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Poor music sales blamed on pirates and video games

Music fans have gone digital in a big way. It used to be that a music collection spanned numerous CD cases. Today, even the largest music collections can be stored on a single MP3 player. With the massive growth in digital music sales, the music industry is seeing profits drop significantly.

Reuters reports that statistics released this week by Nielsen SoundScan show that 2008 was the worst year for music sales since 1991 when the firm began monitoring the category. The numbers show that total album sales fell 14% over the year with 428.4 million units sold during the 52 weeks ending on December 28.

According to the figures, sales have dropped 45% from the highest point seen by the industry in 2000 when 785.1 million albums were sold. According to Reuters, the biggest reasons for such a precipitous drop are music pirates and other forms of entertainment like video games. The global recession also accounted for some of the loss in sales.

Digital track sales though retailers like iTunes grew 27% to 10.7 billion units sold. The growth rate is less than the 45% increase seen in 2007 so growth in digital track sales is slowing. Ringtones were important this year and sales of the top 100 mastertone ringers dropped 33% to 43.8 million units. Only one of the mastertone's broke the 2 million sold mark -- Lil Wayne's "Lollipop".

The rapper also took the award for year's best selling album with 2.9 million units of his "The Carter III" sold. Taylor Swift sold the most albums total this year with 4 million copies of her album "Fearless" and her debut album sold over the year.

Despite the slowing, but continued growth in digital music sales, the lower margin digital tracks are unable to make up the money lost to declining physical medium sales. Some of the biggest record labels have bet on the new slotMusic format to help resurrect physical medium music sales.

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By Rockjock51 on 1/2/2009 1:08:39 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
Poor music sales blamed on pirates and video games


Funny. I tend to think it should be blamed on bad music.




By mmntech on 1/2/2009 1:10:29 PM , Rating: 5
Not everyone likes rap and R&B. Who would've thunk it?


By axeman1957 on 1/2/2009 1:26:42 PM , Rating: 5
I think the recording industry expects you to re-buy your favorite CDs every year, or buy a separate copy for your home, your car, MP3 player, and computer.


By quiksilvr on 1/3/2009 2:27:07 PM , Rating: 2
This is what record labels need to do:
1) Go 100% Digital
2) Set the maximum price of songs to $0.10 each, with a partial contribution of that money for charity.
3) Set the quality to 320 kbps in mp3 format
4) DRM Free

Until then, expect piracy to be an issue.


By chaos386 on 1/3/2009 2:59:03 PM , Rating: 5
Oh, and a free unicorn with each album purchase!


By inighthawki on 1/3/2009 7:33:41 PM , Rating: 5
What's wrong with that? First of all, it's FREE from an inexperienced (who even SAYS he's inexperienced) person. Secondly, some people like that kind of music. Personally i think it's quite enjoyable for something just to sit to.


By 3kliksphilip on 1/3/2009 7:56:43 PM , Rating: 5
Thanks!


By Cypherdude1 on 1/5/2009 4:57:24 AM , Rating: 2
You (occasionally) hear the RIAA and its mega-company clients talk about how copying "hurts the artists." Actually, the producers pay their signed artists virtually NOTHING! If you saw the royalty checks many artists receive from their producers, you'd be shocked. In addition, CD producers often understate their sales so they can rip their artists off. Artists often must sue CD producers to receive what's owed them.


By Cypherdude1 on 1/5/2009 5:17:27 AM , Rating: 1
I forgot to mention: The techonology now exists to completely cut out the CD-producers and distributors. I'm sure some of you out there must realize by now, they have become nothing more than expensive middlemen!

Sooner or later, unless someone hasn't already done this, a central website will be created where talented new artists will upload and sell their MP3's and burned CD's without any RIAA and their mega-client involvement. In fact, I'm sure you could probably already do this at Amazon simply by contacting them with multiple artist clients behind you.

How much does it cost to burn a CD and print it with some simple artwork, 20¢, maybe 40¢? How much are the mega-companies charging us so they can keep their CEO's in their beachhouses, $15?


By rudolphna on 1/5/2009 1:11:04 PM , Rating: 3
its too bad there isnt anything below -1.... If there was this would definetely be -9. Shut up as5 hole.


By FaceMaster on 1/15/2009 4:18:34 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
its too bad there isnt anything below -1.... If there was this would definetely be -9.


Yes I thought that too when I heard his music. Seriously, some people should be executed for making music that bad.


