Music Banter - View Single Post

Violent & Funky · 02-25-2010, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urban Hatemonger

Here's a novel idea for record companies if they want to make money.

Stop releasing so many crappy albums.

You know what I would be interested in seeing statistics for?

Loss of revenue from illiegal downloading vs Loss of revenue from people downloading one or two songs legally from I-Tunes rather than a full album.

A lot of artists are pulling their music off of iTunes; it boosts their album sales:

Quote:

Avoiding iTunes runs against the conventional logic of the music industry, where it's now taken as an article of faith that digital downloads will eventually replace CDs. But there is growing discomfort with the dominant role iTunes already plays: The store sells 90% or more of digital downloads in the U.S., according to people in the music industry. At the start of this year, iTunes become the largest retailer of music in the U.S., surpassing Wal-Mart Stores Inc., according to research firm NPD Group Inc.

Label executives, managers and artists chafe against the iTunes policy that prevents them from selling an album only. ITunes, with few exceptions, requires that songs be made available separately. Consumers strongly prefer that, though Apple also typically offers a special price for buyers who purchase all the songs on an album.

Some artists see their albums as one piece of work, and don't want them dismantled. Their handlers believe they can make more by selling complete albums for $10 to $15 than by selling individual songs.

"In so many ways it's turned our business back into a singles business," says Ken Levitan, Kid Rock's manager. Mr. Levitan says the rise of iTunes is far from being a boon to the industry; instead, he calls it "part of the death knell of the music business."

More Artists Steer Clear of iTunes - WSJ.com