Should Rap Go Digital? (Blog from StashOnline.com)

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STASHMagazine

STASHMagazine

Sicc OG
#1
Dec 13, 2006
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#1
Blog from: stashonline.com
In these days of declining CD sales, especially hip-hop, why should people even push CD's? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the people shouldn't release CD's ever. But why put out a wack CD with half the songs being filler material, when you could just drop a Digital EP of heat for $5? If you think about the cost that goes into the pressing and distribution of an album, it's no wonder that most major label releases don't make any money for the artist.

I acknowledge that that most hip-hop acts can't pull a Radiohead, and have the internet going nuts over a digital only album. But one important message was clear in their attempt. If you only release it digitally, the artist has control of when it reaches the audience. That's right everybody, no leaks! Hell if Lil Wayne can sell over 2,401 copies of the digital only The Leak EP in a week with absolutely no promotion, surely with a little push cold increase the return dramatically.

Another example is Hiphopsite.com, a purveyor of dope hip-hop. After losing their lease on their retail store in Las Vegas, they said fuck it lets go digital. They still have dope music for sale, it's just all downloadable as high-quality mp3's now. And let's be honest when was the last time you were able to download an album that was encoded properly. No glitches here bitches!

A ton of DJs have gone digital as well, Mick Boogie for example drops all of his new mixtapes via his own website for free. But if you want to hold onto the actual CD you gotta pay. Or how about Crooked I, he has been dropping a free digital only remix every week for 40 weeks now. Not a bad way to keep your name coming outta peoples mouths and stay relevant.

The funny thing about technology and the music business is that it seems like the smaller labels are the ones ahead of the curve. Many independent labels such as Def Jux have been pushing digital distribution for a while now. The Majors are finally coming around to realize that digital distribution is the future, and are making sure that they get paid before any artists do. How do you have breakage on a digital copy?

So what's your thoughts on the digital distribution model? Would you pay $5 for music that didn't come packaged in anything but a .zip file? What if the money went straight to the artist, no middleman? Let me know your thoughts.


- Johnny Blackwell

Leave Johnny Blackwell a comment
(he doesn't have Siccness)
 
S

Speedy

Sicc OG
#3
Aug 5, 2004
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It's hard for the audience to appreciate music when is devalued so much. No one cares about the work the artist does anymore cuz music is so cheap, it's like a flyer at the bar now. The music industry is forever changed for the worst. The labels have a lot of catching up to do, they are now trying to catch up with the consumer, and they didn't take advantage of the digital world on time. It's too late for the labels.
 
CoopDVill

CoopDVill

Super Moderator
#7
May 4, 2003
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Sony/BMG To Start To Sell Unprotected Digital Albums

Sony BMG Music Entertainment, the world's second largest music company, will this month become the last of the big four majors to drop copy protection software on music downloads, also known as digital rights management (DRM).

Sony BMG, home to artists including Beyonce, Britney Spears and Celine Dion, said on Monday it will launch a gift card service on January 15 called Platinum MusicPass that will feature digital albums from its artists in the MP3 format. The format does not use DRM protection.

Fans will be able to buy the digital album cards in stores and download full-length albums from a MusicPass Web site after they type in an identifying number. The cards will be available at U.S. retail outlets such as Best Buy and Target.

"The introduction of MusicPass is an important part of Sony BMG's ongoing campaign to bring its artists' music to fans in new and innovative ways, and to develop compelling new business models," said Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG president, global digital business & U.S. Sales.

The music industry posted a 15 percent drop in album sales in 2007 as fans bought fewer CDs. Digital music sales did not make up for the revenue shortfall, forcing executives to explore new business models and ways of attracting consumers.

One of the biggest issues for music companies last year was whether dropping DRM would help drive digital sales.

In February, Apple Inc founder Steve Jobs called on music companies to stop requiring retailers to use DRM for services like his company's iTunes Music Store. Jobs said dropping DRM would help boost sales.

Digital music buyers have been frustrated by the limitations imposed by DRM, prompting industry analysts to support the call to drop copy protection. Music companies had required DRM to prevent users from making multiple copies or sharing songs with friends for free.

EMI, the number four music company in market share became the first major to drop DRM in April and was later followed by Vivendi's Universal Music Group. Last month, Warner Music Group said it would start selling its music in MP3 format through Amazon.com.
 
CoopDVill

CoopDVill

Super Moderator
#8
May 4, 2003
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Digitally Downloaded Music Sales Reach Record High In 2007

As physical CD sales continue their free fall, digital downloads again reached record sales figures for the year.

U.S. digital download sales reached an all-time high for the fourth year in a row, culminating with the biggest post-holiday sales week. For Christmas week (December 24-30), shoppers downloaded almost 43 million tracks from various digital music services, according to data from Nielsen SoundScan. That's a 42.5 percent jump over the 30.1 million downloaded in the same week the previous year.

For the year, 844.1 million tracks were downloaded digitally, a 45 percent rise over the 581.9 million tally for 2006. Digital albums are up 53.5 percent as well, at 50 million sold, compared with 32.5 million in 2006. Fourth-quarter sales also reached all-time highs, with 231.9 million tracks and 14.2 million albums sold digitally during the period, compared with 163.3 million tracks and 9.8 million albums the year before.