By trisct on 1/5/2009 4:40:50 PM , Rating: 2
A perfect example of why music is in the dumps.

This guy thinks there IS no other kind of music except for gangsta crap. I bet his pants fall off too.


By inighthawki on 1/3/2009 8:16:02 PM , Rating: 4
hey lol, you're actually posting here :P. I've actually been listening to some of that since i read that post, it's pretty good. Do you have any links to download some of them?


By 3kliksphilip on 1/3/2009 9:16:51 PM , Rating: 5
Thanks again!

http://uk.youtube.com/user/alwaysintheface

You click on the song you want to listen to and the link will be in the description.


By inighthawki on 1/3/2009 10:44:25 PM , Rating: 3
Thanks a bunch, I've been looking for something new to listen to and i think this will be good. I appreciate it, good work keep it up!


By inighthawki on 1/3/2009 10:50:17 PM , Rating: 3
Also if you don't mind, may i ask what program you use to make this? I've kinda always wanted to try to mix up my own tunes...


By 3kliksphilip on 1/4/2009 8:51:12 AM , Rating: 2
I've just been messing about on FL Studio for 6 months, doing everything with my mouse. I don't have a musical keyboard (And wouldn't know how to play it any way)


By William Gaatjes on 1/4/2009 8:59:19 AM , Rating: 2
You should get one. If you can make this with a mouse you sure must have some feeling for music. On a blue monday i bought a cs1x cause some buddies where making music too. I gave it up cause i didn't had the time nor did i have any musical qualities. But as i see it you should really think about getting a keyboard or something...

It's ancient but works great.
http://www.vintagesynth.com/yamaha/cs1x.shtml


By William Gaatjes on 1/4/2009 7:16:59 AM , Rating: 2
Very much enjoyable.

Keep it up.


By William Gaatjes on 1/4/2009 7:31:52 AM , Rating: 2
Did you make this at home or in a rented studio or something ? With every song i like it more.


By 3kliksphilip on 1/4/2009 8:51:53 AM , Rating: 2
I made it in my bedroom. Thanks for your support.


By MrPoletski on 1/5/2009 3:37:38 AM , Rating: 2
what are u using?

Might I reccomend image lines fruityloops, its a good easy package to use with a lot f advanced features. A great bit of software to start from. They have a demo on their website, forget the address, google it;)


By michaelheath on 1/3/2009 3:48:28 PM , Rating: 1
1.) Where's the bandwidth to do so coming from in North America? What would keep hackers from breaking into a music company's server and stealing everything? How does that stop people from copying the music and giving it to someone who didn't pay a dime for it?
2.) $0.10 per song might pay enough to keep the electricity powering the distribution servers on. $0.60 might be enough to break even, with nobody profiting off of the switch to digital (and what company do you know of that wouldn't want to make a profit?).
3.) Way to kill sound quality and make all of the audiophiles mad.
4.) I don't see DRM going away in an all digital distribution world, as there would be no way for a company to track what was purchased legally and what might have been stolen.


By mcnabney on 1/4/2009 2:17:51 AM , Rating: 4
#4 - I didn't think that was something that needed to be done. I am pretty sure that there is not and should not be a requirement for a person to be able to prove valid ownership of anything.


By rudolphna on 1/5/2009 1:14:00 PM , Rating: 2
3.Actually 128kbps AAC doesnt sound that bad. 256kbps AAC sounds pretty damn good too.


By Drexial on 1/5/2009 2:52:09 PM , Rating: 3
1.) What do you think is being used to DL Pirated music right now... clearly the bandwidth is there otherwise Pirates wouldn't be able to use it. Hackers could do that now if they wanted and just batch strip the DRM off.

2.) At a $.99 a song you are paying the distributor, the label (a very bloated fee), producers, and artists. I'm pretty sure at $.20 a song you could cover everything you needed with direct sales. There is no physical media involved.

3.) 320 KBs is what a standard CD is. It would take what 5 seconds of extra effort to release a lossless version for like $.10-.15 more. that would be better quality then any limited capacity media offers. That's the joy of digital distribution. A codec download is all it would take to change standards. Think of going from Vinyl->8 track->Cassette->CD->? All with hardware upgrades and cost of physical media.

4.) DRM has only made the cost of digital downloads more expensive. To have to run servers on top of the distribution servers. want to talk about a waste of money. DRM is usually broken even before its released.


By ggordonliddy on 1/4/2009 10:59:38 PM , Rating: 1
What kind of complete dumbass would buy digital music that is not in a 100% lossless form (such as FLAC)?


