We Buy Music Too!

I am a web designer of a certain age . . . to old to be considered Generation X and yet, too young to be considered old. I am certainly beyond the age that most pop music is written for. It seems that for the better part of a decade and more, the music industry has been laser focused on the 15-25 year old demographic. Sadly, the music industry "powers that be" seem blissfully ignorant of an enormous adult audience eager to purchase good music, of all genres . . . if only it were being sold!

Susan Boyle, the Scottish You Tube sensation is certainly not an artist that can be marketed to the 15-25 year old pop-music generation. Yet, according to the New York Times, her debut album sold 701,000 copies in the first week. a better opening week than music veterans like Eminem and U2. In fact, no other album has had higher record sales in the first week for the past 16 years!

Here is something else the faltering music industry should take note of: 94% of her album sales in the US were cd's, not digital downloads! Interestingly, music CD sales dropped by over 16% last year alone. Why? Is it really due to the adoption of downloadable music alone? Or, could it be that the generally dismal quality of music and artists being pumped out today is being rejected by a savvy adult audience? Speaking for myself, the music industry stopped selling a product I would be eager to buy years ago!