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    All Industries Should Note the Increase in Digital Music

    By Jason Gallagher | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Mon, Jan 9, 2012
    This story comes from the Yahoo! Contributor Network, where individuals publish their unique perspectives on some of the world’s most popular websites.
    Do you have a story to tell? Become a Yahoo! contributor

    COMMENTARY | The fact that once great company Kodak is reportedly considering filing for bankruptcy in the next few weeks, as reported by the Associated Press, should catch the eye of record stores across the U.S. Since Kodak was unable to adapt the changing digital marketplace of photography, news from Singersroom.com that digital music sales topped physical music sales for the first time should be a sign to get their houses in order because a reckoning is coming.

    Digital music downloads accounted for 50.3 percent of music sales in 2011, as reported by CNNMoney. The article mentions the increase over 2010 totals was 8.4 percent, while the decline in actual albums was 5 percent. Those are pretty big swings for any company that specializes in selling CDs or albums to ignore.

    Sure the digital music revolution is not exactly new. Like the CNNMoney report states, since the early days of Napster, digital music has been a hit with consumers. However, the increase in digital music popularity will eventually transfer to movie and television, which is another industry grappling with the shift of streaming video versus selling DVDs.

    Here in Pennsylvania, in 2002 the likes of National Record Mart fell to discount stores like Wal-Mart as far as album sales were concerned, as indicated by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Actual brick and mortar stores are no longer necessary for the music industry, as social networking and apps help new artists be discovered.

    The real surprise is that it took until 2011 for digital sales to top physical sales, and now that the scale is tipped the digital share of the music market will continue to rage along until the CD goes the way of the cassette tape (remember those?) and the LP. Users are demanding access to content across a variety of devices, and the purchase of an actual album is being replaced by clicking a few buttons. All the other industries should take notice in order to avoid going the way of Kodak.

     

    1 comment

    • Allana
      Allana  •  Chicago, Illinois  •  4 mths ago
      Interesting commentary. :) I believe one reason why it took until 2011 for digital sales to take over physical sales was due to the fact that many people were downloading illegal copies of digital music from sites such as Limewire. When these sites were finally shut down, more people went to pay sites and actually purchased the digital copies legally - thus bumping up the sales figures.
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