To no suprise (except for the music industry) album sales are down again this year, about 15% at the same point as last year, unless you look at digitally bundled albums, then the figure is 9%. Meanwhile digital sales are up 49%. I realize that this doesn’t mean squat to anyone listening to music, especially the under 20 genration, unfamiliar with album artwork and liner notes. I guess that’s why there’s so many of them on Yahoo Answers asking: “do you know the words to the song X”. Really I thought kids today were tech savvy, but they seem to be unfamiliar with Google.
To put all those percentages into numbers, there were 417.3 million digital tracks sold, vs. 229.8 million albums. Now if you consider that an album generally contains a song you want with 7-8 tracks of filler, there have been more songs sold via album. I think the point is clear though, people are less willing to buy an album, for a couple of songs when they can get what they want without all the crap. The record industry realized that in the 50’s when singles were popular. Then they got greedy. Think of how this might effect the artist though. You come up with a few great songs, then go to the time and expense of writing your filler. Why Bother?
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