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Music Biz Predicts 6% Decline in '03
jonerik writes "According to this article from Reuters, music industry executives gathering this weekend for the global music industry conference Midem in southern France are being told that a 6% industry-wide decline in sales is being predicted for 2003; not as bad as last year's 9% decline, but bad enough since '02 and '03 come on top of a five percent dip in 2001 and a 1.4 percent fall in 2000. As a result, talk of consolidation is rampant at the conference, with the most likely scenario being a buyout of EMI by BMG-Bertelsmann. Critics, however, are skeptical that the labels' problems will necessarily be solved by simply bulking up. 'The politics at the major labels hasn't changed. The guy who puts his neck out on the line could get fired. Whereas the guy who keeps his head down is safe, and he gets to keep his BMW for another year,' said Paul Myers, founder of Wippit.com, a subscription download site."
Those "pretty-looking but talentless actors" pay for the minority "who could actually perform music in some way"
I just saw Bon Jovi in concert at the Tokyo Dome. The Japanese have been in an economic slump longer than America. However, that stadium was sold out in 10 minutes and packed with 50,000 fans. Most of them came in wearing, or purchased in the stadium, all kinds of Bon Jovi gear. A T-shirt with Jon's picture on it was running about 6000 Yen which is close to $50. CD's here run 3000 Yen ($26).
My point is that good music still sells. Part of this is also due to a loyal fan base. As long as the music industry continues to manufacture these cheezy one-hit-wonder acts in the hope of quick money from Tower Records, their industry will continue to suck. If they start focussing on what the fans want, they will keep their loyal fan base and thus, their solid revenue flow.
I've dirtied my hands writing poetry, for the sake of seduction; that is, for the sake of a useful cause. --Dostoevsky
Maybe this says something about the viability of recorded music in comparison with filmed entertainment and interactive entertainment. How long can a medium that has been around as long as recorded music ever hope to maintain a lofty position in the face of much more addictive and immersive media that incorporate music, visual stimulation and in the case of games, interactivity?
I'm not saying that nobody wants to listen to recorded music, but perhaps its time we realized that all of these arguments about who gets the money, how the music gets distributed, and so on are missing the point that while consumers will still shell out big bucks to go to a live concert, they are no longer willing to spend as much disposable income on recorded music. It has become a commodity in the minds of consumers, whether the recording industry realizes it or not.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Only if the analog sound is perfectly recorded and stored. Analog media has a 'sample rate' and 'bit-depth' just like digital media, created by the physical characteristics of the media.
For example, if you were storing music on a record with the needle traveling along the disc at one meter per second, and the needle track resolution was 100 microns, it would be equivalent to a 10khz sampled digital recording. If the needle's pitch was one millimeter, then it would be equivalent to a digital recording with just a 3.3219 bit depth (log 10, base 2), regardless of how fast the needle was spinning.
Making smaller and smaller tracks and more precise analog media is difficult. Just look at how much money is spent on building CPU fabrication plants and stuff. To improve digital sound all you need to do is crank up the sample rate (more then 32bit samples are a waste).
By the way, you can easily create digital media now that can produce far better sound then could ever be played back with normal speakers, recorded with regular microphones, or even heard by human ears.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.