The June 28th issue of Rolling Stone magazine had a brief feature on the continuing decline of the recording industry. They published a list of the top ten best selling albums of 2000 compared to 2006. The 10th most popular album of 2000 (Destiny's Child) outsold last year's number 1 best selling album (High School Musical: Soundtrack) by almost 100,000 units. Shit is not looking good for record companies.
In looking at what used to sell and what sells now, I am beginning to put together a theory. My theory is based on a several posits:
1) Increased use of downloading services has negatively affected record sales
2) The music industry has not experienced a significant stylist paradigm shift in the last decade
3) People's tastes have not improved
Facts: In 2000, the year's best selling records included significant pop releases (N'Sync, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys and the aforementioned Destiny's Child), crossover hip-hop albums (Eminem, Dre, and Nelly) and safe "dad-rock" (Creed, Santana's Supernatural, the Beatles "1" compilation)
In 2006 however, the top selling records were much different. Two 'tween soundtracks (HS Musical and Hannah Montana), three country albums (Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood, and Dixie Chicks) and some "red-state rock" (Nickleback, Hinder). There are the usual pop crossovers, such as Beyonce, Justin, and James Blunt, but if we agree on my posits then it isn't that different kinds of music are being made or have become popular but instead that people are simply stealing the records they once bought.
Cable-internet penetration is slimmest in the midwest and south where the concentration of Nickleback and Rascal Flatts fans is the greatest.
If we are to accept the troubling suggestion that people with more modern tastes are also the sorts of people who are technologically inclinced (toward piracy?!?) then we must accept that eventually the biggest selling albums in America will be only sountracks appealing to kids too young to use file-sharing ("Mom, why can't I use the computer?" Because of pedophiles, Virginia) and country/dumb rock which appeals to the computer illiterate.
Having just come out of two weeks with my younger sister, I have to say your comment about the kids is dead-on. I was blown away by the consumer potential that the Disney Channel has tapped into. My sister knew EVERY WORD to all the shows theme songs.
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