Where Has All the Music Gone?
by Jennifer Altavilla

Everyone remembers that first CD with nostalgia. That slender disc serves as a remembrance of a time past, of the person one once was. Sadly, current CD sales trends suggest that not only has the time of disco and the boy band passed, but also the era of the CD itself. In placing efficiency and the desire to control the music experience over the desire to support the artist, the American public is negating the need for the tangible parts of the CD, thus condemning it to death.

According to statistics compiled by BBC online, U.S. CD sales have plummeted 20% in the past year. In 2006, 112 million CDs were sold in the first quarter, but only 89 million discs were sold in the same period in 2007. However, the number of downloaded individual songs rose from 212 million in the first three months of 2006 to 228 million in the corresponding period in 2007. Eric Benderoff of the Chicago Tribune writes that there was an overall 6% increase in online music sales in the first quarter of 2007, but even with the apparent increase in downloaded music - in particular of digital albums - BBC online still contends that 90% of albums are in CD form.

However, although the BBC's figures may be correct, fewer and fewer American consumers are buying CDs. Ipsos Insight, a Chicago market research firm, released a report early last month which stated that only 51% of American consumers ages 12 and over have bought a CD in the last 6 months. Ipsos Insight says that percentage is down 15% since 2002. A meeting in Chicago last month of the National Association of Recording Merchandising concluded that CD sales are down for two reasons: the prevalence of illegal downloading and the high price of CDs. If a music lover can either download the whole CD for free or pay for only one or two songs that he likes, why should he pay $15 for the physical CD? CD burning has also contributed greatly to the decline in CD sales. The NPD market research group claims that as much as 37% of all music consumption is in the form of burned CDs. Again, it all comes back to cost and convenience. A person sees no need to go out and buy the actual CD himself if he can get it for free from a friend.

The decline of the 24-year-old CD is forcing record labels to develop innovative ways to market their music. The newest development in music distribution is the digital singles machine, a device allows a consumer to choose around 15 songs out of a current pool of 2 million songs to be burned on a custom album. The singles machine, which currently operates in 150 record stores, Starbucks, book stores, and electronic stores across the country, sells songs for 99 cents each, but also adds in a $3 fee for the jewel case, custom labels, and CD itself. Record labels hope that these legal downloading machines, which cater to both to the American public's penchant for cheap music and to its desire to control music selections, will curb illegal downloading and encourage people to start buying CDs again.

Online music companies are starting their own campaigns to increase music sales. Although iTunes, the music provider for Apple's hugely successful iPod, has experienced a steady increase in sales, the spike has not generated enough money to recoup the money lost by the decline in CD sales. Other online music providers, which resent iTunes' virtual monopoly in music sales, want to sell digital music without restrictions on copying. This innovation would allow music to be compatible with all music providers, not just iTunes. Music companies hope this change will create healthy competition in the online music industry and subsequently increase sales.

Aram Sinnreich, a media industry consultant at Radar Research in Los Angeles, believes, as many in the music industry do, that "Christmas [is] the last big holiday season for CD sales." Such a prediction might be a little precocious, but there is no denying that the CD, the music vehicle of the past generation, is on a rapid decline. Whereas the change from cassettes to CDs was precipitated by the fact that CDs have a higher-quality, crisper sound than cassettes, the change from CD to digital has nothing to do with quality; in fact, in many cases digital music sounds worse than music from a CD. The digital switch is all about money and power. People would rather have worse quality music that they chose themselves and paid little or nothing for, rather than superior sound. It is as if music has lost its musicality, its artistry, its essence, and has become a mere industry. No one appreciates the artist's whole body of work anymore and so has no need to buy a CD, a lovingly made musical tapestry of carefully ordered songs. As Michael McGuire of Gartner Research says, "It comes back to consumers being in complete control of their media experience." The more control people crave, the more limited their musical scope becomes, and the faster the musical artwork, the CD, is lost.

Sources:

1. Benderoff, Eric. "Music Industry Struggles to Halt Decline in CD Sales." 31 May 2007 <www.thenewstribune.com>.

2. Leeds, Jeff. "Plunge in CD Sales Shakes Up Big Labels." New York Times. 28 May 2007. 31 May 2007 <www.nytimes.com>.

3. "U.S. CD Sales Drop 20% In One Year." 23 March 2007. 31 May 2007 <http://news.bbc.co.uk>.

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