Nielsen Soundscan 1% Rise in Music Album Sales - Greg Sandoval's FireStarter

There’s music in the sighing of a reed;

There’s music ion the gushing of a rill;

There’s music in all things, if men had ears:

Their earth is but an echo of the spheres.

Byron, Don Juan, XV

It seems that the Local Music Industry, which has taken a lot of flack from yours truly especially as it relates to the quality of Music et al as stated in my blog article entitled “Jamaican Music Industry 2 Years post-Ban - How Artiste and Booking Agents Launder Money”, may be seeing a curious uptick among it North American cousins.

This with the recently published results by analyst Nielsen SoundScan that indicate a 1% increase in U.S. Album sales for the six (6) month period ending July 2011AD as stated in the article “Nielsen SoundScan: Album sales inching up”, published JULY 6, 2011 4:01 PM PDT by Greg Sandoval, Media Maverick - CNET News.

RIAA (Recording Industry Artiste Association) 's CEO Mitch Bainwold, puts it into perspective, quote: “We're still an Industry that is hard hit by digital theft and half the size it was ten years ago. There's probably no one single reason (for the rise in sales), but improved marketing efforts ...and antipiracy successes like the closure of LimeWire have helped.”

This confirms news earlier in April 2011AD here in Jamaica Ring tones of the uptick in Music sales, particularly Digital Music and its use in Ringtones as stated in the article “Digital Music Sales up - Marley dominates local ring tone charts”, published Friday, April 08, 2011 by Steven Jackson, Observer staff Reporter, The Jamaica Observer.

Bob Marley getting most of the love on the Telecom Provider’s Networks heading the cattle drive for revenue from Music. Albeit not Album sales it is an indicator of possibly similar trend here in Jamaica, with a detailed study required to confirm a replicability of the Nielsens SoundScan’s results here in Jamaica.

For an Industry accustomed to doom and gloom news, this mere 1% uptick in Album sales is a shocker, as the usual scapegoat, piracy, seems to not be in play. This as, from an anecdotal point of view, people opt to download singles and make their own Music playlists, often due to the poor quality of Music, which is no enticement to buy an Album, be it in digital download or Physical Disc format.

The extent of the Music Recording Industry can be seen from the graph below, as I personally had no idea that so many means of distribution existed for Music.

It may have to do with continued US Government crackdown on piracy in 2010AD, led by Senator Joe Biden, in a bid to extract sales tax from online purchases by discouraging copyright infringement and encouraging legitimate purchases as stated in my blog article entitled “UWI and Piracy - The Real Pirate Bay” and the article “UWI and Piracy - Release the Kraken”.

Analyst NPD had reported the percentage of online users downloading music via P2P services in the fourth quarter of 2010 was 9%, a significant decrease when compared to the corresponding period in 2007AD where it was at 16% as stated in the article “Study: LimeWire demise slows music piracy”, published MARCH 23, 2011 5:47 AM PDT by Greg Sandoval, Media Maverick - CNET News. So their efforts are beginning to bear fruit!

This has now culminated in what is effectively a “six strikes you’re out” joint pact between Triple Play Provider Comcast, Triple Play Provider Time Warner, Telecom Provider AT&T and Telecom Provider Verizon in what is called the Copyright Alert System as chronicled in my blog article entitled “Telecom Providers and Copyright Alert System - Pirates on Stranger Tides experience Pain au chocolat”.

It is similar to the French Plan as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Digital Video and Music Piracy – A Land grab for Taxes on the Internet” as well as my blog article entitled “Telecom Providers and Piracy - After the Fox and the French Connection”.

French and High Authority for Dissemination of Works and Protection of Rights on the Internet (Hadopi) send warnings to high volume downloaders of Copyright Infringing Intellectual Property effectively The French Connection (1971) to the action being taken by the Americans! 

The French plan is a bit more harsh, however, with the threat of blacklisting and permanent disconnection from the Internet on the third infraction and a fine as stated in the article “France launches warning to web pirates”, published Monday October 4, 12:13 pm ET, AFP, Yahoo! News.

Thus this uptick in Album sales may, really and truly, be nothing more that the Millennials [ages 18 to 28], who are addicted to the Internet and Social Networking, which is their main portal for sharing Copyright Infringing content, getting scared out of their wits at a future prospect of being blacklisted from accessing the Internet due to the crackdown which began earlier in 2010AD.

The young ‘uns, just as they have begun to adopt Analog Photography as stated in my blog article entitled “Analog Photography a hit with Millennials - Digital Cameras in Katy Perry's Teenage Dream”, may also be returning to the physical formats for distributing Digital Video and Music content for the reasons as stated in my blog article entitled “Netflix & the Death of Blu-Ray - Rise of the Machines meets Chicken Run”.

This seeing as their free and organized means of downloading, such as Napster and Limewire have been taken down as stated in the article “What's driving rise in Music sales?”, published JULY 10, 2011 4:00 AM PDT by Greg Sandoval, Media Maverick - CNET News.

After all, the Physical discs, albeit old fashioned stuff, like Analog Photography, has better quality in terms of presentation and Audio Quality. The Baby Boomers lament breaks into praise “The young ‘uns do have good taste in Music quality after all!!”; a truism, as MP3’s with a sampling rate of 128kbps don’t sound all that great on your Stereo system with its five (5) high end speakers, subwoofers and tweeters.

The comment of NPD Senior analyst Ross Crupnick explains this phenomenon: “The cataclysmic drop in CD buyers may have stopped. Between the years 2006 to 2009, the number of CD buyers dropped by around 20 million. We talk about young people and the lost generation but some of these younger Music buyers are telling us ‘I want that thing I can hold, the liner notes and Album cover and the other ancillary materials that come with physical products’.”

Finally, after being scared by the U.S. Government crackdown and suddenly developing a love for physical formats, the MPP (Magical Pricing Point) of US$9.99 that Apple iTunes made standard on all its Albums has begun to work its “magic” on young people, who by the way are willing to spend online once the price is right.

This as a December 2010AD Pew Study hailing out of Harvard in the article “Study: So people do pay for online content”, published December 30, 2010 7:43 AM PST by Lance Whitney, Digital Media - CNET News suggested that people are wiling to make online purchases.

A baseline of one thousand (1000) people conducted from October 28^th 2010 to November 1^st 2010, it revealed that of the seven hundred and fifty (750) Internet users, 65% of them spent online, with about 43% averaging US$10 per purchase.

Put simply, price Music Albums below US$10 and introduce a “taste and buy” model or Freemium model as chronicled in my blog article entitled “Spotify and Freemium in the cloud - Shake, Rattle and Roll love for Internationals”, the reason behind Spotify success in the Music Industry over the past two (2) years, and Music Album sales in both Digital and Physical disc formats would start moving again and continue this 1% of CNET News Editor Greg Sandoval’s Firestarter (1984) of Album sales among Millennials.

Marmaduke from Hastings Entertainment puts it best, quote: “When you're competing with rampant piracy, the best way to combat it is to lower prices”. Something that cash strapped Millennials in college can certainly agree on – pay up or be banned from the Internet for life!!

A follow-up article on this trend tracking this phenomenon as it spontaneously bursts into flames Firestarter (1984) Style will be coming in a later Geezam Blog article. Stay tuned….