I like your observation of a topic of interest but your journalistic rigor is lacking. You’ve clearly got a spark of passion for writing, let’s see the next submission a bit better researched!

I take on board what each of you has said, and yes maybe the money-men are leaving the industry and it has become easier for people like myself to produce and album and get it out on the market.

I would stand by my point, however, that with the greater diversity this situation gives rise to, our ability to identify with an artist’s work will become more and more strained. There will be more choice and subsequently less reason to bear with the odd track here that we disliked on first listen, but grew to love over time.

Anyway, I’ve re-read the article, and it does seem to have this overly cynical tone! As with most things in life, I would say the future is both good and bad for creating and distributing music.

As for my sources, you can try this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7206837.stm.

Si

There are more things to consider than the figures you have looked at. When you say music sales are on the wane, where are your figures coming from? Bare in mid that iTunes has made music more accessible to most of the population and given rise to many more sales, however the cost of buying music from there is much cheaper, so it less money gets spent if you look from one perspective.

Equally, as a “budding songwriter” you should realise that all that really does bode well for you. Your chances of becoming successful in major label terms haven’t changed. What iTunes DOES mean, is that you can now just put an album together and put it on iTunes – there it is ready for someone to buy. Hurrah, surely!?

The truth is, music IS becoming more diverse, yes the iPod has an effect for the regular, non-music-obsessed folk – it allows them to hear lots of music. Surely yo’d have to be a Philistine to want rid of that. For the more discerning listener, music has returned to the underground. Downloads mean that independant record labels are rife again, far more easily able to access their audience. The underground lives and breathes as never before.

Also, you are ill-informed about albums. Firstly, singles are what came first. The original studios used to send them out in droves – Stax, Motown, Studio1 and the like. Singles ARE the charts, which has been the measure of musical success for a very long time. Secondly, where did you research your assumption that peple don’t download whole albums? You certainly didn’t do it with iTunes, Beatport etc figures. And if you asked me I’d tell you I frequently listen to albums in entirety on my iPod, just the same as i pick up the needle form my vinyl deck and skip past the shit tracks on an album.

It doesn’t bode well for the Record Industry as a whole but it doesnt mean that you cant still make a decent living from touring, innovative merchandising, broadcast royalties etc. Business is brand-driven and as long as that is the case, artistic popularity will generate money, you just have to a bit savvy in making sure you get your share

There has never been a better time for an artist to get there music out to the general public. The tools necessary to record music are widely available for free in the same way that the music is. The meritocracy is coming back to music communities and the money-men are leaving. All these things are, in my opinion, extremely exciting.