According to research conducted by The British Recorded Music Industry (BPI), physical sales of music singles and albums in compact disk (CD) format from commercial properties have continued to decrease for the fifth consecutive year.
The results show that although CD copies of albums have continued to fall over the last five years, people still do prefer to own an album in a CD format as they continue to have the market share with over 75 per cent.
Speaking of the album findings, Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive of BPI, expressed: “The most encouraging news of the year is the strong backing consumers are giving to the digital album format. British music fans understand that the album remains the richest way to connect with an artist’s work. Digital developments grab the headlines, but the CD remains hugely popular with consumers, accounting for three-quarters of album sales. Physical ownership is important to many fans and the CD will be a key element of the market for years to come.”
Sales of CD singles in commercial properties had less than a one per cent share of the market in 2011, and judging by the statistics over the last five years, this is only set to get worse this year.
Philip Buxton, a digital media consultant, stated that the industry must learn from the ever changing music consumer behaviour, rather than trying to change the shopping way of life: “People now buy the individual songs they like rather than buying the whole album because they like a single. So they might buy the single and then use services like Spotify and Lastfm to listen to the other tracks and are then much more selective about what they purchase. The implication for the record industry is that they need to embrace this new model rather than fight it.”
However, changing of consumer habits cannot be the only factor affecting music sales in commercial properties. According to Mr Taylor, the Government is taking too long to help combat piracy: “Other countries take positive steps to protect their creative sector, our Government is taking too long to act on piracy, while weakening copyright to the benefit of US tech giants. The UK has already fallen behind Germany as a music market. Unless decisive action is taken in 2012, investment in music could fall again – a creative crunch that will destroy jobs and mean the next Adele may not get her chance to shine on the world stage.”
The Government’s plan is to gather a list of offenders’ addresses from their internet service providers (ISPs). The ISPs will then send the offender a letter explaining how they can avoid downloading music illegally. The letter would not chase any payments, it would simply offer advice. Speaking of the plan, a spokesperson for the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), stated: “We will continue to work with industry on how they can better tackle online piracy but this is not an issue that ISPs or rights holders alone can deal with. All elements of the internet industry – payment companies, advertisers, search engines, ISPs and rights holders – need to play their part in tackling unlawful activity online.”
Do you prefer to download music, rather than buy a CD from a retail commercial property? Do you think sales of CD singles will disappear forever over the next few years? Like us, we will have to wait for BPI’s report next year.