By inighthawki on 1/5/2009 1:08:17 AM , Rating: 3
Someone who's isnt extremely picky and NEEDS 100% super lossless quality to be happy?

Or maybe just someone without any codecs who knows and is happy with mp3's...

I'm sure there are plenty of reasons.


By UNHchabo on 1/5/2009 12:25:30 PM , Rating: 5
I used to not be picky about audio quality, and I ripped all of my CDs to 160kbps MP3s. My CDs got stolen, and then a couple years later I got good sound equipment. Suddenly I could hear the difference, and I wished I'd ripped all of those CDs at a higher quality setting.

Nowadays I rip all of my CDs to FLAC, so that I can recreate the CD audio perfectly if I ever lose my CDs again. Then for my MP3 player (which is running Rockbox), I compress them to Oggs to save space.

I wrote a program to do this automatically: http://sourceforge.net/projects/flacsquisher

FlacSquisher can also output to MP3s, but one big thing that irks me about MP3s is that they don't handle gapless playback well, and I listen to a ton of bands that have seamless transitions between tracks, like Dream Theater and Pink Floyd.

Encoders get updated, mainly due to improvements in the psychoacoustic model. LAME just had an update to their model a couple months ago. Now I can take my FLACs, make new Oggs or MP3s, and have all of the benefits of the new encoder.


By AstroCreep on 1/3/2009 6:25:48 PM , Rating: 5
Well, if you listen to the music industry, they want you to do just that.
I remember a year or two ago when one of the industry execs (or lawyers, I don't remember, as it happened in relation to one of the RIAA lawsuits) said that it is ILLEGAL to buy a CD then rip it to your computer/digital media player; you are expected to purchase a separate 'copy' of the song(s) for your PC/media player as ripping doesn't constitute "Fair Use".

A-holes...


By LRonaldHubbs on 1/3/2009 10:29:44 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
...or buy a separate copy for your home, your car, MP3 player, and computer.

That's exactly what they expect. RIAA lawyers have explicity stated under oath that copying CDs you own onto your computer for personal use is stealing.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071002-sony...
Ironically, it was one of Sony's lawyers that said it, and Sony includes ripping software with their MP3 players.


By TwistyKat on 1/2/2009 1:28:06 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
Not everyone likes rap and R&B.


Or manufactured pop stars.

quote:
Today, even the largest music collections can be stored on a single MP3 player.


Sure, if you are creating or pirating highly lossy files. I burn music from my CDs to near-lossless Ogg/Vorbis files which sound great but take up gigs upon gigs of space.

My trusty little Cowon only holds 2GB, but I may upgrade to the 8GB model soon.


By spread on 1/2/2009 1:33:48 PM , Rating: 2
Consider something else. I've got the D2,very nice player with great sound and a terrible interface.


By Omega215D on 1/2/2009 5:23:25 PM , Rating: 2
The Cowon S9 has a much improved interface or the Samsung P2 is just as good. Sony has great sound quality but comes with a high cost.


By inighthawki on 1/2/2009 2:05:24 PM , Rating: 4
True, however, many people have the 30+GB ipod models and sometimes only several gigs of music. Even in a lossless format i bet many would struggle to fill 30GB of music. (Not to say nobody could though, lol)


By BigPeen on 1/2/2009 5:02:26 PM , Rating: 3
I've got 27 gigs of music at low bitrate on my ipod. Plus another 8 gigs of photos and 5 gigs of videos, and I'm just starting. It's not that hard.


By inighthawki on 1/2/2009 11:10:07 PM , Rating: 2
Like I said, some people CAN, some people CAN'T. I've seen people struggle to get even 3GB of music at average quality, let alone 30. It depends on the person, I was not speaking for everyone.


By icanhascpu on 1/4/2009 9:09:15 PM , Rating: 2
What do you mean you "bet"? Are you unable to do simple math?

Thats around 42 CDs.

Lets not even get inti hifi audio thats on DVDs.


By blppt on 1/2/2009 2:07:45 PM , Rating: 5
"Or manufactured pop stars."

+1.

And yet, here we are, about to be beseiged by another season of American Idol, where another talentless singer/songwriter will saturate our airwaves with mediocrity. Nice to know Simon and Paula (who hasnt been relevant to songwriting since the early 90s) will have the final word on what we should all be listening to.


