Study Says That 90% Of All Digital Music Didn't Sell In 2008
From BallerStatus.com -- Despite all the possibilities the digital age brings forth, music is still slumping. While its helped usher in things like the viral music video, sales of actually music hasn't become the money maker that CDs once were for major record labels.
According to a recent study by Will Page, chief economist of the MCPS-PRS Alliance, (via Times Online), 90% of all digital tracks for sale over 2008 didn't sell one copy.
The report said that "10 million of the 13 million tracks available on the internet failed to find a single buyer last year."
The study found that, for the online singles market, 80% of all revenue came from around 52,000 tracks. For albums, of the 1.23 million available, only 173,000 were ever bought, meaning 85% did not sell a single copy all year.
Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail, predicted in his book that the internet economy's love for niche markets would shift from a relatively small number of "hits" (or mainstream products) at the head of the demand curve toward a "huge number of niches in the tail."
However, in the new study by Will Page, it suggests that the niche market is not an untapped goldmine and that online sales success still relies on big hits.
"I think people believed in a fat, fertile long tail because they wanted it to be true," Andrew Bud, Will Page's co-researcher, told the Times Online. "The statistical theories used to justify that theory were intelligent and plausible. But they turned out to be wrong. The data tells a quite different story. For the first time, we know what the true demand for digital music looks like."
Anderson doesn't, however, feel his "longtail theory" is wrong. He says Page's study needs a lot more evidence to undermine his findings.
"I respect what Will's done and have no doubt that he has indeed found a dataset where it doesn't work, but I'm not sure you can conclude much, if anything, beyond that," Anderson said. "If he's trying to undermine the entire Long Tail Theory, he'll have to provide a lot more evidence. I welcome the debate, but until Will's prepared to publish data and sources we don't have much to talk about."
What does this mean for digital music? Who knows. Only time will tell. Sound off in the comments with your opinion.
Source: http://www.ballerstatus.com/article/news/2008/12/6043/
Comment
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Comment by MR TOP NOTCH on January 1, 2009 at 4:40pm -
B******* - THEY MAKING MORE MONEY THAN EVER
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Comment by iPlatini on December 30, 2008 at 9:42pm -
Yo'll need to think about the impact this brings to musicians...the new theory has been published to illustrate where the music industry is going in 5 years check it out for yourself
www.myspace.com/iPlatiniMusic
-peace
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Comment by BLIGZ on December 30, 2008 at 8:30pm
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All I know is that I'm almost done with my album and its gonna be FIRE!!!!
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Comment by will on December 30, 2008 at 4:58pm -
TECHNOLOGY IS MOVIN SO FAST WE CANT EVEN KEEP UP WITH IT
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Comment by ARCHANGEL on December 30, 2008 at 2:56pm -
Honestly I could give a f*** what these artist or record companys make !! The average artist is being raped anyway buy these same companys . The music should not be as much as it is now anyway . The average CD cost 10.00 , the artist may see 60cent off of every cd sold !!!! The way I see it the music should be free to listen to And if your s*** is any good we will support you .We will come see you in the movies or buy your clothing line or buy your perfume or watch your videos or listen to you on the radio or come see you in concert! now this is what you call entertainment . But what we have now is everybody trying to make it big on the radio with all this waterted down music . And now we have the radio stations determinig whats hot and whats not . !! Instead of that lets give it back to the real artist and let them take control .!!
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Comment by EFRAIN on December 30, 2008 at 12:43pm
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LONG LIVE FROSTWIRE
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Comment by Sufferahsmusic Media Prod on December 30, 2008 at 8:57am -
i got the best video channel on the internet best videos best music hands down heres the link ...come get that medicine http://sufferahs1tv.blip.tv net rated 10.0 USA TODAY says : sufferahsmusic the new sound of todays music TIME MAGAZINE SAYS rated in our top 100 list of 2008 sufferahsmusic is here to stay ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE SAYS sufferahsmusic is revolutionalizing internat marketting
check us out http://sufferahs1tv.blip.tv
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Comment by David on December 30, 2008 at 12:57am -
WHEN THAT S*** IS QUALITY AND THE WHOLE ALBUM HOOD HARD I GO BUY THE REAL S***!
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Comment by Атʟκıɗ on December 29, 2008 at 11:58pm -
co-sign mck4mck
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Comment by Joe on December 29, 2008 at 11:54pm -
I'm glad people are getting smarter! Keep up the good work!
Also Joe should of never been talking all that s*** in the first place!
Last thing "I'm losing" by Gorilla Zoe is off the hook!
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