Markham Lee_

CD Sales an Improper Proxy for Measuring Purchased Music Demand

Responding to a couple of comments, thank you for the interest BTW.

1) Around my Jr year of college people would say to each other: "Dude, don't buy that CD - I can send you the MP3s over the network". Than Napster came along and it got even easier to do. When people argue for file sharing, they just want the convenience of free music IMO.

I can see the indie music argument, but it's not like you can browse music on a P2P network, you have to know what you want in advance, so demand is still driven by pop music.

I think Pandora's box has already been opened though, once people can get the product for free and it's seen as having the same value as the paid version. Downloaders don't feel as if they're getting a lesser product when they download Mp3s vs. buy CDs, paid downloads don't help as you're getting an identical product that you can do more with and not paying for it.

2) I think the CD is a dying format as my generation (and younger) prefers the iPod/MP3 player and digital format combination over the physical format and a CD player. As an audiophile I purchase all CDs as I like the superior sound over digital formats, which makes me an oddity amongst people my age. A lot of my friends almost look at it as some sort of throwback hobby, like people who collected Vinyl in the 90s.

I can think of very few people my age who still purchase CDs, and the ones that do are usually audiophiles or people who just haven't embraced the digital world.

The question is: how will the record companies survive in this new world? They're easy to vilify but how many companies can survive people either getting the product for free and/or in a way that's significantly less profitable?