How Young Thug Got Trapped By A $15,000 Advance From A Major Label

So, "technology" is a new phenomenon in the past 10 years?

Technology is not a new phenomenon, but with the advent of broadband and compression of audio into bite sized digital files (MP3s), the music industry crumbled. People learned that they could download whatever they wanted from the safety of their homes in minutes, sometimes seconds. This wasn't possible before. Piracy existed, but you still had to borrow your friend's tape, record it on a tape, etc. This was doable, but the mechanics of the process was an impediment to piracy. With Napster and all the other P2P platforms, people downloaded their favorite songs in minutes. The same is now happening in video.

The music industry didn't try to adapt. They tried to force the consumer to continue purchasing a packaged product (album), and they failed miserably. Now with streaming services, they are failing again. You're being naive in thinking that sales declined because the quality of music has gone down. Music in the 80s had become much "simpler" than that of the 70s; music of the 90s much simpler than the 80s, yet sales in the 90s were booming much more so than all eras before it. Sales plummeted once broadband became available across the country and audio files were able to be compressed from 60 megs to 5. These aren't opinions. They're facts. I can pull up charts of sales if you're interested.

Your opinion on music as having gone downhill is an opinion. There's no sense in arguing opinions. But your belief that the decline in sales as resulting from the degradation of quality is silly.
 
Technology is not a new phenomenon, but with the advent of broadband and compression of audio into bite sized digital files (MP3s), the music industry crumbled. People learned that they could download whatever they wanted from the safety of their homes in minutes, sometimes seconds. This wasn't possible before. Piracy existed, but you still had to borrow your friend's tape, record it on a tape, etc. This was doable, but the mechanics of the process was an impediment to piracy. With Napster and all the other P2P platforms, people downloaded their favorite songs in minutes. The same is now happening in video.

The music industry didn't try to adapt. They tried to force the consumer to continue purchasing a packaged product (album), and they failed miserably. Now with streaming services, they are failing again. You're being naive in thinking that sales declined because the quality of music has gone down. Music in the 80s had become much "simpler" than that of the 70s; music of the 90s much simpler than the 80s, yet sales in the 90s were booming much more so than all eras before it. Sales plummeted once broadband became available across the country and audio files were able to be compressed from 60 megs to 5. These aren't opinions. They're facts. I can pull up charts of sales if you're interested.

Your opinion on music as having gone downhill is an opinion. There's no sense in arguing opinions. But your belief that the decline in sales as resulting from the degradation of quality is silly.

I'm confused - the advent of the mp3 "crumbled" the music industry?

Napster was founded in 1999 when the mp3 craze began to go crazy.

Do you know how many albums STILL went DIAMOND (10 million records sold) since??
TWELVE (12)
Best Selling Albums Since 1991 (Soundscan Era): Adele Joins Elite Club | Billboard

Do you know how many albums STILL sold at least 5 million copies since 1999??
SIXTEEN (16) and that is just in their year
Best-selling albums in the United States since Nielsen SoundScan tracking began - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


...and labels have still been able to make money selling individual songs, streaming, etc. I'm not seeing the "force" of making people buy albums. I actually see the exact opposite which is why no one buys albums. Why should I not just buy the single I like when the other 9 songs on the album are trash?

The quality of music changing from the 70's to the 80's to the 90's is actually just an opinion as well - not facts.

Please pull up these charts that correlate the amount of music sales struggling to broadband availability...I am always interested in facts.
 
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The music industry didn't try to adapt. They tried to force the consumer to continue purchasing a packaged product (album), and they failed miserably.

they failed because tech companies need user generated content and file sharing ... remember SOPA protests, Google and Wikipedia blackouts
 
I'm confused - the advent of the mp3 "crumbled" the music industry?

Napster was founded in 1999 when the mp3 craze began to go crazy.

Do you know how many albums STILL went DIAMOND (10 million records sold) since??
TWELVE (12)
Best Selling Albums Since 1991 (Soundscan Era): Adele Joins Elite Club | Billboard

Do you know how many albums STILL sold at least 5 million copies since 1999??
SIXTEEN (16) and that is just in their year
Best-selling albums in the United States since Nielsen SoundScan tracking began - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


...and labels have still been able to make money selling individual songs, streaming, etc. I'm not seeing the "force" of making people buy albums. I actually see the exact opposite which is why no one buys albums. Why should I not just buy the single I like when the other 9 songs on the album are trash?

The quality of music changing from the 70's to the 80's to the 90's is actually just an opinion as well - not facts.

Please pull up these charts that correlate the amount of music sales struggling to broadband availability...I am always interested in facts.

You're either being disingenuous with your stats or naive. You are using outliers to make a point, when you should be focused on overall music sales.

Look at the sales below. Sales dropped from $14.6 Billion in 1999 to $5.7B in 2013. This is over a 60% drop within 14 years. That is OVERALL music sales. Don't selectively pick out large albums to create an inaccurate scene. What year did total sales peak? When was Napster founded again?

units-vs-dollars-riaa.jpg

It makes no difference if labels have been able to sell streams or singles today. Compare overall sales from the last 40 years to evaluate the financial health of the industry today. The music industry crumbled because they didn't adapt to the advent of broadband availability, P2P platforms, and the ability to compress large files into small. All three of these factors are the result of technology disrupting the music industry.