By BladeVenom on 1/2/2009 3:08:05 PM , Rating: 5
I would say something about American Idol, but I'm too busy playing video games to ever watch that show.


By mmntech on 1/2/2009 3:53:40 PM , Rating: 5
But you can play the American idol game now!


By HighWing on 1/3/2009 12:57:56 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
but it's obviously very popular


I think music sales of Idol winners proves that TV popularity does not always equate to Music Popularity. I know "some" have made it big, but most have not.


By just4U on 1/4/2009 3:45:03 AM , Rating: 1
True enough, and I really don't expect that to be a given.


By William Gaatjes on 1/4/2009 7:28:12 AM , Rating: 1
Leone Lewis is great, i do hope she keeps singing from the heart and NOT from the pocketbook or wallet as many singers like for example Screamtina and Britney do or that once promising singer turned pornstar Mariah Carey. Paul Potts is another great example. I stumbled into Leona and Paul through the use of youtube.

I saw such a show idols once in my country when in the first show some tonedeaf boy won while a young woman who could actually sing and perform lost. That's the last time i ever looked at these shows again.


By just4U on 1/4/2009 8:10:46 PM , Rating: 1
it's really a problem of "who" votes and how often. Theory is you get a bunch of teen aged (or middle aged) female fans that vote more on their hormones then accual talent so women don't typically do as well as the men. AI has been different in that tho as in general results are not typical each year. (unlike other idol type competitions in other countries)


By Whedonic on 1/3/2009 2:27:28 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Today, even the largest music collections can be stored on a single MP3 player.

Heheh, maybe most people, but I just bought my girlfriend a 500gb harddrive for her collection...and I'm not sure even that is enough.


By mikefarinha on 1/2/2009 6:05:07 PM , Rating: 4
I think the music industry needs a bail-out!

I mean think of all these poor artists that could be out of a job....


By Dark Legion on 1/3/2009 3:43:23 AM , Rating: 3
What?!?! You mean they might have to downgrade their private jets?! They can't buy that private island in Hawaii anymore, they will just have to buy a new house?! What a horrible world they are living in.


By Oregonian2 on 1/2/2009 7:58:26 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
Not everyone likes rap and R&B. Who would've thunk it?


Rap counts toward music sales?


By Hiawa23 on 1/5/2009 6:00:00 PM , Rating: 2
Not everyone likes rap and R&B. Who would've thunk it?

All I listen to is hip hop & R & B but not sure I get what point you are trying to make. Was music sales only down in these two types of music or music as a whole?


By johnbuk on 1/2/2009 1:22:40 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
Reuters reports that statistics released this week by Nielsen SoundScan show that 2008 was the worst year for music sales since 1991...


I read that without the sales part the first time through...without the sales part, I tend to agree...worst year for music since 1991...which may explain the bad sales...


By Soundgardener on 1/5/2009 4:30:37 AM , Rating: 1
I thought 1991 was a brilliant year for music:

Badmotorfinger - Soundgarden
Temple of the Dog (eponymous)
Ten - Pearl Jam
Nevermind - Nirvana
Gish - Smashing Pumpkins
Black (or whatever) - Metallica
Use Your Illusion I&II - Guns N Roses
Blue Lines - Massive Attack

Not to mention Dinosaur Jr, Fugazi, Urge Overkill etc etc...


By AlexWade on 1/2/2009 1:26:08 PM , Rating: 5
You have to remember who you are dealing with. Their reasoning starts with something not true, and they go from there. Here is their reasoning and logic:

"We, the record labels, are not to blame for any woes. Therefore, who is to blame? Since sales are down and we are not to blame, then one thing must be piracy. Plus some other things can be blamed, like video games and a bad economy. That is the only logical conclusion since we, the record labels, are blameless."

The record labels put out bad music that sounds eerily similar to all the other songs already on the radio. Artists creative freedoms are squashed. The record labels also treat customers like dirt. The net result is many, like myself, go to indie labels. But they can't see that, because that would require to admit they are wrong. They aren't humble enough to admit mistakes.


By Aloonatic on 1/2/2009 3:39:44 PM , Rating: 5
If only there was some way to pirate music before the internets and MP3s.

That tape cassette recorder that my stereo had never ever had the record button pressed, not once. It was in mint condition when i sent it off to be recycled.

The same was true with computer games. Before the internet, when games were on cassette tape or floppies there was no way to copy games then either.

The good old days, when you couldn't copy at home and share with friends.

