From: <info@noiseloop.com>
Subject: RE: [idm] 2003: The Year the Music Industry Dies - Wired Magazine,
2/2003
quoted 5 lines Something has definitely affected sales very badly - and I think it's
> Something has definitely affected sales very badly - and I think it's
> downloading. I reckon it's not so much a case of downloading a particular
> record that you might otherwise buy - but more about saturation. When you
> haven't even listened to half the stuff you snagged then you're not so
> likely to be running down to the record shop to fill your shelves.
Agreed.
More evidence that the end is nigh:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/popmusicnightlife/134599364_subpop20.h
tml
"While album sales in the U.S. may be down as much as 10 percent this year,
that doesn't necessarily mean everyone is hurting - a few smaller, indie
Seattle labels are doing quite well. It's all relative: Their combined sales
probably would be less than a good month for Eminem. Still, our small fish
are swimming along quite well. "
http://www.fool.com/news/foth/2002/foth021202.htm
"This just in: The music industry is running scared. Many record execs had
hoped the multi-year slump in new album sales would be over after the courts
dismembered file-sharing service Napster in 2000. However, the
centralized -- and thus easily prosecutable -- file-sharing model Napster
pioneered has been replaced with a decentralized, impossible-to-destroy,
peer-to-peer model.
Yes, people continue to swap files, especially music and video, regardless
of Napster's demise. The music industry is tearing out its collective hair
looking for solutions to this problem, upon which they lay the blame for a
multi-year slump in recorded music sales.
Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), a division of Sony (NYSE: SNE), answered
the call last week, announcing the advent of its new "Label Gate" digital
rights management (DRM) package. Beginning in 2003, all CDs released from
Sony Japan will carry this protection. "
http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Entertainment&storyId=6
26841
LONDON (Reuters) - Global recorded music sales look set to fall for the
fourth straight year in 2003 thanks to piracy and the economic downturn, and
its bosses are desperate for solutions.
Executives gathering for the global music industry conference Midem in
southern France this weekend know it's make or break time.
The bruised industry needs a new formula as fans increasingly spend their
disposable income on video games and "burn" their own CD compilations while
labels desperately seek a new crop of long-lasting stars. Major music labels
have so far responded by slashing jobs, axing B-list artists and trimming
back their bloated businesses. However, the industry appears no closer to a
long-term solution than last year and talk of consolidation among the big
five music companies is growing louder by the day.
"2003 will be the tipping point. The fundamentals continue to deteriorate
and consolidation will have to happen," said Michael Nathanson, media
analyst at U.S.-based investment research firm Sanford Bernstein.
http://www.theonion.com/onion3618/kid_rock_starves.html
"LOS ANGELES-MP3 piracy of copyrighted music claimed another victim Monday,
when the emaciated body of rock-rap superstar Kid Rock was found on the
median of La Cienega Boulevard."
"How many more artists must die of starvation before we put a stop to this
MP3 madness?" asked Hilary Rosen, president of the Recording Industry
Association of America (RIAA). "MP3s of Kid Rock's music were so widely
traded and downloaded by Napster users that he was driven back to the mean
streets from whence he came, dying bankrupt and penniless in the gutter."
.o0O}seeklektek{O0o.
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