Joined: Apr 2001 Posts: 121,384PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
King Crimson - SimHQ's Top Poster
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 121,384
Miami, FL USA
At this point it's irrelevant anyway (at least in the US) since over 70% of the consumer music market is now streaming. MP3/digital sales have been plummeting as well as CD sales.
LP's are a misleading story because while sales of LP's have actually increased modestly over the past few years it is still a very small segment of the total market. It's currently around 3-5 percent of the total market share. So yes it is a growing segment but it's a growing NICHE segment.
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
LPs might be nice, but a proper album must be produced to go along with them. They're okay as singles, but album making seems to be a lost art, with rare exceptions. Stuff like Alan Parsons Project, Pink Floyd's "The Wall" or David Byrne's madness are a thing of the past--which is a shame, because a good, cohesive album is a righteous experience.
One album that stands out over the last five or so years, if I can call it an album, but is surely thematic, is Lazerhawk's "Skull and Shark."
I wrote the last third of my most recent novel with this coursing through my ears and mind. Quite moving.
However, the aforementioned Alan Parsons Project had a wonderful knack with putting together brilliant, thematic LPs. One of my favorites:
Of course, the situation is probably a bit different in other countries.
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
I think the main point of the video is not that the itunes app is going away/evolving (as Dart explained). The point of the video was more about the MP3 format rapidly dropping off in popularity. Most people no longer "purchase" music. It's all about a subscription to stream music. I still buy music I really like, but I have to admit that on those months where I want to buy more than one MP3 album, I can't help that think for $10 that month I could listen to as many of those albums as often as I want.
I'm 37, and even in my age group most people I know stream music and rarely buy anything. I have some younger employees, and they simply don't buy music. It's all streaming.