Is the Music Industry in Crisis?

Why is the Music Industry in Crisis?
The issue for the music industry is how it can pay bands, composers, song writers, record producers and record companies if consumers do not pay for their music. It is always easier to sell a physical product like a CD but a virtual product such as a download does not raise the same feeling of ownership. It is also much easier to pirate. People will tend not to want to spend money if something can be obtained free. This ignores the fact that there is no such thing as a free lunch –someone somewhere has to pay for the product.

The music industry invests £200 million each year just in new bands. That is a lot of money to lose in pirated downloads, and is of course unsustainable in the long run.
Some people argue that record companies have grown ‘fat’ on the boom in the music industry in the latter half of the 20th century and need to redistribute their profits – although they did through royalties –see above.
That was then and this is the 21st century. Record companies are generally making very little money from recorded music.
The music industry is still in crisis but is starting to find a way of selling its product in the digital universe. Legal downloads in 2011 account for about 6% of music sales – not great but up from zero, 2 years ago.
In 2014 as much as 95% of the music downloaded online was done illegally.
Matt Philips of the BPI, which represents the music industry in the UK, says: ‘Sales through licensed legitimate¬ platforms are growing, but unlawful downloading still accounts for 95% of online purchases.’ (The Guardian)