Reflections on the State of the Music Business in 2008

I thought I would step out of lurker mode and onto my soap box to talk about about a few changes in the music industry that have me worried.

1) The decline of audio fidelity and the acceptance of poor quality recordings.

Digital media is moving away from CDs and the current replacement formats are mp3 and iTunes file downloads. In order to keep downloads to a reasonable size, audio quality has been sacrificed. I can tell the difference between a "high quality" mp3 vs. CD audio. Unfortunately, either most people cannot tell the difference, or, they are willing to put up with it.

I would be willing to put up with paying for mp3 or iTunes files if the price were dramatically reduced (e.g. 25 cents or 10 cents per file instead of 99 cents). If we download a dozen songs and pay 99 cents for each one, then we've paid the same price as a CD for inferior audio quality.

Even if the price of mp3 and iTunes files were reduced, the problem with inferior audio quality remains. We'll need a digital media format that retains the audio quality of CDs but yet has a reasonable download size. Perhaps as the speed of broadband increases download size will not be an issue in the future.

An offshoot problem is that CD audio quality has deteriorated rapidly over the last 10 years. In order to make CDs sound louder, the audio signal has been compressed. Therefore, CDs sound louder but the dynamic range has been greatly reduced. Probably the worst offender of this problem in recent memory is the mastering on Rush's "Vapor Trails". But almost any new CD release suffers from over-compression these days. Unfortunately, louder sounds better to the average listener. When a tune sounds louder on the radio, this results in more sales.

2) File downloads currently signal the death of albums and an emphasis on hit singles.

With the market shifting to single file downloads, there will no longer be a need for artists or groups to record an album's worth of material. Furthermore, everything that is recorded will need to have "hit" potential. Established artists and groups can probably continue to record in the album format, but there will not be an incentive for "underground" artists to record albums. You can even see the death of albums in the latest CD releases.

Has anyone else noticed that albums are no longer being released? Instead, we have tons and tons of "Best of", "The Essential", "An Introduction To", titles. This problem is even affecting jazz, funk, and R&B releases. I recently decided I wanted to purchase the early Earth, Wind, & Fire albums (e.g. "Keep Your Head to the Sky"). Every store I walked into did not have a single "album" by Earth, Wind, & Fire. But they all had "The Best of...", "The Essential...", "An Introduction to...", "Greatest Hits of..." titles. Thankfully, I could still purchase these albums through Amazon, but the days of finding them in a local store seem to be over.

3) DRM (i.e. Digital Rights Management) is preventing music sales.

I personally do not subscribe to iTunes for two reasons: DRM and the inability to use those files outside of the iTunes format. I like Amazon's new mp3 download service because there is no DRM protection, and I can listen to the mp3 files on any device. The music and movie industry has always over-reacted to changing technology. They thought cassette players and DAT recorders would ruin them, and yet the music industry survived. The internet and file-sharing actually increase the exposure of artists who do not have airplay on traditional radio stations.

Currently I discover artists mainly through the internet, not through radio airplay. When I find an artist I like, then I buy CDs. I continue to buy CDs for the audio quality issues I mentioned earlier.

4) 30-second snippets are not enough "preview" time for deciding whether or not to purchase a song or an album.

Amazon, iTunes, and other providers should allow customers to play the *entire* song a limited number of times for free. 30-second snippets are not enough time to hear an artist's work, and they also encourage the short hit single format.

5) The internet is the only place to find music.

For music lovers, these are hard times. There are few stores that are devoted exclusively to music. For jazz and classical music, one local Borders book store has a decent selection. For urban gospel music I have to go to the local Lifeway bookstore, and they don't carry anything except the latest releases. Stores like Best Buy only carry the latest releases of major artists. For older, established artists, only "Best of" titles are carried. No stores carry "underground" artists or progressive rock groups.