CDs, Vinyl Are Outselling Digital Downloads For the First Time Since 2011 (mercurynews.com)

Digital downloads had a short run as the top-selling format in the music industry. It took until 2011, a decade after the original iPod came out, for their sales surpass those of CDs and vinyl records, and they were overtaken by music streaming services just a few years later. Now, digital downloads are once again being outsold by CDs and vinyl, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. From a report: The RIAA released its 2017 year-end revenue report on Thursday, showing that revenue from digital downloads plummeted 25 percent to $1.3 billion over the previous year. Revenue from physical products, by contrast, fell just 4 percent to $1.5 billion. Overall, the music industry grew for a second year straight. And with $8.7 billion in total revenue, it's healthier than it has been since 2008, according to the report. Nearly all of the growth was the result of the continued surge in paid music subscription services like Spotify and Apple Music. Those services grew by more than 50 percent to $5.7 billion last year and accounted for nearly two-thirds of the industry's revenue. Physical media accounted for 17 percent, while digital downloads made up just 15 percent.

Comments

Re:Amazon autorip

[OrangeTide]

-Piracy implies personal profit from infringing material, which 99% of "pirates" do not do

listening to music is your profit. You made use of a service, even if you didn't deprive someone of property.

-Record stores don't create content, the artists create content, and there are a myriad of ways to support them without middlemen

99% of "pirates" do not do this.

-Content creators, outside of the independent scene, are paid by publishers/labels before their content is released, and even then they only receive a small percentage after the record store/label takes their cuts

Then listen to independent artists that you pay directly if you can't agree to the arrangement in main stream music. If I don't like how gas stations work, I don't start siphoning gas out of random people's tanks

-There have been multiple studies proving piracy does increase sales by providing advertising or allowing people who were otherwise not interested in paying full market price to get a taste of the content in question

Certainly an interesting factoid. But is a society where you can receive a good or service without paying to the agree to price the kind of society you want?

-Music in the late 90s/early 00s was indeed pretty shitty, with the rise of nu-metal and oversaturation of grunge rock

Pop music from every era is shit. That's what makes it pop. If you want music that is 100% free and artistically significant then listen to public domain classical.

-Musicians were paid before recording was possible, either as buskers, troubadors, orchestral players or as personal musicians to the elite rich folk, also see my third point

Times have changed. Musicians who were skillful and well connected had patrons to keep them clothed. That's not how things work today. It is nice to reflect about history, but anachronism is not a good excuse for violating the implicit agreements of commerce.

P.S. - you can live in a cave if you really don't like the constructs and rules we have in society.