Where is the Music Industry Heading?

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Where has the music industry been in the past few years? Even worse, where is it headed? Every year, sales seem to keep slipping, and more artists are losing motivation. What can we do as consumers? For one, we can write articles and act to help generate a movement, and make people aware of the problem. We can also buy more CDs, especially now that certain retailers are selling for below $10. If you prefer to download digitally, that can be done as well. Throughout the article, you can find various resources which will help consumers do their part to save the music industry.

Our economy is consumer driven, and we are in quite a recession. Therefore, all types of industries are going south; music being one of the many. So the first thing we can do to help is spread the word. Why should we care about saving the music industry? For one, we don't want new artists like Soulja Boy gaining confidence in their "singing" abilities. Music is also one of our main productivity and confidence boosters. If we didn't have good music, how much tougher would it be to get things done? Lastly, most independent music artists don't rake in enough money to make a living, and they will be stuck there until they get discovered. With the current state of the music industry, it looks like we will be dealing with situations like these for a long time. Only the consumer can do something about it.

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Full Article:

http://relevantreviews.net/showthread.php?t=4822

What do you think? Seeing as this is a file sharing forum, a lot of you may disagree with the author, but how long can this keep going on before a serious meltdown? Or has the meltdown already begun?

the bands that are in it for the money usually suck, i think music in general is going along fine. fuck the industry, i'm all for it going to shit

Some one wrote in that thread you linked to that the consumers have to "do their part" to keep the music industry afloat, as if the consumer has a duty to provide for the music industry, or anyone but themselves for that matter. The truth is: they don't, and shouldn't.

So, the love of music isn't mitigating; the willingness to pay for it is.

Consumers will support the industry to the degree that the industry provides the best service. They don't, and the industry must either adapt and succeed or stagnate and fail. I'm sure they'll adapt, but only as a last resort... as we all know they are trying effortlessly to suppress the world-wide piracy pandemic.