In 1979 the English musician Bruce Woolley published a single called “Video Killed the Radio Star”, a song in which is described the delicate passage that music was facing at that time, leaving the radio and moving into the tv.
In the same way, it’s easy to draw a parallel with the trend that the way we enjoy music is undertaking.
Do you actually remember the last time you bought a CD in a music shop? Music is perhaps the most drastically affected industry by digital disruption. An accurate overview of the recorded music’s revenues is described in the Global Music Report 2019 published by IFPI[i]. Starting from 2001, we assisted year after year to a constant decrease in physical sales that was accompanied by the disruptive input of streaming services. It’s relevant how the last year’s picture tells us that streaming’s revenues even doubled the physical ones.
But where did this liquid music trend originate? There can be found several explanations. First of all, the today’s customer is extremely exigent and demanding. If coming across good music, he prefers to buy and immediately have it in his mobile with one tap instead of having to go to music shops (that are slowly fading away). This is especially due because of the always more convenient offers that major music streaming services like Spotify and Google Play Music are offering. And concerning these latter, there is one competitive advantage that clearly makes the difference: paying a monthly or annual fee, you basically have access to any song at any time.
However, despite of the overall physical music revenue’s decrease, is relevant to notice how the vinyl’s sales are currently increasing[ii]. Apart from some music icons like Pink Floyd, there are several current artists deciding to invest also in the very first form of CD. This is the case of the rockstar Liam Gallagher, whose first debut album “As You Were” released in 2017 is the most vinyl sold in one week in more than 20 years[iii].
To conclude, in my opinion, the digital disruption lead music to a no-return point. Streaming services will still be the most profitable source of the sector in the long run. However, the customer experience that comes from buying an album in a shop and playing it on a stereo in something still enjoyed by few customers and that only the compact disc is able give. And fortunately some artists and record label are aware of that.
[i] https://ifpi.org/news/IFPI-GLOBAL-MUSIC-REPORT-2019
[ii] https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewleimkuehler/2019/01/07/vinyl-sales-grow-2018-buzzangle-beatles-kendrick-lamar-queen-album-sales/#5d06650775aa
[iii] https://thevinylfactory.com/news/liam-gallagher-debut-vinyl-sales-record/
Hi Francesco,
Interesting topic and I agree with you. You mention that streaming platforms are a cheaper alternative, compared to CD’s. Besides that, you mention the easiness of those online platforms. I completely agree with you on those parts. However, I wanna add another reason. Personally speaking a huge advantage of these streaming services are the personalization features that these services offer, by using your previous streaming history. For example, Spotify provides you recommendations to what to “discover weekly” and you don’t have to miss out any song with the “release radar”. For me this is the customer experience that I want to have.
So in the end I have to agree with you. In my opinion the streaming services are way ahead compared to buying CD’s. That’s why the digital disruption is at a no-return point.