MUSIC: THE END OF THE ALBUM

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SEMINAL - Highly successful artists have started abandoning albums as a
way to make money. They are now giving away their music for free.
Instead of selling albums, they are concentrating on building their fan
bases, putting out quality art, and making their bread through touring
and merchandising.

First, Prince decided to give away his latest album Planet Earth in
copies of the British tabloid The Mail this past summer. Predictably,
the record industry was scared, with music retailers launching lawsuits
and investigations and pulling Prince's other records from the shelves.

Next, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails urged fans to steal his albums,
saying, "If I could do what I want right now, I would put out my next
album, you could download it from my site at as high a bit-rate as you
want, [and] pay $4 through PayPal."

Finally, Radiohead has told the world that we should pay what we want
for their upcoming album In Rainbows. The album will be available as a
download and users will really be able to name their price, or even pay
nothing at all.

Together, these artists have sold over 55 million albums. They have
dozens of top 10 hits to their names. These artists arguably understand
the record business better than anyone and they've collectively decided
that the album isn't for making money anymore. This isn't an isolated
incident. This is a trend.

Small bands have never made money off albums because they can't get
signed or get a distribution deal. Now, the big guys are foregoing the
album as well, giving up what was once their major source of income. The
fans aren't moaning the loss either, being happy to download content
piecemeal. In short, nobody has a use for albums anymore besides the
record companies. It's pretty clear to anyone following musical trends
that the era of the album is over. The file sharers have won and the era
of free music is upon us.

http://www.theseminal.com/2007/10/02/the-era-of-free-music-is-upon-us/

VARIETY - After nine months, overall sales of albums are down 14% from
last year at 337.3 million albums sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Of that total, 300.6 million were CDs. The number of digitally
downloaded tracks has risen 46% from the same period in 2006 to 612.2
million.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117973246.html?categoryid=16&cs=1

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