With the release of Adele’s
long awaited “25”, there’s been a rash of stories about whether both can save
or revive the ailing music industry and while “25” is likely to sell millions
of copies, be assured that the music industry will still be in need of saving.
Stories about what or who
will save the music industry miss the crucial point that nothing and no one
will save the music industry outside of the music industry itself. These stories
can talk about the release of “25” supposedly “breaking the music industry” but
all “25” looks set to do is break the bank account of Adele and her record
label XL recordings.
To be sure, “25” selling
millions of records will represent a win for the music industry in an age where
a great deal of artists struggle to make it into six figures but that win stops
where Adele and XL recordings ends and the rest of the music industry begins.
Adele’s sales can’t heal or even mask the slow decline of the industry that has
struggled in the digital era and that trend looks set to continue for the same
reason windows 10 can’t and won’t save the PC.
There been plenty of words
expended on stories that saw music streaming companies like Pandora and Spotify
as the music industry’s savior but a closer look has revealed that Spotify and Pandora
are anything but. This isn’t particularly because Spotify and Pandora aren’t honest
brokers, it’s that Spotify and Pandora are neither large enough nor even
inclined to pull it off. Music streaming companies have been great for the
music industry as they’ve discouraged music piracy by providing a much better experience
for music fans and consumers to find and explore music. They also provide data
for artists and labels to get a read on their audience but if Spotify and Pandora
plan to stay in business, that’s about as far as they can go regarding saving
the music’s industry’s skin.
However, despite music
streaming companies being a force for good in the music industry, they’re a key
factor as to why the music industry needs saving in the first place. XL
recordings still make millions from Adele’s last album “21” and looks like it’s
about to earn another payday with “25” with Sony and retailers forecasting the
album to sell more than a million copies in the first week. However, even XL
aren’t safe from music streaming companies such as Spotify eating into cd sales
and downloads with the label reporting a significant fall in turnover and
profits with their turnover falling to £26m from £37.4m and their profits
slipping to £7m from £12.3 million[1].
Very few majors never mind
independent labels have artists selling millions of records which make the long
term contraction of the music market more pronounced as far as their bottom line
is concerned. This affects artists as the vast majority don’t make money from
their music and are largely of the opinion that they’ve been shortchanged by
music streaming companies (particularly Apple and Spotify) and their labels.
The reason why we even see
the explosion of “will ______ save the music industry” stories is because the music
industry has lost total control over how its core product is consumed and
distributed well before Napster and a pushy Apple CEO came along. In sum, an
album selling well is great for artist who created, the label that backed them,
and the retailers and platform who’ll make a killing but for obvious reasons, a
commercially successful is not enough to save an industry.
[1] A.
Lawson, 2015, XL Recordings profits hit by falling CD sales despite success of
Jack White, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/xl-recordings-profits-hit-by-falling-cd-sales-despite-success-of-jack-white-a6728931.html
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