Unreal Music Sales Data

Showbiz411.com has a shocking article on the state of the music industry these days. According to the post, album sales are down more than 14% for the first six months of 2014.

From the post:

"According to Nielsen, during the first six months of 2014, sales of all albums both physical and digital were down 14.9%. And sales just of digital downloads (from iTunes mostly) were down 11.6%."

But wait, there's more: the article goes on with this nugget of news:

"Sales of CDs were down 19.6%. What was up? Streaming jumped 50%. And sales of vinyl LPs were up 40%."

To recap, music sales suck, and only dinosaurs like you and me actually buy physical media anymore. I don't have a paid Pandora subscription or anything like that, but I do have Amazon Prime and Prime Music just rolled out last month and so far I like it, so I can definitely see the draw of using streaming music only. Still, there's something very special about owning physical copies of your favorite album -- typically in various formats! I can't help but think the kids of today are missing out on having a real relationship with their favorite bands. Come to think of it, kids today probably don't even have favorite bands, do they? I suspect they might have favorite songs... or YouTube channels... or "favorite musician on Instagram."

Sales data be damned, music is a business and artists must get paid for their work. So, like the article on Showbiz411 -- I certainly hope streaming companies figure out a way to compensate musicians fairly -- and fast. Because the future is here and sadly, the days of physical album sales seem long gone.