It doesn't matter in which field you are working in, it is always extremely important to know your market.
The music industry is the most competitive market out there, it is always rapidly changing and is known for it's backstabbing deals. So, if you don't watch out, you can easily be lost in the hay stack. I have always said that the music industry is an upside-down market. When demand is high prices are low, the main products (albums & singles) are mainly lucrative promotion items and just in general people tend to think upside down.
2008 was a bizarre year for businesses and the music industry in general. Although we have seen an increase in the fourth quarter on the year before, this was only due to a few big selling albums (Duffy, Take That and Now That's What I Call Music compilations). Six albums sold over a million copies, confirming that music is still central in people lives.
Digital formats have revitalized the singles market and are starting to make an impact on albums as well, but it is apparent that we are still in a period of major transition. Jupiter Research measures industry losses to illegal P2P file sharing at £180m. I am still not convinced this is a total lose and attempts to stop file sharing by punishment, like the one made by Nicolas Sarkozy's government are ridiculous.
Although bad news was heard when the Woolworths Group, Entertainment UK, the distributor Pinnacle and the retailer Zavvi were all to enter administration at the same time more independent labels, artists and online distributors have aroused.
Another exciting thing about this transition is the diversifying ways to access music these days. I am not old enough to remember vinyl as the main format, but I do remember cassettes and still have copies of my old mix-tapes we used to pass around with friends. Throughout my whole life music players have been changing from the Walkman, to Cd players, to mini-discs, to computers, Mp3 players, video games and mobile phones. The Internet allows consumers to access music in thousands of different ways. With Spotify, Datz, Myspace, Last.fm, iTunes, Amazon, 7digital, iLike and Facebook you can virtually find, listen and buy any band you want around the world, anytime, anywhere. How much more exciting can it get?!
Any suggestions on where you think the music industry will go next? Let me know.
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