2008 Woodie Awards
Vote Absentee
Information Revolution
The Music Industry in a Digital Age
Zachary Kurtz
Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: Entertainment
Reviews of 2007 sales show that through iTunes, Apple, Inc. is now the number two music retailer in the country, beating out Best Buy and Target, but still lagging behind Wal-Mart. In 2007, ten percent of legally obtained music was downloaded, a 6% jump from 2006. Meanwhile, the average American spends $4 less per year on music and approximately 1,000,000 Americans stopped purchasing CDs.
These statistics speak volumes about the way the music industry is changing. Apple, originally a computer and software company, found a niche in the market for portable music devices, in the way other companies were developing slimmer cell phones and digital cameras at the beginning of the century. Apple was able to successfully advertise the iPod and its accompanying software, iTunes, and still largely commands the market on portable music devices.
However, portable music players are nothing new, so why is the iPod revolutionizing the music industry? What separates the iPod from the Sony Discman, and the Walkman before it, is that the iPod is completely dependant on computers in order to function.
The rise of the iPod has coincided perfectly with the rise of the Internet. People are getting used to transmitting information and communicating through the internet, so transmitting music is the next logical step. Transmitted digital music is cheaper, more efficient and less wasteful than CDs.
Through iTunes, Apple has 50 million customers and has sold four billion songs -- and that is just music obtained legally through one music-purchasing program.
Leaders of the digital music industry and major record label execs gathered at the Digital Music Forum East, held in New York City on Feb. 26 and 27. They discussed the state of the music industry, such as falling CD purchases, and how to stop illegal music downloads. The overall theme of the event was to discuss how new digital and old physical media companies can coexist.
Most old media companies have held a lock on the music industry since the days of vinyl LPs. The newcomers are mostly web-based and offer cheaper alternatives to consumers. Artists prefer the new digital music market because it allows them to access to fans more easily. According to David Del Beccaro, founder and president of Music Choice, can collect 85 percent on products sold through digital music platforms after costs, while 40 percent is collected by artists from traditional media sales.
These statistics speak volumes about the way the music industry is changing. Apple, originally a computer and software company, found a niche in the market for portable music devices, in the way other companies were developing slimmer cell phones and digital cameras at the beginning of the century. Apple was able to successfully advertise the iPod and its accompanying software, iTunes, and still largely commands the market on portable music devices.
However, portable music players are nothing new, so why is the iPod revolutionizing the music industry? What separates the iPod from the Sony Discman, and the Walkman before it, is that the iPod is completely dependant on computers in order to function.
The rise of the iPod has coincided perfectly with the rise of the Internet. People are getting used to transmitting information and communicating through the internet, so transmitting music is the next logical step. Transmitted digital music is cheaper, more efficient and less wasteful than CDs.
Through iTunes, Apple has 50 million customers and has sold four billion songs -- and that is just music obtained legally through one music-purchasing program.
Leaders of the digital music industry and major record label execs gathered at the Digital Music Forum East, held in New York City on Feb. 26 and 27. They discussed the state of the music industry, such as falling CD purchases, and how to stop illegal music downloads. The overall theme of the event was to discuss how new digital and old physical media companies can coexist.
Most old media companies have held a lock on the music industry since the days of vinyl LPs. The newcomers are mostly web-based and offer cheaper alternatives to consumers. Artists prefer the new digital music market because it allows them to access to fans more easily. According to David Del Beccaro, founder and president of Music Choice, can collect 85 percent on products sold through digital music platforms after costs, while 40 percent is collected by artists from traditional media sales.
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