Prices within the music industry
can be seen with the sales of music created by artist. There was a period in
time when sales in music were on a constant incline and artists as well as
record labels were making more money than ever. Recently though, there has been
a decline in sales and how much revenue is being brought in. In order to
determine the reason for this, we have to look at the changes in the music
industry that have occurred in the last 15 years.
1999 was the highest point in sales
for the music industry in which they sold an estimate of 40 billion dollars.
Since then that amount in sales has decreased. Major changes in the industry
have occurred; transferring from selling physical copies of albums to people
being able to purchase digital downloads of singles. With the sale of physical
albums, people would by a combination of all songs created by the artists
rather than just being able to buy the few songs that an individual wants.
Because people can purchase just these few songs, the artist and industry is
losing money from sales of people not having to buy full-length albums. A
solution to this could be to lower prices for albums so that people would be
more encouraged to buy the album, otherwise sales will continue on in the same
way.
With an increase in technology,
there are more options than just buying music directly from artists through
media such as iTunes is used, rather people have options such as YouTube,
Pandora, and Spotify which allow people to enjoy music from an artist without
having to pay. People don’t have to own a song to listen to it anymore, but can
use these websites. These sites are able to do this through legal agreements
with the artists and label and money is made through advertisements on the
sites as well as providing additional benefits to people that purchase a better
model of free version. This brings in money that would not be made otherwise.
I believe that music will always be
created and then purchased no matter what happens to the economy. While the
music industry is not completely inelastic but rather is affected by changes
within the economy and technology and so forth, it will still be purchased even
if it is on a smaller scale than it was. This presents a new problem to artists
though, not being able to make enough money. Album sales should not be looked
on with as much importance today as 10 years ago, rather bands need to be
looking towards selling their performance. Money is made through what truly
makes an artist distinct; how they can present this music they have created on
stage. Concert sales are what provide artists with enough money to survive,
including independent artist not even signed to a record label. People can make
a middle class living off of touring with their original music. Albums will
still be bought, but they have become a means of advertisement for an artists’
concert for many people. So while prices may be in decline for the purchase of
music directly, I believe that no matter what artists will still be making
money as always mainly through their concerts and merchandise that can be
bought by fans directly.
