2008 Woodie Awards
Time to forget CDs, it's a digital world now
The Record Industry Association of America wrongfully blames piracy for slump of CD sales
Carmen Shiu
Issue date: 10/11/07 Section: The Scene
- Page 1 of 2 next >
|
Earlier this year, there have been reports that album record sales have gone down by 20 percent and the Recording Industry Association of America, known as the RIAA, is complaining.
That is because a whopping 90 percent of music sold in the U.S. is generated and distributed by the RIAA. Unsurprisingly, the RIAA blames piracy, which is illegally downloading and sharing songs online.
But is piracy to blame? Maybe a little, but not entirely.
Mainstream music nowadays just isn't entirely as good as it used to be. Sure, there are singles out there that are catchy and are blowing up the charts, respectively. Some of the artists' albums are actually pretty good, too. However, many of them just do not cut it.
The big news recently on album sales is the controversy between rappers 50 Cent and Kanye West. In the end, West beat 50 Cent by 226,000 units, according to Nielsen SoundScan, but he also claimed that he cheated.
Sadly for 50 Cent, it hasn't occurred to him that his music just isn't appealing anymore. How many more songs do we need about sex, money, and violence? It is just simply getting so old now.
It is now rare to find an album to have most of the songs as favorable. Instead, only a song or two are actually good. Who would want to spend $15 on an album just to listen to a minimal of songs over and over again because the rest is garbage?
On the flip side, digital sales are booming (up 60 percent this year) and times are changing.
In the Apple iTunes store, people are able to buy a song for just 99 cents. Most albums cost $9.99 on average. It is much more appealing to buy the songs that people actually want to hear for an inexpensive price.
Music CDs will come to extinction in the future because of the new technology, just like cassettes, eight-tracks, and records did. In some ways, considering the decline of the sales, it already is starting to die out. It's becoming a digital world.
With new technology like MP3 players that can hold many songs conveniently, cellular phones with MP3 players automatically installed, and the increasing popularity of satellite radio, it would seem logical for CD sales to go down.
Be the first to comment on this story