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The EvO:R Street Journal
The EvO:R Street Journal
Editorial statement
Dedicated to the culture, business and interests of the indie artist.
EVJ delivers controversial points of view, hard-news commentary, Industry Insites,
artistic prose and photography and welcomes responses (pro or con),
feedback and topic suggestions from readers. If you would like to
submit an opinionated article, inspired poem, photo or essay to EVJ,
forward all copy to Editor ESJ and
put To the Editor in the subject field.
Will There Still Be a Demand For New Music in 2009?
By Ami Stevens
As consumers tighten their budgets, the entertainment industry is left wondering what will become of music demand.
The global economic recession has affected some of the strongest markets in the world, including the US and UK, and
there has been little or no substantial increase in average wages over the past several decades. With the amount of
disposable income available to people declining, new music would seem to be destined to occupy a position of very
low priority in most people's lives.
However, there have been simultaneous advances in technology that have made music distribution much easier than it
was in the past. Digital distribution, through legal means that do not infringe on copyrights, have become more
popular throughout the first decade of the 21st Century, which leaves some hope that the demand for new music may
not wane so much due to the grim economic outlook for 2009.
If there is one sector that has seen impressive growth in sales, it has been the sale of single tracks by digital
music distribution sites. Over 1.7 billion single track downloads were purchased in 2007, accounting for a growth
rate of 53% over previous years. This innovative means of distributing new music has several aspects which do not
conflict with a widespread desire in the consumer sector to rein in spending.
First, a single track download, sometimes priced as low as $.99US, allows consumers to sample new music without
purchasing an entire album's worth of an unknown product. If they like the music, of course, there is always the
chance that the track will serve a marketing purpose and entice those consumers to purchase that entire album. Music
distribution in this regard is something of an advertisement and a product all in one. Consumers are generally
accustomed to being able to examine a product before they purchase it and a single track download allows this to
some degree.
Music distribution online, however, has still been dominated by pirate sites, with a ratio of 20 illegal downloads
for every legal download in 2006. For the music industry, this means that new music will often be obtained by
consumers in ways that produce no revenue for the company, a serious problem that needs to be addressed. The bright
side of all of this, of course, is that the demand for new music does not seem to be diminishing. What seems to
be diminishing is consumer's willingness to pay the sometimes high prices charged for a CD.
Music demand, if it is not diminishing, may simply need to be addressed in a more creative way. Digital distribution
requires little overhead. There is no packaging, no CD's that need to be pressed and no physical stores with which
one must deal. In the case of indie bands, new music has quite frequently been marketed directly to the consumers
by the musicians themselves due to the low investment required.
Overall, as in any year, it does seem to be the case that there will be music demand, particularly for new music,
in 2009. The way in which record labels choose to approach this, however, will be of the most importance in how
the companies fare. Digital distribution remains a largely untapped resource. Those companies willing to put forth
an effort into exploiting this market stand to be the providers of new music to the masses. While attempting to
throttle piracy has proved largely ineffective, offering consumers a valuable alternative has seemed to be a
worthwhile investment for distributors and musicians alike.
Thank you for reading. I am a freelance journalist heavily involved in the new uk music scene, covering local
and national gigs and tours for online reviews. I spend my spare time promoting new bands and music with both
online and offline marketing and advice.
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