The Record Industry’s decline

Thanks to heystoopid for writing in with his following story:

Whilst browsing the web and the blog boing boing, I came across the latest article in the the Rolling Stone Magazine about the continuing decline of the once great music industry as we know it, and how they threw away an opportunity of a lifetime in 2000 to join the new electronic age of the emerging power of the Internet as a new marketing force!

"This is the first part of a two-part series on the decline of the record industry. Today we’re including Brian Hiatt and Evan Serpick’s report on where the music business went wrong, from the current issue of Rolling Stone, as well as an interactive graphic illustrating the industry’s slide. Tomorrow, check back with RollingStone.com for interviews with industry leaders on the future of the music business."

Anyway the effect of decline of this once great industry can be seen in two ways one at normal retail surviving chain store level (applying the Wal-Mart sales concept) where floor space is being turned over to selling Video DVD’s and the second is at the second hand store level where sales area of second hand audio CD’s is now being diminished to be replaced again by used video DVD’s!

In the short term it looks like the big four are about to rapidly shrink in numbers if this continuing downward trend, on the other hand for recording artists who are touring and taking in stacks of cash from cashed up fans, the record companies are about to grab a bigger slice of that pie! It looks like the future for all recording artists in the short term is about to take another downward spiral unless they embrace a direct marketing concept eliminating the ever greedy but dying dinosaur of last century that the baby boomers created!

The source boing boing story can be viewed here.