The end is near: Album sales fall to lowest ever in US

[Wild self]

FCC just lost that case this past week y'all better enjoy it while shyt last. These huge companies are basically trying to force us back into old consumer models.

We will have no choice but to buy music and buy movies again. Verizon AT&T ted turner Comcast trying to ruin the internetz

These corporations are basically stupid to think that no one is going to try to hack into shyt and get it for free. They want that old school 20th century money when they failed to adjust to the times.

 

[bouncy]

I disagree that music quality fell off in 2003, I'd say more like 2007 and that's when shyt really hit the fan sales-wise

It was already starting in 2006 but 2007 was when it started going downhill

Ye 50 TI and Hov sold that year but other than that, rappers struggled to go gold

And even 50 and Hov didn't sell anything near what they used to

But other than the 2003 comment I agree with this post

I remember clearly that was when only a few gave quality albums. Now, they weren't wack like 2006 and on, but that was the beginning on a major scale. The beginning of wackness in hip hop albums was 1998 to me. When I say quality went down, I mean less and less albums came out that were consistent in songs that banged. No need to keep pressing forward. In 1996, there were sooooo many albums that banged. Compared to 2003 when it was just a few. 2003 sales got so low mtv made a mini doc on the low sales on how it was effecting rappers who were used to eating good.

When most artists started doing the "formula" of making a song for the streets, a song for the girls, a song for drug/weed heads, etc. is when things started falling

 

[Wild self]

It was really 2003, and that was when music quality really declined. I noticed the more the music declined, the lower the sales went but instead of accepting this and changing their formulas, record companies still try to catch that quick hit and fail most of the time. Then tried to extort artists with the 360 deals. Pride comes before the fall, and the 360 deals was the pride, we are now seeing the fall. Tv is next.

Music companies will still be around but not the way we see them now. They will be much smaller in employees since singles will be the main thing, and it will be more of them since it will be easier to put out music. The artists who have a strong and consistent output of quality music will be the ones who put out albums, that will sell. And the albums will have different songs from their singles, with a concept(if they are smart).

Serves them right for pushing trash for so damn long.

 

[MartyMcFly]

fools look to tv & radio decide whats good music and we know major record labels dont give a shyt about CREATIVITY and TALENT.They never have but these days its at a all time high and it clearly shows.they are more concerned about what a artist look like more than the music.

if you dont understand that then i dont know what else to tell you.

True but let me play Devil's Advocate: Fans, not us on this board, but regular Joe the fan who listens to top 100, watches the grammys and just likes the beat, do they care about creativity and talent?

 

[Piff Perkins]

CDs have very little value to people. Many local bands have had success selling vinyl and even cassettes, and we've seen larger bands/artists making a similar move. Music is largely disposable today - to many people it's 3 minutes of...whatever. Many people aren't connecting with artists the way they once did. Look at Lady Gaga, who seemed like she was on the top of the world a couple years ago, now is considering a "flop." Where did those fans go? They didn't disappear, they still will attend her concerts but they didn't peep the album. Why?

You have to sell a product in order for people to buy in. Beyonce did something different, and people bought in - they wanted to experience it. The album came with a bunch of videos, behind-the-scenes, shyt, etc. In many ways it was like selling a Blu Ray film packed with features. Which goes back to vinyl: giving people a product, something they can display at their house, something worth owning, is key. A CD is nothing. People open it, put the disk in, and put the disk case wherever - they don't care about reading the small lyrics packet or looking at the small pictures inside.

Hip hop example: Czarface. They released a vinyl/CD combo that came with a comic, art, a pop up, etc

Sold out super fast. They didn't need to go gold or plat, they sold enough to recoup and make a profit, and have another album on the way.

Same applies to non-physical media ie iTunes downloads. If you give people something special, like Beyonce did (note: I haven't listened to the album), people will buy in.

 

[Crakface]

There was only so long labels could shovel shyt in peoples mouths before they gave up on them. The monopoly on the radio destroyed music.

 

[JQ Legend]

I remember clearly that was when only a few gave quality albums. Now, they weren't wack like 2006 and on, but that was the beginning on a major scale. The beginning of wackness in hip hop albums was 1998 to me. When I say quality went down, I mean less and less albums came out that were consistent in songs that banged. No need to keep pressing forward. In 1996, there were sooooo many albums that banged. Compared to 2003 when it was just a few. 2003 sales got so low mtv made a mini doc on the low sales on how it was effecting rappers who were used to eating good.

When people started doing the "formula" of making a song for the streets, a song for the girls, a song for drug/weed heads, etc. is when things started falling

2003 the same year GRODT dropped, and even Beg For Mercy went triple

Black Album sold

Street Dreams platinum

Few other albums that year sold, DMX and Obie Trice and a few others

Budden went gold that year and it was considered a flop, nowadays that's success

2003 was a dope ass year for hip hop

GRODT, Beg For Mercy, Black Album, Cheers, Trap Muzik, Livin Legend, Walk Witt Me, Grand Champ, Street Dreams 2, and a few others

2004 was a dope year for hip hop far as sales and dope albums is concerned

2005 as well

2006 was the first year no classics dropped but it still was a dope year

2007-present was ups and downs with a lot more of the latter and sales deteriorated with the product

 

[Hannibal Fox]

The lack of sampling is killing that OG hip hop sound (NYC, down south soul sampling, etc. ) and all these fruit loop beatmakers nowadays are a dime a dozen. The quality isn't there nearly as much as it was before on major labels.

Because MPC users weren't a dime a dozen or Pro Tools users or Logic users or Reason or Maschine or.......