Oh wait... there was and whilst the industry moaned and bitched they still managed to survive. Music (Games and Software for that matter) have been pirated for a long long time.

As pointed out in many other comments above, the main problem that the music industry has is that they have poisoned their own well with mediocrity and a commitment to stifle any truly creative artist as there is no/less money in them for the suits upstairs.

Sadly, it is not in the industries interests nurture artists like (just an example, not saying that they were the greatest and that everyone should love them or whatever) The Beatles. If they were around today they wouldn't get too much support, or would be leaned on to create several albums that all sounded the same that people would get sick off pretty quickly.

The industry wants clones who they can flog to death and then dump with their underwear inside out the the verge of the musical highway before starting over again with another artist who (amazingly) sounds just as average as the last.

The sooner large music corps die the better for true music lovers. There is no real need for them any more. Computers and the net have freed up bands to record, produce and distribute pretty much everything themselves, without the assistance of some sleaze ball who happens to have a few DJs in their back pocket and all that other promotional shenanigans.

Democratic music is what the people want and they are slowly getting it.

Viva la revolution.


By Oregonian2 on 1/2/2009 8:00:14 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
That tape cassette recorder that my stereo had never ever had the record button pressed, not once. It was in mint condition when i sent it off to be recycled.


Mine too. My reel-to-reel had a mint condition record button too!


By gerf on 1/2/2009 9:22:45 PM , Rating: 2
Also, for some reason I doubt that the "Music Industry" had a good year in 2008 B.C.E. either.


By kmmatney on 1/7/2009 2:43:44 PM , Rating: 2
Of course you could copy tapes, but the sound quality wasn't good enough to prevent you from buying CDs. Also, the sound quality degraded with every copy of the copy. Now, every copy is perfect - big difference. And you can fit all of your music on an MP3 player that is as large as one cassette tape.

I'm not a big fan of the music industry, but it's no coincidence that music sales have been dropping since MP3s came available and could be so easily copied. Personally, about half of my music is downloaded, and the other half is from by 150 CD collection I had before I knew about MP3s. Since 2000, I've pretty much downloaded all my music, and a lot of people I know are doing the same.

Also, the excuse that music is bad nowadays is lame. When I used to purchase CDs, most of the music I bought was older music (Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin, etc...). The music industry has always pushed lame music, even back in the CD days. Nothing has changed in that regard.

Games have always been pirated, but I think the difference is that the cost of production is now so high that piracy hurts more than it used to. That's why the computer gaming industry is dying - much better to write games for the console, and port to computer as an afterthought.


By foolsgambit11 on 1/2/2009 6:19:54 PM , Rating: 4
Album sales are obviously being cannibalized by legitimate online music retailers like iTunes, where you only buy the 1 or 2 songs you like from an album. As more and more people switch to this purchasing model, album sales have been steadily declining. I really don't think piracy is much more common now than it was 5 or 8 years ago. I think that's just a reflexive comment by the industry - "oh, it's pirates". At least this year they also acknowledged that people are looking to different kinds of entertainment than music (although they don't say it's because so much music sucks).

Additionally, it's possible that satellite radio may have some impact on album sales. A lot of people's "music listening time" is in the car, but if they can get a variety of music they want to listen to on the radio, they buy less recorded music. Possibly.

By the numbers, album sales were off by 14%. Of course luxury purchases like music are going to drop in a worsening economy. On the stock market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 35%. I think the recording industry should be thanking their lucky stars.


By inighthawki on 1/2/2009 11:39:40 PM , Rating: 2
I agree completely. Album sales are of course going to be a lot lower especially when itunes allows you to buy individual songs. From my experience, I would say that most albums that come out now have 2-3 good songs and the rest aren't worth listening to, and its sometimes that way to gear songs towards multiple groups of listeners at once, which is a good reason to only spend $2-3 on 2-3 songs than $10-$15 on the whole album, only to listen to 2-3 of the songs.


By just4U on 1/3/2009 11:26:37 AM , Rating: 2
I think what we will see is albums eventually become a nitch market. Probably dvd's with multimedia content, videos and their tracks along with some other special features. Basically packed full with a crap load of content to offer value for those that like to buy Artist's goods (Tshirts, Posters ect) Shoot maybe even a grab bag type thing where it includes a digital copy to. (who knows)

Atleast that's where I see albums heading. It's interesting.. Im sure that 10X the manpower goes into creating many solid games and yet most can be had for roughly 2x the cost of a major CD and the people behind it generally don't bring down the salaries we see with Music Moguls.


