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Bonds Are a 'Safe' Investment: A Big Lie Gets Even BiggerWhile these numbers may be impressive for the products of the former Beatles more than 37 years after the band broke up, the music industry slowly and loudly falls apart in self-defeating decline. Luckily, we do not (and frankly cannot) look to The Beatles to save the industry. It's likely the band could not anyhow, despite the potential sales the digital catalog that may one day see light of day might pull in. With the uncertainty of that release on the horizon, all that is left now is the current state of the music industry, but it is not unlike the music industry that The Beatles entered. True, the early 1960s were not a state of decline, but when The Beatles started, the emphasis was not on albums. It was on singles. Is there any difference in the digital tracks that see higher downloads than albums? There might be, but fundamentally there is not.
If The Beatles catalog is ever released it will likely sell the same way many albums today sell. Yes, fans will buy the newest remastered versions from digital stores and relish in the joy of buying a Beatles album in a new way for the first time (akin to 1987's CD versions?), but new listeners (and maybe even some fans) will buy up their favorite tracks, destroying the core albums in the same way that albums are not bought today. Everyone says the album is dying, but in the industry it may never have been meant to be.
We should not be surprised that consumers will cherry-pick their favorite tracks from the Beatles catalog. The 1 album in 2000 was a strong indicator that fans preferred the hits above lengthy outtake compilations. Now though, the phenomenon has taken a stronger root in new releases that are downloaded in higher quantities than the albums they are parts of, and this is nothing new. The music industry is unhappy about it of course, but the consumers call the shots.
When The Beatles burst onto the scene, the seven-inch vinyl record sold in higher quantities. If you can see the translation, that is how it is today, only the seven-inch is replaced by the download. This is not the only phenomenon that worries the industry that used to relish in the fact. According to a recent issue of Rolling Stone (#1029), concert ticket sales hit an all-time high last year. We should not be surprised by that when the 1960s and 1970s seem to be full of concert images and massive stadium tours. The growth since then is obvious, too.
So how do we accept what has happened to the music industry in the 50 years since The Beatles conquered and revolutionized it? Well, the consumer (that's us) looks for the same things the consumer did back then -- we want the music and preferably in the quickest and easiest manner available. Hopefully, it's cheap too. Single track downloads answer that hope for us, but not for the record industry. What seems to have happened, in my opinion, is that the success enjoyed by the record industry in the wake of The Beatles and other bands of the 1960s resulted in the continued repetition of the forces that created the success. That means the album was emphasized and, especially in the United States, the single as we think about it (a la the seven-inch) died. Now the album is dying and we bemoan that fact.
It was destined to happen that way if the model was continually repeated. That same issue of Rolling Stone contains figures about the very drastic difference in sales between 2000 and 2006, which only illustrates the seriousness of the situation. Frankly, let the album die. I love it and many of you may love it too, but we need a healthy record industry that knows its history and is aware of its future and how it can be altered drastically. July 6, 2007 may not be as important for the industry as July 6, 1957 proved to be, but at least we can remember how different the record industry looked then in comparison to the industry when The Beatles broke up in 1970.
When The Beatles burst onto the scene, the seven-inch vinyl record sold in higher quantities. If you can see the translation, that is how it is today, only the seven-inch is replaced by the download. This is not the only phenomenon that worries the industry that used to relish in the fact. According to a recent issue of Rolling Stone (#1029), concert ticket sales hit an all-time high last year. We should not be surprised by that when the 1960s and 1970s seem to be full of concert images and massive stadium tours. The growth since then is obvious, too.
So how do we accept what has happened to the music industry in the 50 years since The Beatles conquered and revolutionized it? Well, the consumer (that's us) looks for the same things the consumer did back then -- we want the music and preferably in the quickest and easiest manner available. Hopefully, it's cheap too. Single track downloads answer that hope for us, but not for the record industry. What seems to have happened, in my opinion, is that the success enjoyed by the record industry in the wake of The Beatles and other bands of the 1960s resulted in the continued repetition of the forces that created the success. That means the album was emphasized and, especially in the United States, the single as we think about it (a la the seven-inch) died. Now the album is dying and we bemoan that fact.
It was destined to happen that way if the model was continually repeated. That same issue of Rolling Stone contains figures about the very drastic difference in sales between 2000 and 2006, which only illustrates the seriousness of the situation. Frankly, let the album die. I love it and many of you may love it too, but we need a healthy record industry that knows its history and is aware of its future and how it can be altered drastically. July 6, 2007 may not be as important for the industry as July 6, 1957 proved to be, but at least we can remember how different the record industry looked then in comparison to the industry when The Beatles broke up in 1970.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-07-2007 @ 9:10AM
Eric said...
It's really unfortunate that things like Sgt. Pepper's and Abbey Road, which were meant to be together, aren't thought of as groups of songs.
However, the most popular and most-purchased tracks are usually those that aren't part of a series- Abbey Road's Come Together, Something, and Here Comes The Sun were all side 1 (I still think, and release my own material, based on sides), while the "song arc" was side 2.