Music Slump 'Not Caused By Piracy' - BBC

According to this article in today's BBC online, music sharing has not been responsible for the downturn in music sales. This won't come as a surprise to readers of Happy Fun Pundit, because we've been saying this for months.

From the article:

Forrester Research, which surveyed 1,000 American online consumers, said it saw no evidence of decreased CD buying among frequent consumers of digital music.

The company's principal analyst, Josh Bernoff, said: "There is no denying that times are tough for the music business, but not because of downloading."

So why is the music business slowing down? Well, Forrester says that it's due to competition from other media and the general downturn in the economy. There's definitely truth in that - DVD sales have been growing at an insane rate, eating into the limited entertainment budgets of the young people who make up the largest CD-purchasing demographic. Digital television and radio offer commercial-free music, and the squealing brakes in my car sound better than Celine Dion. So there is definitely competition.

Which brings us to that all-important suckage factor. Let's face it - most of the music coming out of the record industry today is lifeless, overproduced dreck. The recording industry is starting to realize this, after the Mariah Carey meltdown and the continued fading of Britney Spears' popularity. They recognize the need for more edgy, authentic music.

So of course, they'll try to manufacture it. God forbid they should actually take a chance on someone who IS edgy and authentic. Better to find some 14-year old girl from the suburbs, change her Britney hairstyle to an Alannis grease-bob, and have the professional songwriters on staff whip out some gen-u-ine teen angst lyrics for her to shriek about.

Oh, and best of all, they can sign her to a nice long-term contract and maintain control of their 'asset' until she's a burned out, haggard old lady of say, 19. Then she'll wig out because her hotel room wasn't stocked with red Angolan turtle caviar, and the record company can drop her contract and concentrate on the next robo-talent. In between, they'll continue lobbying Congress for remedies, like making it illegal to walk past a music store without purchasing a CD.

Of course, real talent is still out there, and still selling as well as it ever did. So here's my prescription for the music industry blues: Get yourself a copy of Springsteen's new album "The Rising", put it in your CD player, and turn the volume up to '11'.

You'll be glad you did.