By inighthawki on 1/3/2009 12:33:36 PM , Rating: 2
I do believe some artists already feature DVDs with videos and extra content on it, usually in some kind of "live" content pack. They also tend to cost more money, so unless they want to lose even more customers it would be in their best interest to keep the cheapest option available.


By BZDTemp on 1/2/2009 9:18:54 PM , Rating: 1
Not so - sure piracy is some of it but lets look at what the industry always "forgets" to mention when they lobby for stricter laws.

- A Large part of the CD sale was people re-buying albums the had on other media (mainly LP's).
- A lot of the main customers for new music has taken to gaming. And while some games work fine with music lots of them come with their own music. The result is less hours to listen to music.
- The easy access to buy single tracks. Many people buy single tracks instead of albums. That is a 10 fold decrease in sales right there for many artist.
- On-line radio and DAB radio. Many more music channels to chose from.

Plus finally there is the problems with few really new super stars in music. Taste is always open for discussion but lets face there are limits to how much music one can listen to and with few mega bands like Stones, Beatles, Queen, ABBA (sorry, but they were big) and the like for many it's why buy more music when I prefer what I have.


By MrDiSante on 1/3/2009 11:15:48 PM , Rating: 2
I think
quote:
We must blame them and cause a fuss
before someone thinks of blaming us.

is a pretty good summary of the recording industry's logic (thank you South Park).

As you said, thank god there are independent labels, and thank Radiohead for showing indie artists (such as www.dissidentsaint.com) how to properly release their music, although I can't really say that I like Radiohead's music, they did start something.


By drebo on 1/2/2009 1:33:51 PM , Rating: 2
I'd have to agree with this.

But, also, with the ability to just buy the good songs off the album for a fraction of what the album costs, who's going to buy the entire thing? I mean, seriously, when was the last time an album was released that had all good songs on it? I can't recall one this decade.

The music industry has begun catering to the tween crowd the same way television has. It's no wonder sales are falling off. Smart people aim their products at the people who have disposable income. I.e. those in their early 20s and those after their late 30s. Early 20s don't want to listen to Miley Cyrus or Lil Wayne. Those after their late 30s are probably still listening to the classic rock of the 70s and 80s. Figure out what the people in their early 20s want to listen to and stop trying to manufacture "recording artists" and go back to signing garage bands.

If the music industry would stop wasting money on no-talent acts, their profits wouldn't be so bad. I'm not opposed to purchasing an album, but I can't remember the last time one came out that I felt inclined to buy. I already have all the classic rock albums I need, and it's not like any more are going to come out any time soon. What incentive is there for me to buy albums?


By Sunrise089 on 1/2/2009 2:13:01 PM , Rating: 2
Well singles have always been available, but I agree digital distribution and a cheap 99cent price makes them more compelling than ever.

The main answer I can give to "when was the last time an album was released that had all good songs on it?" is to offer up Green Day's "American Idiot" and My Chemical Romance's "The Black Parade." Certainly most people wouldn't find all of the songs on the album (or any of the songs) good, BUT as concept albums the sub-par songs can at least be heard in the context of the overall story. While of course not every artist wants to make exclusively concept albums, I think they make a compelling case for how albums can still be relevant even if only a few songs are single-worthy.


By 9nails on 1/2/2009 2:47:14 PM , Rating: 2
That's a few artists. So it sounds like not many out of the total of album releases since 2000 were worth buying. I'd throw in Evanescence - The Fallen (2003) and The Killers - Hut Fuss (2004), but even still we're counting on one hand. I can name far more video games that I enjoyed than music albums. I totally agree with you that digital singles is the predominate distribution method. Albums are no longer capturing interests due to a lack of production value or worthwhile message.

I've also found that lots of Pop music, which is typically a one hit wonder factory, was released in this time. And lots of R&B music, with the theme of; Hey, you have a nice ass, lets f**k here in this club - was released. Just like the rest of the out of touch music industry, this stuff is out dated and no longer capturing public interest.


By tdawg on 1/2/2009 4:59:37 PM , Rating: 2
If I may add a few to this list (not sure about the Evanescence album myself, but that's the beauty of music taste), here are a few that come to mind immediately:

Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Band of Horses - Everything All The Time

You can tell where my taste lies, but these are definitely quality albums that deserve your (the royal "you", not 9nails, specifically) attention.


