The internet has changed the way life is as we knew it. So, naturally music too, the way we hear, make, promote, sell it, has changed over the years. The distribution of music especially has undergone a transformative change. It must have been unimaginable two decades ago that the music industry would function in the fashion as it is currently.
Music listening and collecting has followed an evolutionary path. Right from earliest forms of vinyl in the 50’s, to Tapes from the 70’s to the late 90s, to CDs from the 80s onward, and since more than half a decade now via the internet or digitally.
While vinyl still stays the best choice among some connoisseurs of music, CDs and Digitals downloads are battling it out for the majority stake. CDs being the older and more accepted medium have had an upper hand. But the download revolution has knocked the wind out of CD sales, making the artists/labels to look out for new options.
The response to this shift began with opening up of various music/e-commerce websites that offered CDs for sale via various shipment options with even discounts at times. This made music purchase more accessible. On the other hand, many music stores shut down. The internet and the number of music releases in a year (76,875 in 2011) was just too much for them.
The days of physical storage have gone to some extent. Today, a lot of people store all their data on hard drives, pen drives, and cloud computing based websites. So as people began to rip all their CDs they decided to go for the greener less carbon footprint option of purchasing via the net.
CDs have continued to be a favorite among some loyal music enthusiasts. The aesthetic value which a CD provides is no match for even an excellent quality WAV file over the internet. The CD cover, inlay, CD label all add to the beauty of the product. It becomes a painting that could be enjoyed, presented, stored and preserved to show future generations.
Though the internet has brought a lot of exposure to independent artists, it did very little for them financially, as most of their music was either downloaded or shared among peers. So, although the mainstream music industry faced only a drop in percentages, niche artists had to rely on gigs for funds.
In such a scenario, the industry had reacted in various ways. One of these had been an attempt to stop music from being downloaded. Though hi-speed connectivity has made it possible for one to survive on a life of streamed music, it would be foolish for various labels to ban their music completely. For this is the very medium that has made it possible for them to reach such a large and diverse audience in such an inexpensive manner and short period of time.
Digital albums releases though slow to take off are catching up with CDs. In fact according to Neilsen & Billboard’s 2011 Music Industry Report – Not only did Digital album sales beat CD album sales this year. The revenue generated from the digital medium was more than three times that from the traditional medium.
The digital download industry too has diversified extensively, providing a number of innovative options to access and buy one’s favorite music. Right from allowing single track downloads, to providing previews, to websites/mailers which proactively inform you about new releases and provide suitable payment options. Musicians today have a lot of options to put their music out and from what figures suggest these innovative options have been getting a great response from audiences worldwide.
Finally, whatever u chose support the artist/band/performer because apart from being rockstars and divas, they also need to clear bills.