Here's a stat below about the growth of computers in the household and internet use from 1984 to 2011. You can see that 41% of households used the internet at home in 2000. This grew to 72% by 2011. The largest growth of internet use at home was from 1997-2000.

Internet and Computers.JPG


Below is the growth of broadband from 2000-2012.

internet use.JPG

Now compare these to overall sales from 1999 forward. You think that the decline of music sales from 1999 (and increase of internet availability at home) is just purely coincidence, or that suddenly people realized music wasn't "as good" as before so they stopped purchasing it? Or perhaps the point is that Adele sold millions of records, so the music industry must be doing great!
 

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"I'm not seeing the "force" of making people buy albums. I actually see the exact opposite which is why no one buys albums. Why should I not just buy the single I like when the other 9 songs on the album are trash?"

That's what the music industry USED TO do prior to the disruption. They forced you to purchase a packaged product for $15, regardless of the fact that you only liked 3 songs. With Napster and the internet, people were able to download their three favorite songs for free. Instead of adapting and creating a platform like iTunes to immediately service the need in the market, they kicked and dragged their heels!

Now people expect music for free. Instead of adapting, they are trying to force platforms like Spotify and Pandora to pay more for licensing content. It's stupid. The release of digital music should be free to consumers. Artists and labels need to focus on recouping costs through concerts, merchandise, and licensing through other avenues. They're dragging their heels yet again.

Streaming music has disrupted the market again and you have this archaic industry sitting on its ass and complaining about declining revenues.


It's analogous to a broke, balding man getting fat and complaining that women don't find him attractive any more. Instead of furthering his career and going to the gym, he's complaining that "women aren't what they used to be."
 
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You're either being disingenuous with your stats or naive. You are using outliers to make a point, when you should be focused on overall music sales.

Look at the sales below. Sales dropped from $14.6 Billion in 1999 to $5.7B in 2013. This is over a 60% drop within 14 years. That is OVERALL music sales. Don't selectively pick out large albums to create an inaccurate scene. What year did total sales peak? When was Napster founded again?

View attachment 43775

It makes no difference if labels have been able to sell streams or singles today. Compare overall sales from the last 40 years to evaluate the financial health of the industry today. The music industry crumbled because they didn't adapt to the advent of broadband availability, P2P platforms, and the ability to compress large files into small. All three of these factors are the result of technology disrupting the music industry.


Here's a stat below about the growth of computers in the household and internet use from 1984 to 2011. You can see that 41% of households used the internet at home in 2000. This grew to 72% by 2011. The largest growth of internet use at home was from 1997-2000.

View attachment 43776


Below is the growth of broadband from 2000-2012.

View attachment 43777

Now compare these to overall sales from 1999 forward. You think that the decline of music sales from 1999 (and increase of internet availability at home) is just purely coincidence, or that suddenly people realized music wasn't "as good" as before so they stopped purchasing it? Or perhaps the point is that Adele sold millions of records, so the music industry must be doing great!

I don't understand how your charts have anything to do with music sales relating to broadband. I'm down for learning about everything you're saying, but...

"Correlation does not equal causation"

Music sales overall are down, but streaming is up. So, how (besides quality and expendable income) is broadband and mp3 "crumbling" the music industry? You're showing me charts of broadband and then separate charts on sales, but not why they are related to each other (even though people are now able to purchase music via broadband).

Streaming Up, Album Sales Down in 2014 Nielsen Report | Rolling Stone
 
"I'm not seeing the "force" of making people buy albums. I actually see the exact opposite which is why no one buys albums. Why should I not just buy the single I like when the other 9 songs on the album are trash?"

That's what the music industry USED TO do prior to the disruption. They forced you to purchase a packaged product for $15, regardless of the fact that you only liked 3 songs. With Napster and the internet, people were able to download their three favorite songs for free. Instead of adapting and creating a platform like iTunes to immediately service the need in the market, they kicked and dragged their heels!

Now people expect music for free. Instead of adapting, they are trying to force platforms like Spotify and Pandora to pay more for licensing content. It's stupid. The release of digital music should be free to consumers. Artists and labels need to focus on recouping costs through concerts, merchandise, and licensing through other avenues. They're dragging their heels yet again.

Streaming music has disrupted the market again and you have this archaic industry sitting on its ass and complaining about declining revenues.


It's analogous to a broke, balding man getting fat and complaining that women don't find him attractive any more. Instead of furthering his career and going to the gym, he's complaining that "women aren't what they used to be."

Now this is an opinion I can get down with and I agree with the majority of it.
 
It's analogous to a broke, balding man getting fat and complaining that women don't find him attractive any more. Instead of furthering his career and going to the gym, he's complaining that "women aren't what they used to be."


But these women have changed. Why do I have to get Rogaine, buy a car, and lose 50 pounds? How come they don't accept me as I am? Yeah, I might be a burger away from a heart attack, but don't I deserve love too? How come my homeboy with the new red Charger got three girlfriends? Can I borrow the whip for a minute? Man, forget it. McDonalds got a new steak burger coming out. :-)

 
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