In 2001, the first iPod was sold. In 2003, Apple first opened the iTunes store. Ever since, it’s been the premier way of getting music. Is that changing?
It turns out 2013 was the first year that digital music sold less than the year before. Digital albums fell only 0.1%, but digital tracks fell 5.7%. In fact, albums sales in general declined in 2013. The only music avenue that saw an increase was the old vinyl record. The top selling songs were Robin Thicke’s?”Blurred Lines” and Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop”. There’s an elephant in the wall executives need to address whether they want to or not: the growing popularity of streaming. ?These subscription services slowly but surely ate up digital music services.
At the risk of giving my?away my age here, I?have a suggestion for all in the music?industry: Start making better music! You know what sorry?shape the music game is in when?Time magazine picks Miley Cyrus as one of the?top 10 Persons of theYear. It seems like every other song is the boom boom of techno/house or some?gangster rapper bragging about his?money, jewelry, women, cars and?guns, or some pop tart?glorifying the party lifestyle. Those things are okay, but not every song all the time!?How about some creativity?and originality? Or how about songs that mean something, like artist used to do back in the 1960s and ’70s?
How do you think the music industry should address the digital music decline?