The State Of "the Biz" Options

[Todd Simpson]

Read a very interesting article about the state of the music "biz". In short, streaming will (as we knew) take over for downloads and cd's will continue their slow decline to oblivion. Japan still buys 3/4 of it's music on CD believe it or not, but that's changing. Internet penetration is not as pervasive in japan, neither is the ownership of home computers. Helping making japan the last bastion of cd sales. That party is ending as internet penetration increases and tablets/phones leapfrog computers and serve as streaming devices. Here is a breakdown.


Total sales were down 3.9%.
Based on 2012 numbers the trend suggested that 2013 revenues should have registered a 2% growth, so that is a -6% swing in momentum.

Digital grew by 4.3%
which was not enough to offset the impact of declining CD sales, which has been the story every year since 2000 except last.

Download sales declined by 1%. Continued competition from apps and other entertainment, coupled with subscriptions poaching the most valuable download buyers is finally taking its toll.

Subscriptions up by 51%: An impressively strong year for subscriptions but not enough to make the digital increase bigger than the physical decline on a global basis nor in key markets, including the US. This is the big news. The subscription model is moving to replace all other commerce models for music sales bit by bit.

Also interesting, APPLE controls the bulk of ALL DIGITAL MUSIC PURCHASES ON EARTH. So getting your music on iTunes really is key

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