 

[Flav]

True but let me play Devil's Advocate: Fans, not us on this board, but regular Joe the fan who listens to top 100, watches the grammys and just likes the beat, do they care about creativity and talent?

i cant tell you who truely like or love music but i seen with my own eyes people into trash music just because its on the radio.those are the ones im talking about...the sheep.

 

[bouncy]

2003 the same year GRODT dropped, and even Beg For Mercy went triple

Black Album sold

Street Dreams platinum

Few other albums that year sold, DMX and Obie Trice and a few others

Budden went gold that year and it was considered a flop, nowadays that's success

2003 was a dope ass year for hip hop

GRODT, Beg For Mercy, Black Album, Cheers, Trap Muzik, Livin Legend, Walk Witt Me, Grand Champ, Street Dreams 2, and a few others

2004 was a dope year for hip hop far as sales and dope albums is concerned

2005 as well

2006 was the first year no classics dropped but it still was a dope year

2007-present was ups and downs with a lot more of the latter and sales deteriorated with the product

You just named the albums that sold because that was all that sold, due to being mainstream. They had A LOT of money put behind them. Why do you think Jay-Z rhymed," the only ones selling unites is em, pimp juice, and us" in 2003 when the song was released?. it's because it was true. 50 cent and his little run(excluding grodt) came later in the year but sales were still low compared to the years before then. I will find the mtv doc for you.

In 1996, albums went gold that the mainstream never heard of. Underground singles that were selling 10,000-20,000 with no video or at least getting played on mtv, MAYBE rap city. Record labels started putting so much money into rap because it was selling, and it was selling because it was good. Ask anyone how the money was in the game, and as the years went by, it started drying up. I'm not saying shyt just stopped in 2003, I'm saying that was the turning point to what we see now.

 

[bangedher_wholesquad]

I still think its possible to go plat in a week.

Its crazy how there are a lack of rap stars though.

Budgets got smaller and so did the amount of rap stars.

 

[JQ Legend]

You just named the albums that sold because that was all that sold, due to being mainstream. They had A LOT of money put behind them. Why do you think Jay-Z rhymed," the only ones selling unites is em, pimp juice, and us"? I will find the mtv doc for you.

In 1996, albums went gold that the mainstream never heard of. Underground singles that were selling 10,000-20,000 with no video or at least getting played on mtv, MAYBE rap city. Record labels started putting so much money into rap because it was selling, and it was selling because it was good. Ask anyone how the money was in the game, and as the years went by, it started drying up. I'm not saying shyt just stopped in 2003, I'm saying that was the turning point to what we see now.

Hov spit that line in 2002, I think that was on "Excuse Me Miss"

Could be wrong on the song but it was on BP2

He was referring to the fact they were the only ones going multi plat

No clue why he left Ja out when at that time Ja was selling more than him

That was during a time when going platinum was the norm and gold was a flop if u were mainstream

And I named albums I personally thought was dope and didn't even name all of them, 2003-2005 had some hard ass albums, the top 10 albums of those 3 years would easily beat the top 10 albums from the last 6-8 years

Mid 90s was cool but there weren't a lot of dope albums coming out every year, it was more quality over quantity

late 90s-mid 00's was when you had years that 10+ dope albums came out

Before that it would be like 5 dope albums a year if that

And in those days million dollar record deals were unheard of and artists were not seeing anywhere near the tour money artists today see

 

[bouncy]

Hov spit that line in 2002, I think that was on "Excuse Me Miss"

Could be wrong on the song but it was on BP2

He was referring to the fact they were the only ones going multi plat

No clue why he left Ja out when at that time Ja was selling more than him

That was during a time when going platinum was the norm and gold was a flop if u were mainstream

And I named albums I personally thought was dope and didn't even name all of them, 2003-2005 had some hard ass albums, the top 10 albums of those 3 years would easily beat the top 10 albums from the last 6-8 years

Mid 90s was cool but there weren't a lot of dope albums coming out every year, it was more quality over quantity

late 90s-mid 00's was when you had years that 10+ dope albums came out

Before that it would be like 5 dope albums a year if that

And in those days million dollar record deals were unheard of and artists were not seeing anywhere near the tour money artists today see

You're not getting what I'm saying. Album sales declined heavily around that time OVERALL. Yeah, you had certain artists who made up for the loss but before that a lot of people were selling. Even though it wasn't multiplatinum, they sold enough to keep the money coming in. In the 2000's only a few were doing this. This is why labels kept trying to find one hit wonders to make up for the loss. You can sell multiplatinum but, if they put millions into you, you better sell that much but your profit can still be low considering how much they spent on you. Jadakiss's first album is the perfect example of this. He spent a million on that album(well he had a million dollar budget), and sold platinum but, that wasn't good enough considering how much was spent on him. That was less money to be spent on other artists. If it wasn't for "why" making some noise on his second album, we wouldn't have heard from him in a minute. Back in the 90's, the overhead was low so they made money. Very few people were getting million dollar deals. I'm talking about the genre as a whole not just a few.

Here is a chart showing the change. It's dealing with napster though, but watch the change, around 2003/2004 is when it dipped big:
http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/02/news/companies/napster_music_industry/

 

[JQ Legend]

I kinda see what u saying, but it wasn't till 2007 that rappers had to be pretty much rap elite status to go platinum but in 2003-2005 platinum was still the norm and not even considered doing numbers like it is now

Even if u look at your chart, 2007-up is exactly where it took a sharp dive and kept falling afterward

Since 2007 only the biggest rappers have touched platinum (TI, Wayne, Hov, 50, Em, Ye) and later on Drake Kendrick and Nicki who are pretty much the new age rap elite

Prior to 07 nikkaz like Yung Joc was going plat

 

[Kobes Two Jerseys]

Put out a shytty product, expect shytty results. Do we need a study on this?