By foolsgambit11 on 1/2/2009 6:33:42 PM , Rating: 2
Interpol and CYHSY would definitely make my list. I haven't heard the full Vampire Weekend album, and I've never heard of Band of Horses. So thanks for the tip-offs to some potentially good music.

I'd add The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow (and 90% of Oh Inverted World). The Strokes 'Is This It' isn't exactly deep, but it's total fun from start to finish. 'The Creek Drank the Cradle' by Iron & Wine will mellow things out a bit. I could go on, I'm sure. But mostly, I'd just say 'look to non-RIAA labels', like Matador, Sub-Pop, Kill Rock Stars, etc. Without the automatic sales figures of big-named bands, they're forced to put out a quality product from start to finish if they want recognition and sales.


By therealnickdanger on 1/2/2009 10:19:33 PM , Rating: 2
Small Towns Burn a Little Slower - So Begins the Test of a Man. 2008 marked their best album and their breakup. :(


By Omega215D on 1/3/2009 12:35:32 AM , Rating: 2
You guys should check out The Faint - Agenda Suicide, especially the video on Youtube with those people jumping in front of a train.


By JediJeb on 1/5/2009 3:10:05 PM , Rating: 2
Guess I can see why the sales are down, I haven't even heard of any of the groups listed in the above posts. Of course with my collection of CDs( all 10 of them) the record companies never made any money off me. No I didn't pirate any( unless you count what I picked up to replace what I had on 8tracks I could no longer play), I just don't listen to much music. Actually most of the people I know hardly listen to music. From what I see, music seems to be fading on the list of things people want to spend time doing, or even have the time to do.

Back when you had 3 TV stations to choose from there was always music to fill the times when you didn't have anything to watch. Now with 100+ stations to choose from, console games, computer games, cellphones to call people from anywhere not just when you were sitting at home, texting, ect. music has just become one of many things to take up time. Life is now run on sensory overload, and many like me just want to get home and sit in some peace and quiet. Not to mention if the quality of the music is so bad it makes it much easier to choose one of the other things to spend our time on.

Also the music industry seems to be the only one that wants to raise their price when sales fall. Supply of new performers is up, demand is down, and yet they raise prices. I have a feeling the greed of the music industry ( not the performers but the corporations) will bring it crashing down very soon.


By drebo on 1/3/2009 1:16:58 AM , Rating: 2
I whole-heartedly disagree.

If you take any of the bands listed in this thread and compare them to the Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Kinks, the Sex Pistols, and even 80s bands like early Metallica and Red Hot Chili Peppers or early 90s like Sublime, there's just no contest. Music in the last 15 years is just plain not good.

The best songs out today aren't as good as the worst songs from the 60s, 70s, or 80s.


By Dark Legion on 1/3/2009 4:03:21 AM , Rating: 2
Keep in mind that people have different music tastes. People growing up this generation may prefer this generation's music. That is not to say I disagree, but keep that in mind.


By foolsgambit11 on 1/4/2009 3:46:59 PM , Rating: 2
Yes, there was great music in the 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's. There's also great music this millennium. I disagree with your list of the best bands of those decades - I'm more Beatles than Stones. Big Star or Bowie over Skynyrd. The Kinks are good. So are the Who. I'd do The Smiths or The Talking Heads over the Sex Pistols. And Nirvana could take the Chili Peppers or Sublime easy. With your 'harder hitting' list of great bands, why not go for the White Stripes for this millennium? Too raw?

As for the best songs of today not living up to the worst of the 60's-80's. That's obviously hyperbole. Are you really going to defend Wang Chung? Wham!? Eric Carmen? The Captain and Tennille? "Knock Three Times (on the Ceiling If You Want Me)"? "We Are The World"? (And the list could go on and on and on and on.....) Time helps separate the wheat from the chaff, and many songs that were just awful have, thankfully, almost disappeared from history. But even the dreck that remains can still be horrible - "Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)"? Come on. There's no way that song is better than every song of 2008, even in your estimation.


By inighthawki on 1/4/2009 7:12:23 PM , Rating: 2
That's a very subjective opinion. Personally I hate the music from the 60s-80s, I think it's all pretty awful. I'd take some of the music from this generation over the Beatles, Rolling Stones, etc any day.


By AlexWade on 1/3/2009 8:32:21 AM , Rating: 2
One of my favorite labels is Nettwerk. I really like a lot of artists with them. Many of their albums you can get on emusic.com. I also like Matador.


