2007:The music industry by the numbers

Discussion in 'Economics' started by Pekelo, Dec 20, 2007.

  1. Pekelo

    Pekelo

    http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1576744/20071218/50_cent.jhtml

    "If you go by the numbers (or, really, any other indicator), 2007 was the worst 12-month period the music industry has ever seen. Sales of albums were down some 15 percent from '06, continuing an eight-year trend of redefining the term "scraping the bottom of the barrel." The "Dreamgirls" soundtrack set the record for the lowest chart-topping sales total (66,000 copies) then shattered it the following week (60,000). Will.I.Am's solo effort, Songs About Girls, was outsold by an Iron and Wine record, The Shepherd's Dog. By 10,000 copies. People quibbled over the difference between 320 and 160 kilobits, debated whether the Billboard 200 even mattered anymore and tried very hard to tell the difference between Finger Eleven and OneRepublic (hint: one of them is from Canada).

    Yes, it was bad times all around ... so bad, in fact, that no mere essay could encapsulate it all. But the numbers don't lie. So, in order to rub salt in the wounds/ kick a man when he's down/ flog a dead horse/ get out of writing an actual column this week since it's almost the end of the year and I've mentally checked out, I'm presenting 2007: By the Numbers, a list of figures, digits and stats that accurately sums up the year that was, and is almost entirely based in fact (surely a first for Bigger Than the Sound)."
     
  2. it's not really so much that people are pirating music, that the music coming out nowadays sucks hard and people are content to listen to awesome 90's music like Alice in Chains. :cool: