Music Industry Kiling the Single? (1 Viewer)

[RicP]

A great article at Cnn.com about how the music industry is essentially alienating potential music buyer -- especially kids -- by forcing them to buy an entire CD for just 1 or 2 songs.
I agree totally.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/Musi....ap/index.html

 

[Martin Fontaine]

I've been following the British Charts for the last few years, and I can tell you, by what I read, singles are a lot more popular over there than here. I import them for music videos on the CD-ROM portion mainly and sometimes remixes are cool. But Full-Length albums are what I listen to most of the time.

NP: Alisha's Attic - Air & Angels (From Illumina [1998] - Legal MP3)

 

[BrianB]

The singles chart in the UK was rumoured to be in terminal decay a few years ago, it has to be said. The BPI changed the rules on what counted as a 'single' to try & boost sales though. They allowed record companies to choose their formats instead of needing: 7",12",CD,Tape. This led to the *widespread* use of 2CDs, which meant more exclusive B-Sides, remixes & now videos on those two CDs which appeals to fans. Combined with widespread promotional discounting in the first week in chart shops, this pushes up the sales.

AFAIK, you don't really see the widespread discounting on singles over here in the US that you do in the UK.

NP: "Mary" by Boingo

 

[TheoGB]

That pretty much sums up the average music fan's feeling about the British charts.
Sorry, but they're screwed up here totally. It only takes 10's of 1000s for a single to make number 1 mostly (unless its backed by a TV series/tragic event :rolleyes).
I believe the average age of the single buyer is supposed to be 13. 13!!! That's with some much older people buying singles. Now how many 13 year olds do you know with taste? Exactly.
Not all stores are even elligable for chart sales so Indie singles don't really sell.
2CDs and the ability to discount singles to loss-making value is one of the reasons that it stinks here. And most times you don't get obscure b-sides: just really bad remixes.

 

[BrianB]

2CDs and the ability to discount singles to loss-making value is one of the reasons that it stinks here. And most times you don't get obscure b-sides: just really bad remixes

I dunno, unless it's changed radically in the last 12 months, it's usually one CD with b-sides, one CD with remixes.

 

[Mike Broadman]

I'm sorry, but I have no sympathy for a band or artist that can't come up with more than 10 minutes of material to make a full album worth purchasing. 2 good songs, and the rest as filler? There's a reason people won't buy the album.
However, if the record companies refuse to release a single, they shouldn't be so upset when people download the songs off the internet.
I'm no expert, but it seems to me that record companies can do a few obvious things to cut losses and boost their profit margins (or, in some cases, make any profit at all):
1. Stop putting all their eggs in one basket. Smaller marketing for more bands. This makes income more valuable, and they don't have to rest their hopes on one album making billions (Mariah Carey, etc).
2. Lower CD prices.
3. Market towards adults. After all, they're the ones that have money.
Uch, record companies.

 

[Seth Paxton]

As much as I think the artists deserve the money for their work, I agree that the record companies have a lot to do with driving online downloading.

I still buy good albums, but not ones with just one decent song. I don't get the single industry in the CD era. They are almost always cost prohibitive for what you get.

 

[Kevin J Willis]

I think it's real sad what is happening to the single.Every hit song should be released as a single. This is the reason people download free music of the internet, I think.

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

This has been happening for years. I would pick up CD singles from my favorite bands, assuming that there was at least one B-side/previously unreleased track. Yes, I imagine it's also a way to milk the fans since most CD singles cost something ridiculous like $6 or $7, which encourages buying the album in the first place.

What I have never understood is when promo singles get released but are never made available commercially. Talk about creating a market for downloads, etc. For example, when Kelly Willis' last album was released in '99, Rykodisc released a promo single with a track from the album and a previously unreleased track (which is still unavailable otherwise, as far as I know since the Big Star tribute album it was supposed to be on never materialized). I posted a question on the label's message board asking when it might be made available to consumers and if not, how I could reasonably obtain one (as opposed to the ridiculous prices at the time on eBay). The answer was surprisingly harsh, taking me and others like me to task for supporting such sales on online auctions, which made a commercial single release for them unprofitable. Sounded kind of strange considering the record company was the one creating the demand by making exclusive material available only as a promotional CD.

Hmm, I guess I kind of got off the topic at hand...

 

[TheoGB]

dunno, unless it's changed radically in the last 12 months, it's usually one CD with b-sides, one CD with remixes.

Well if we're talking a band that does have b-sides that's often true. These days you get the multimedia stuff. But with you S Club 7s and so forth you aren't really getting much.
And the standard single price here is £4, £3 is you buy it on release week and the artist isn't too popular to begin with.

 

[BrianB]

And the standard single price here is £4, £3 is you buy it on release week and the artist isn't too popular to begin with

Ah. Last time I was in the UK, it was 4ukp normal price, discounted to 2ukp on the week of release, meaning you could pick up both for the 'regular' price. Times change.