Image courtesy PCWorld
Digital sales are up and ready to eclipse physical sales. Sounds great, but unfortunately the digital uptick isn’t enough to overcome the overall downward slide in music sales that’s been happening over time. The pool of buyers is shrinking overall. All this according to the IFPI (a London-based record label organization), and and market researchers NPD Group. Internet radio sites like Pandora (which I love btw) encourage music downloads, while ad-supported sites like MySpace and Lala apparently discourage buying (why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?). You can read the whole article on the LA Times entertainment blog.
What does this mean for indie artists? I think Internet radio sites are a great way to promote music… I’ve been listening to Pandora daily for the past two weeks and have discovered so many amazing artists I’ve never heard of it’s making my head spin. As far as sites like MySpace where you can listen for free with no prompting to buy… Personally I don’t see it as a huge problem. The MySpace page is an avenue to expose and promote, and has never really been a big sales boon to artists. It’s not meant for that and anyone hoping to sell tons off their MySpace page will probably be disappointed. But the profile is great to give people a snapshot of who you are, and serves as a portal for media and industry types looking for new music or who may want to learn more about you before an interview/review or proceeding with a business deal.
What do you think indie artists can do to encourage downloads and sales?
Courtesy LA Times. Click for the full story
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/02/music-bi-back-to-playing-the-blues.html
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