have never had discerning ear or tastes, they just want something that "sounds like" what they want/need to hear at any given moment becuase let's face it - "most people" have more pressing issues in their lives than mulling over whether Eric Clapton is a real player, an erratic marginality, or pretty much worthless. They just ain't got time to go there, if you know what I mean. And really, why should they? Between raising a family (really raising it, not just being in the house & showing up at certain events), paying bills, keeping your relationship together, not getting fucked over on your job, fighting various illnesses, etc etc etc, why the fuck should anybody feel a mandate to figure out Eric Clapton's rightful place in the world?

The literal downsizing of the players & and of the media itself is in perfect sync with what "most people" like to use music for - a lifestyle accessory. Nothing more, nothing less. For people like "us", well, that's hard to fathom, but...we do it too. It's just that our lifestyle hings more on digging deeper. I know a lot of people say that they'd rather be dead than live without their music, but....really?

I'd like to see that put to a real-life test and see how many people blink at the last minute...I bet we'd see a whole lot of players getting carted off to the graveyard and a whole lot of fans crying as they watch them go.

And you know what, when it's all said and done, that's probably how it should be.

I agree with almost all of this except...

what if you went deaf?

MG

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May not apply to the States but I know a whole bunch of young adults who are off at festivals this weekend; it may not be the music I like but their enthusiasm is genuine.

Maybe the way of experiencing music is changing and we're just not keeping up?

I think you're correct.

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May not apply to the States but I know a whole bunch of young adults who are off at festivals this weekend; it may not be the music I like but their enthusiasm is genuine.

Maybe the way of experiencing music is changing and we're just not keeping up?

I think you're correct.

Nah.

Festival = Party, at which music is also/still an accessory. Might be the accessory that justifies the party, but still...

I mean, it's ok w/me, really, but I don't think you're creating a new generation of "serious listeners" at festivals and such.

Not that you'd want to, really, probably wouldn't, in fact (create a new generation of "serious listeners" either at festivals or away from them, I think one is either going to be or not going to be, sooner or later, all attempts at proselytizing aside) , I'm just sayin'...

I don't think people value music any less - I always see people at their desks with headphones on, and music plays in every restaurant and coffee shop. But people now see music as akin to a utility - you turn on the faucet and the water just flows, same for music, and they give no thought to the economics behind it. Minds smarter than mine are puzzling over how to monetize that stream.

This pretty much sums it up for me too. I'd also add that "most people" have never had discerning ear or tastes, they just want something that "sounds like" what they want/need to hear at any given moment becuase let's face it - "most people" have more pressing issues in their lives than mulling over whether Eric Clapton is a real player, an erratic marginality, or pretty much worthless. They just ain't got time to go there, if you know what I mean. And really, why should they? Between raising a family (really raising it, not just being in the house & showing up at certain events), paying bills, keeping your relationship together, not getting fucked over on your job, fighting various illnesses, etc etc etc, why the fuck should anybody feel a mandate to figure out Eric Clapton's rightful place in the world?

The literal downsizing of the players & and of the media itself is in perfect sync with what "most people" like to use music for - a lifestyle accessory. Nothing more, nothing less. For people like "us", well, that's hard to fathom, but...we do it too. It's just that our lifestyle hings more on digging deeper. I know a lot of people say that they'd rather be dead than live without their music, but....really?

I'd like to see that put to a real-life test and see how many people blink at the last minute...I bet we'd see a whole lot of players getting carted off to the graveyard and a whole lot of fans crying as they watch them go.

And you know what, when it's all said and done, that's probably how it should be.

I agree with almost all of this except...

what if you went deaf?

MG

Then hey - problem solved! :g

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Nah.

Festival = Party, at which music is also/still an accessory. Might be the accessory that justifies the party, but still...

I mean, it's ok w/me, really, but I don't think you're creating a new generation of "serious listeners" at festivals and such.

I imagine it's mixed. Lots going for the fun, many going because they are 'seriously' bitten by the music bug (though not 'our' music bug).

Like jazz and classical really. Plenty in those audiences who are there as a lifestyle accessory. The being seen to be 'serious' about 'serious' music is part of it.

Most of the young colleagues I know who go to see bands at festivals or gigs do so because they find music exciting; and they have substantial collections of recordings to boot. What is rarer is an historical sense of the music or a desire to burrow outside the world of contemporay rock/pop (or 'classic' pop/rock). Though when I read interviews with younger jazz or folk or classical musians they seem just as searching as I was at that age. [and I know one young colleague who plays in an amateur metal band, loves the music of a band called Rancid (!) but who has become 'seriously' interest in classical music (including Prom visits) and was getting my recommendations for an Ellington album a while back).

I imagine the balance between the obsessives and those who just wanna have fun is perhaps less weighted in favour of the obsessive simply because there are more alternatives today.

Anyway, the vast majority who don't obsess on music obsess about other things. I can't believe how many shoes some people have!

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Anyway, the vast majority who don't obsess on music obsess about other things. I can't believe how many shoes some people have!

Yeah! And things to put on your hair. And we have a full wardrobe that takes up the whole length of the main bedroom but contains NONE of my clothes, which are in a little wardrobe in a spare bedroom.

And my grandsons obsess about Warhammer.

MG

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