Why Aren’t Kids These Days Downloading Music?
[Via – Derek Thompson the Atlantic]
“For years the greatest fear of music titans was the pimply masses of teens downloading their artists’ music and sharing it with friends, so that the musicians’ product was proliferating even as the profit margins were shrinking. (Does that kind of thing sound familiar?)
But a new report suggests that illegal music downloading has fallen off more than 60 percent in the last two years, as teens are increasingly turning to streaming sites, such as YouTube, Pandora, Grooveshark and others. As they leave file-sharing behind, is this good news for the music industry?
No, but it’s better bad news than the old bad news. When kids download music from illegal sites, the music industry gets nothing out of it. But streaming sites usually pay back money to the music industry, even if it’s not enough to make up for the foregone album sales. Moreover, the sites register users and can market to them — tickets, gear and more bands. Here’s author Alexandra Topping on the possible benefits of a world of streaming music.” Continue Reading The Atlantic Article