By Cypherdude1 on 1/4/2009 8:01:30 AM , Rating: 1
quote:
The main answer I can give to "when was the last time an album was released that had all good songs on it?" is to offer up Green Day's "American Idiot"


Sorry, no. Actually, all of Green Day's "American Idiot" songs sound the same. There are only 2 good songs on that CD: Holiday and Boulevard Of Broken Dreams .


By Jellodyne on 1/5/2009 3:20:26 PM , Rating: 2
I would question the reason to buy singles. Singles you can hear on the radio all day long. If you're listening to commercial radio, you probably get to hear singles repeated until you just can't take them anymore.

Must of the bands I follow put out solid albums. The reason to buy the album is to hear what else is on it other than the singles. In fact a lot of time when I listen to an album the single is the song that grates, because its been overplayed.


By ThePooBurner on 1/2/2009 1:36:30 PM , Rating: 3
My sentiments exactly. It seems that piracy is instantly blamed for anything that doesn't sell well these days. How can it be that the companies are so blind to the fact that they are not producing products that anyone wants to have? It seems totally unreasonable that piracy has grown so much over the last few years as to suddenly be such a huge and damaging problem that it has power to suddenly bring the market to a grinding halt. I would agree that perhaps casual piracy has seen an increase, but not to the extent that it is being claimed to. And by casual piracy i mean getting copies of songs from friends to try out before buying. Most people that i know who copy stuff from others libraries either listen to it for a week and then never again or delete it from their library to make room for something else. Anything i ever let my friends copy in the past has been lost to them. Reformats, new HDDs or computers. Those who aren't like us (computer enthusiasts) are the casual pirates, and their lack of knowledge keeps them from doing what we do: making a good backup of EVERYTHING before they make a big change in their hardware.

Anyway, the point is a problem that has been very consistent in the past history of it's existence doesn't suddenly become epidemic in as short of a time span as it is being claimed.

Note: This isn't an avocation of piracy, it's a complaint about scapegoating and refusal of responsibility for problems created by incompetence.


By Mitch101 on 1/2/2009 1:41:01 PM , Rating: 5
I cant name but one new artist this year and only a handful of decent songs this past year. If any of the typical big artists released anything new I haven't heard it or heard about it. Lame year in Music.

Kind of feel that radio stations are playing less music this year also or more classics. Come to think I haven't seen may commercials about new Music releases either. Cant recall the last time I saw a Target commercial where they promote a group.

Of course I got a bad cup of coffee this morning and I'm sure pirates and video games are to blame but Its probably the Bush Administration that is responsible for the lack of sales. Yup Im going with Bush Administration. That's my Final Answer.


By Screwballl on 1/2/2009 1:54:17 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
Funny. I tend to think it should be blamed on bad music.


Give this person a +6

With the economy slowing, people are slowing down a bit and listening to more music while they kick back... and they are realizing that the music is crap which is causing lower sales.

Media "pirates" have only caused a tiny percentage of the market loss, not nearly as much as "they" would have you believe. Think about it, if there were no illegal music downloading, a large majority of the pirates would not be buying the music anyways. They were mostly people that borrowed 8tracks/tapes/records/CDs from friends or just listened to the radio, almost never buying their own physical music media. Now they have a way to get the music illegally, but that does not mean they would have ever bought them to begin with.

Many of the "pirates" associate music downloading with the radio, or movie downloads with TV. You have a radio, you listen to it for free. You have a TV, you watch movies for free. You have a computer, you download it for free. Granted some of them have a monthly fee to access (high speed internet access, cable tv, XM/Sirius radio) but the content beyond that point is seen as free.

Get ready for a media revolution. Another decade or two and RIAA/MPAA will be shut down and all artistic expression will be sold online for a fraction of what it is now and the content will become what the people want instead of this corporate crap produced today.


By Chadder007 on 1/2/2009 2:13:00 PM , Rating: 4
Can we get a bump to a 6 up in here.
Nail on the head. The worst music I have ever heard came out of this past year.


By someguy123 on 1/2/2009 7:58:37 PM , Rating: 4
you guys are nuts. i love listening to the same beat and melody with instruments slightly adjusted in the computer to sound different.

I love watching the grammies and seeing people who don't write their own lyrics nor produce their own music win multiple awards.

I love listening to how last week you and your buddies were in the club and some hot woman was totally flirting with you all night and you totally paid for all the drinks.

love hearing people compare themselves to the Beatles and then listening to their music which reminds me of Björk.