Individual songs are performing better, too. "Low" by Flo Rida sold 467,000 downloads for the week, topping the 294,000 digital units of Fergie's "Fergalicious" for the same week in 2006. In addition, 27 songs sold more than 100,000 units during the post-Christmas rush, with 10 exceeding 200,000. In 2006, only 15 songs sold more than 100,000 and four sold more than 200,000.

These figures highlight a banner year for individual songs as well. Setting the record for the most downloaded digital track in a year is Soulja Boy with "Crank That (Soulja Boy)," which moved 2.7 million copies. Daniel Powter's "Bad Day" was the top download of 2006 with 1.9 million, while Weezer's "Beverly Hills" was the digital king in 2005 with 961,000.

Not one track sold more than 500,000 digital units in 2004, but 114 did in 2007, almost double the 61 tracks that crossed that threshold in 2006. Meanwhile, 36 tracks passed the 1 million sales mark, more than double the 17 in 2006.

All these records set in 2007 bode well for 2008 digital sales. The post-holiday spike witnessed during the past four years generally sets the tone for digital track sales in the year that follows once the volume settles down. The 6.6 million tracks sold after Christmas in 2004 carried over into the new year, with weekly sales totals averaging about 5.2 million tracks per week in January, to 9.5 million the week before Christmas 2005.

Tracks then jumped to 19.9 million after Christmas that year, and settled down to an average of 11.3 million in January 2006. Again, digital sales increased to 14.5 million the week before Christmas 2006, rising to 30.1 million the week after. The first few weeks of 2007 then saw average track sales of 19 million. This year's week after Christmas (which actually only tracked five days after Christmas) produced a robust 42.9 million tracks sold.

While SoundScan's data measures sales from such digital retailers as iTunes, Amazon and Rhapsody, it does not track sales from artists' own Web sites (such as Radiohead's direct-to-fan release of "In Rainbows") or from widgets placed on artists' social networking pages (such as James Blunt's Lala widget on MySpace, which sells his 2007 album "All the Lost Souls").
 
N

n.casta

Sicc OG
#15
Feb 21, 2006
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#15
in my opinion.....i think full length physical cd should be 5 bucks 8 at the most....im guilty for e legal downloading...but alot of the times its a hassle to get what your looking for...I would rather buy an actully cd from the store for only 5 bucks....i mean come on whats 5 bucks? i believe that way more people will by cds and sales will eventually go up again
 
kayvee

kayvee

Sicc OG
#16
Nov 20, 2005
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#16
i prefer to buy albums now digitally rather than cd..cheaper. u arent paying for the case, the cd itself, the cover bs...and the artwork is loaded with the mp3 tag so ur straight in that case.

~k.
 
STASHMagazine

STASHMagazine

Sicc OG
#17
Dec 13, 2006
1,510
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#17
makes you wonder what the next music format is after mp3's or digital whatever... its gonna be invisible.

its like record, 8 track, tape, cd, mp3.. whats next?
(you can put live music before record, lol)

stash magazine is making the effort to step up our technology game. we got an updated daily website and you can read stash magazine online as well as cop it at the store..
 
M

Mr Ceza

Xplosive Magazine
#18
Jul 10, 2002
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#18
DON't Get me wrong, I have NEVER bought a cd online or Downloaded a song or album legally or illegally. I always buy the CD! Put yourself in the artist shoes...If you were a rapper would you want folks to buy your CD? Then buy theirs! If you aint feeling them, don't buy it!!!!
 
S

sKameroti

Sicc OG
#19
Jan 31, 2004
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#19
digital is the way to go, my company has made more money digitally in the past 3 months then we have with actual cd sales in the past 2 years.

The problem with cd sales is the consumer never seems to understand who all got to get paid off that 8.99 cd you just bought at target, In physical cd distribution the artist is the last to get paid, take freeway for example, he has to go gold for the label tor ecoup what they are owed, which means 9/10 freeway aint seeing a dime of cd sales money until he goes over gold, well guess what hes at what 30-40k units sold?

where as digital if you have a good digital deal the artist is the 1st to get paid (or 2nd) for instance with our digital distro deal. after the digital company recoups the marketing and promotion off the cd sales we walk away with $7 a digital album sold, in 2 months with 3 releases (2 albums 1 single)we sold 3700 digital downloads. Do the math, And now with new jayz starting a digital label with apple its gonna be digital market in 2008, theres a reason that cd sales are down 15%. Also with digital outlets like itunes now allowing artists to include a digital booklet with releases its just like buying a real cd

if these popular artists were smart they would drop digital albums every month or every 2 months sell 3000-5000 cds and cake up
 
M

mackinainteasy

Sicc OG
#20
Dec 17, 2007
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#20
if they want us to buy more cd's and get more sales bring the price down and the purchase rate would sky rocket either way your makin money' because price goes down(minus-) rates go up (plus+) its a lose win situation.
 
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