The music industry is really getting knocked around and hit with a bunch of punches faster than Manny Pacquiao hits his opponents. Over the last decade the decline in music sales keeps sloping downward like an Olympic skier racing to the finish line at an effort to get a record setting time. The music industry is setting records, however, but not the kinds of records they would want. Piracy and the shifts in the way people purchase music could be the main source.
The music industry’s worth is only half than what it was ten years ago, which should be no shocker to anyone. There are many reasons why, and I am sure there are plenty of finger pointing going around to justify their case, in a manner like kids would do when they don’t won’t to be held responsible for breaking something. The RIAA has reported that revenues in the past 10 years for album sales have declined by 8% each year, since 1999. Also, the statistics that came from the RIAA reported that sales were more going out than coming in. These stats are a frustrating record labels’ executives, which are constantly trying to find solutions, but with little success so far. Is it possible that the labels waited to late to adjust to change? Here is a chart that displays how drastic the declines in music sales really are.
Life is all about adapting even when it is not to our fondness. Sometimes change costs lots of money, which can be particularly difficult for record labels that are already losing a significant amount of money to adjust to. However, that’s what we do as people we adapt and accept the inevitable. If we start a job we don’t particularly like we settle in, if we move next door to noisy neighbors we might complain, but we still adapt. The record labels are ready to adapt, but very unhurriedly it seems. It is said that 90% of music today is illegally downloaded and some record executives must have left off the words changes in new technology off of their things to do checklist. Labels have tried to play a game of catch up by licensing the selling of ringtones, new licensing agreements with radio stations and with online music retailers as well. Labels have even tried a new version of recording contracts called 360 deals, in which the labels would share in all of the music artists revenues, such as touring, and merchandising, as well to combat the new enemy called piracy. However, 360 deals are not the answer to conquer the decline in music sales, and especially is just no fair to the new music artists. Jay-Z, Madonna, U2 and other big name artists have signed 360 deals, but these artists are superstars and they would pack a house during a blizzard in winter. There are certainly other revenue streams record labels would love to get their hands on as well, such as artists’ funds from movies, commercials and endorsement deals.
Now are labels spending less money on marketing and promoting an album? Nelly thinks so; the rap artist who has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Nelly's 1st album, Country Grammar, was released in 2000 and Ride Wit Me was one of that album's hits. Nelly released his album Nellyville in the summer of 2002 and Nelly “Suit” & “Sweat” in 2004 and Brass Knuckles in 2008. Oh, and his latest release 5.0 if you have ever heard of it. I personally knew about the album, but I never have been a Nelly fan to start with. However, many people don’t even know of its existence. Nelly blames Universal Motown for the not marketing and promoting the album like it should have been. Nelly sold just around 36,000 units in the albums’ first week sales, which is a big failure for the label and Nelly. There is no way a label could recoup from that loss, however, Nelly has sold million of albums during his career, so the label didn’t really take a loss, because they have made their fair share off of Nelly’s past successful albums.
In today’s music market climate, a music artist has to stay relevant. Artists have to stay in the public eye at a more constant rate. Lil Wayne is the perfect example of an artist who knows how to market himself. Before his Carter III album, Lil Wayne was on everybody’s album constantly building up his brand. There weren’t to many albums that Lil Wayne wasn’t featured on. Lil Wayne also dropped one mixtape after another proving his lyrical skills and increasing his fanbase. The results caused the Carter III to sell over a million copies in its first week. The superstar turned into a megastar almost instantly. Nelly however went into hibernation and was nowhere to be found. However, perhaps the major blame for Nelly’s disparity is due to the global piracy effect. It’s a new time and artists like Lil Wayne and many others have been taking notice and embraced the challenge with open arms, but perhaps Nelly missed that memo. Labels are frightened by this adversary called piracy and as a result are dishing out less marketing dollars, which means more weight at this point and time will be put on the music artist plain and simple. I think music artists should already go in with a mindset of marketing themselves automatically when they are coming out with a new album or even if they don’t have one in the works, it couldn’t hurt one bit. Look at what staying in the public’s eye will do for their careers; it almost forces people to buy into their brand. The Internet is a grateful tool, which if used appropriately can catapult an artist’s music sales. If Nelly had stayed in the public’s eye perhaps the end result would have been 300,000 or more in first week sales.
The truth is that global piracy is a problem and it causing our country tons of needed revenue. It stifles the creative spirit of music artists we love, whom produce the music we enjoy. Could you imagine a world without music and just waking up to silence, not me? The world would be a less attractive place that’s for sure and there would be no need for nightclubs. The music industry might have been taking the wrong steps in adapting to the changes in technological times but two wrongs doesn’t make a right and as a result artists are suffering from it. The Nelly example I used is a perfect example of what piracy has done to the record industry. Record labels are frightened to pay out more money for marketing an artist, because of the fear of not making a return on their investment. Nelly is right to be upset at Universal Motown at the moment, but Nelly also should have realized that he would have to take some matters into his own hands. The Internet is out there for the whole world to use and Nelly should have taken more advantage of its capabilities.
The theft of music artists’ intellectual property is an issue of great concern, especially during a period of time of economic struggle. People are underemployed or even worse unemployed and perhaps this is causing people to steal music even more, but still it is not right. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that these thefts costs our nation’s economy roughly $58 billion in total output a year; more than 370,000 domestic jobs; $16.3 billion in earnings; and $2.6 billion in tax revenue. The labels are at fault, but now it is up to the artists to take more aggressive action as well to promote themselves. Nelly needed to adapt and so does the record labels.
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