Some thoughts on the continual precipitous slide of CD sales
By Mark Bailey on Jan. 29, 2008
By Melissa Ruggieri
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Perhaps you’ve heard the latest death knell for the music industry.
U.S. album sales dropped 9.5 percent last year compared with 2006. Digital sales surged 45 percent, but that wasn’t enough to balance the continual precipitous slide of CD sales.
According to research from Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks point-of-purchase sales, 500.5 million albums were sold as CDs, cassettes, LPs and other formats, down 15 percent from the 2006 total.
How to staunch the hemorrhaging?
Well, bits of the damage are irreversible, but most of it is completely fixable if the players would be willing to make some concessions.
Some thoughts:
—Enough with established bands giving their music away.
It’s one thing if Bruce Hornsby and Dave Matthews want to post a rare song or concert recording on their Web sites for fans to download. It strengthens the bond between artist and fan and makes fans feel rewarded for their loyalty.
But when Radiohead and Trent Reznor give listeners the option of paying for new material (or, in Reznor’s case, the album he produced for Saul Williams), that’s like an employee at Starbucks handing you a free cookie sample and then getting irritated when you don’t drop a bill in the tip jar.
Reznor stated last week that he was discouraged that only 28,322 people opted to pay $5 for a higher-quality version of Williams’ album, “The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!“ (I’d pay five bucks just for the clever title), but he was pleased that the additional 154,449 who chose to download it for free are now at least aware of Williams.
Reznor’s confliction is understandable. But all this pay-if-you-want business model does is reinforce — to a generation already convinced that the world owes it every form of entertainment for free — that nothing is worth paying for.
—Lower concert ticket prices and promote earlier club shows.
The good news is that ticket prices for the top 100 tours of 2007 crept up only 49 cents for an average of $62.07, according to Pollstar, the concert industry trade magazine.
The bad news is that you still paid $300 to watch Phil Collins bat his bald head with a tambourine.
The even worse news is that we’ve been on a cycle of expensive boomer/reunion tours with hardly any growth for the long haul.
Justin Timberlake impressed with a showing of $126.8 million from his FutureSex/LoveShow tour. And this year, Kenny Chesney will add his name to a graying handful of regularly touring stadium acts including Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, U2, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Jimmy Buffett and the other relative baby of the bunch, the Dave Matthews Band.
That bodes really well for concertgoers in 2020, even though Keith Richards will still probably be wheezing through a show somewhere.
As for those club shows, I can barely suppress the love I have for Toad’s Place here in Richmond. Since June, Toad’s has saved me countless drives up 95 to D.C. or across 64 to Norfolk by bringing in an impressively eclectic mix of big names (Rob Zombie, Wu-Tang, Ricky Skaggs, Kellie Pickler) and offbeat offerings (Blind Boys of Alabama, The Second City coming soon).
But if I had $1 for every person I’ve run into who has said, “I really wanted to see ThirdEyeBlindGeorgeClintonHansonTheHoldSteadyCakeTheBravery, but it just started too late for a school night,“ well, I’d have a pretty hefty stash for my next gambling trip.
Of course, rock ‘n’ roll is partially about the lifestyle — late nights, music-as-backdrop-to-partying — and hardly appeals to those who can’t stay up to catch Letterman.
But when doors to a show open at 8 and there is at least one opener on the bill, you’re looking at an evening wrapping up around midnight. Even those “early” shows at Alley Katz aren’t necessarily “early” by the time the last band finishes.
I can hang out late because it’s my job — although, truth be told, after a day spent at the office, I find that reinvigorating myself to make a 10 p.m. start is sometimes a struggle. But most other people don’t have that luxury and need to be up the next morning at an ungodly hour for their more conventional jobs.
So, my music-club friends, could you maybe back it up a bit? Even 45 minutes would help.
Yes, I know that many of these shows sell out, but many do not — and there is no better way to resuscitate a gasping industry than by building an audience through live music, except to . . .
—Give a little more love to talented, noncelebrity artists through mainstream channels.
How awesome that Feist got some notice after her iPod commercial and Ingrid Michaelson’s “The Way I Am” spurred a flurry of e-mails from people wanting to know the name of the tune and the singer behind it from those ubiquitous Old Navy ads.
I know radio is a business and most program directors are too afraid to alienate even one listener by playing something unfamiliar.
But instead of bombarding us with brainless pap from Timbaland, Fergie, Kid Rock and Chingy every 90 minutes, why not throw a Rilo Kiley or M.I.A. or Mika into the mix, just for some enlightenment?
It can’t make things any worse.
Contact Melissa Ruggieri
at (804) 649-6120 or .
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