[spellbanisher]

Reading the links provided by Kali Yuga I can't help but notice how insular the music industry seems to be in regards to the economy. They note that from 2004-2009 global music sales declined 30%, and they attribute this decline primarily to piracy.

I can only speak for the perspective of the United States, but when the US economy crashed in 08 the average American was spending 108% of their income, meaning, they were spending more than they were making. If people are already spending more than what they make, how can their be any growth for content industries? Creative content is pretty low on people's list of spending priorities. Income in the United States has been stagnant since 1980. Consumption in the Twenty-First century has been fueled almost entirely by credit. Education has become much more expensive. Food has become more expensive. Fuel has become more expensive. Housing has become more expensive. Yet wages have been stagnant. Twenty first century economic growth in America was largely an illusion supported by short-term credit, except for the top .01 percent of the population, whose earnings have grown exponentially. I forget the name, but an economist once noted that for the vast majority of people economic growth is a spectator sport.

I think the nature of technology, its rapid growth and change, may also have had a detrimental effect on content industries. If we are always buying new expensive gadgets every year--new computers and tvs and phones and music players--we have less money to spend on content. Even now in a recession people are still buying tablets like crazy. I don't expect content industries to grow any time soon, at least not until we have an economic system that provides more purchasing power for people in the middle class.