Data Display of the Day: Everything You Need to Know About 2013 Music Sales

Driving to work today, I realized just how long it’s been since I purchased a piece of physical music, whether CD or vinyl. It isn’t that I don’t love music, it’s just that Spotify and other streaming sites have now become my dominant vehicle for listening to and exploring music. Through sites like Spotify and Pandora, I’ve discovered artists I would have otherwise only learned about from my local record shop, Park Ave. Cds. Because it’s so much easier to simply stream the artist and because these sites provide me with similar artists and a plethora of information on the artists folks are listening to know, I don’t see myself going back to the days of perusing through hundreds of albums and cds, listening patiently to the radio to hear my favorite song, or even buying albums digitally. The impact of streaming is the main focus of today’s infographic, “Everything You Need to Know About 2013 Music Sales.” Some interesting takeaways from this infographic:

• There’s been a 32% increase in streaming from 2012 to 2013 and a 6% decrease in album sales.
• In 2013, there were 118 billion music streams, which would have meant 59 million in album sales.
• R&B and Rap were the only two genres that saw an increase in album sales in 2013.
• People are buying more vinyl now than they have in the past, but overall vinyl sales only accounted for 2% of the industry.

Check out the infographic, created by Rolling Stone, below and the accompanying article from Daily Infographic by clicking the image.

 

 

TED Talk of the Day: Amanda Palmer and the art of asking

If you aren’t familiar with the Dresden Dolls and Amanda F***ing Palmer, you will be after this moving talk. Palmer is the lead singer and siren of this truly under-appreciated band. Palmer’s message is timely–the music industry is at an impasse: either it moves back to the roots of music and performance and honors the immediate sharing of experience between artist and fan or it continues to alienate listeners and consumers by placing the focus on quantity over quality (which is akin to putting a bandaid on a torn carotid artery). Palmer’s solution is to focus on the direct artist/fan relationship. Fans, Palmer believes, can support artists, as an artists supports a fan’s personal growth through experience. Watch Palmer nail the TED Commandment, “thou shalt not flaunt thine own ego” in this inspirational talk!