[skippy the wonder dog]

Er, that's "stuck pig" not "stuck pi," which would be a purely mathematical problem. Anyway, that's not exactly what they said, but close enough. See:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/s...rtainment/

Is the bleeding due entirely to illegal downloading? Probably not. It may be due in large part to the industry's habit of producing crap. I'm suspicious of the apples-and oranges comparisons made in the article - sales vs. revenue vs. market share. Smells like selective reporting to me... but still, revenues being down 20 percent over five years is not good.

Now, everyone likes to bash on the record companies, but this is a bad, bad thing. This means less money for new acts, less money for artist development (as if they did that anymore, but we can dream), and so on.

You can pretend that record companies don't do anything, but who underwrites the cost of promotion and touring? The Internet sure as hell doesn't. The notion that bands can succeed and reach a large audience on their own just doesn't wash.

Everything will stabilize in the long run, but it looks like we're getting into a bad period for music.

[Stephen Dame]

Whenever I read about record execs and industry types blaming or wanting "protection" from digital downloads and the internet, all I can think of is Luddites. Either the current industry giants will figure out a way to embrace and make a profit from direct online release and download (and I think they will) or they'll be made obsolete by those who do.

They're right, the current situation isn't fair, but it's not hindered by that fact and it's not going anywhere.

I don't know if low sales and stagnant marketing ideas means "a bad time for music." A bad time for musicians wallets maybe. But there'll always be folks with ideas and guitars to keep the train moving. The next big thing is always just around the corner... and the guy with the talent is always standing in his shadow. Music's got nothing to worry about IMO. Just have to know where to look.

[cferneyh]

Fascinating stuff in there. But here's the thing that jumped out at me:

"In 2003, recording companies issued 5,619 new releases, down from 6,654 in 2000."

Uh, according to my math, that's a decrease of 16%. So, if sales are down 18% and new releases are down 16%, isn't that a little more than a coincidence?

I mean if Ford reduced their annual production by 18%, wouldn't one expect sales to fall by a similar amount?

It seems to me that the recording industry is putting their money behind fewer and fewer artists under the name of consolidation, and then blaming downloaders because they can't sell more crap from fewer artists.

[chris]

Fascinating stuff in there. But here's the thing that jumped out at me:

"In 2003, recording companies issued 5,619 new releases, down from 6,654 in 2000."

Uh, according to my math, that's a decrease of 16%. So, if sales are down 18% and new releases are down 16%, isn't that a little more than a coincidence?

I mean if Ford reduced their annual production by 18%, wouldn't one expect sales to fall by a similar amount?

It seems to me that the recording industry is putting their money behind fewer and fewer artists under the name of consolidation, and then blaming downloaders because they can't sell more crap from fewer artists.

Chris, what are you doing using logic and reasonable thought??? Come on, that's no way to discuss this topic!

[joshwayy]

One would think that they would see the big picture. When digital cameras exploded Kodak execs shat themselves because all they knew how to do was make film...they re-tooled and now are kicking ass in the digital camera market. Don't hate the player...hate the game.

[chancellor]

I hate when articles talk about sales vs. revenue.
The article states revenue is down 17.7% but sales are only down 3.4% which means they increased their spending leading to their lower revenue or the cost of selling has increased. They can decrease their expenses by stop signing crappy bands to overpriced contracts. The record industry has to stop blaming the downloading for the slide in sales. Maybe that isnt the only problem out there. They should work on solving the problem instead. Maybe consumers have smarten up a bit wont buy some of the crap they are releasing these days.