Quote:
Originally Posted by MrsJoseph
I have an example - I'd love to hear you guys take on it.
I have a friend who is a full time indie singer/entertainer. She isn't huge, no mega hits, recording contracts or anything, but she was making enough money between CD/singles sales and gigs to help support her family. She has/had a rather dedicated following in her genre for over 10 years now. She has numerous fans on facebook, twitter, etc.
A few years ago (I think 4?) she started noticing her CD/singles sales dropping, a little at a time each month but steady. She found out that her music was being pirated but it didn't bother her too much as she has a loyal following. She hoped to get additional fans from it, to be honest.
In the last few years her CD/singles sales have dropped dramatically but her gigs attendance has increased somewhat but not enough to make up for the difference.
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I think that the key bits are:
- she's a genre singer
- she's had a loyal following for about 10 years
- her CD sales have dropped in the last 4 years
- her gig attendance has increased somewhat
If she's a genre singer, then she's dependent upon people wanting to hear that particular genre. If that genre is out-of-fashion, dedicated new fans are going to be hard to come by. People might like a song or two, but not enough to pay for a CD.
Her "loyal following" is starting to age. A decade into things, real life circumstances change and financial priorities may shift.
I think that everyone's CD sales have dropped in the last four years, due to both the economy and the increased ability to buy single-song MP3's for a reasonable price. I know that I've rarely bought an actual CD in the past few years; I just buy the individual songs I want or buy and MP3 album from Amazon.
Some people also reach a point where they're more interested in hearing their old favorites rather than new songs from their favorite artists, so they go to the live shows to hear them and relive the glory days. So much of liking a particular bit of music or an artist, I think, is hearing them for the first time when you were precisely in the right mood to be moved by their music.
I consider myself a big fan of Jimmy Buffett and Bruce Springsteen, but I haven't bought any of their recent albums, nor have I attended their recent concerts. I just mentally reached a point where I felt that I had given them enough of my money, where the new songs they were putting out didn't have the same emotional resonance to me. It was a matter of prioritizing my expenditures and they didn't make the cut.
You describe her as being
"a full time indie singer/entertainer...She isn't huge, no mega hits, recording contracts or anything...". She's apparently never attracted the attention of people who could have boosted her career up a few levels for whatever reason, so isn't it also possible that she's just run her course in her chosen field? That she's gotten all of the money and attention and fame that she's ever going to garner? It's rare that an entertainer can make a life-long living as such. Perhaps her shelf-life is just expiring.
She may have lost some sales due to downloads of her music, but just from your description of her, it sounds to me like the people who would have downloaded her music are the curious ones, not necessarily people who would have actually paid money for a CD, so there's really no way of judging how much she's really been affected.
I think that there are too many variables in her particular situation to use her as an example of someone whose career has taken a downward turn strictly due to copyright infringement.
Don't know about the rest of you, but back in the day, I would buy a CD if I liked just one song on it. Now, for me to buy a CD or an entire MP3 CD, I've got to like most of the music on it to justify buying it.