From vinyls to tapes and finally CD’s, music has evolved immensely. However, possibly the greatest and most significant development so far has been the growth of digital online music sales.
So, why are online sales so popular? What does this development mean for retail and physical CD sales?
Obviously, convenience has become an important element of society and is one that is now expected. Therefore, music buyers would prefer to purchase music from the comfort of their own homes, rather than travel to their closest music store to buy a physical copy of a CD. This trend has meant that, where buyers used to be inclined to purchase the entire album in order to get a single song, now physical album sales have dropped and individual digital sales have increased. Online music has also lent rise to piracy issues, as music buyers feel that they are entitled to get their music for a cheap price or for free. This is limiting the income of artists who do not benefit as significantly from people downloading their music.
So, in summary, online sales create a convenience element of music download, which no longer exists in the purchase of physical albums.
With the contribution of testing financial and economic times, people are less inclined to want to spend their limited funds on purchasing a luxury such as music. Therefore, music retail stores not only feel the pressure of economic hardships, but they are also losing business from individuals who are becoming less inclined to purchase music through retail stores or legal means.
Check out the interesting proof of the massive extent of which digital media sales have trumped the sales statistics of physical sales over the past 16 years.
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