How do you cope in the music business, when global CD sales have dropped 50% in the last 10 years? in 2011, the US became the first country in the world to have digital sales exceed CD sales in volume and in income. In SA, CD sales have dropped 35% since 2007. The magazine Computer Music quoted an artist who put it like this: "It has never been easier for people to make and promote music, and it has never been more difficult for them to earn a living from it."
The truth is, if you REALLY want to make money from music, it is possible - but like most things in life, it requires work. To quote Seth Godin, a Stanford MBA graduate in marketing and one of the world's most successful bloggers, "Hey, if it was easy, everybody would be a rock star!"
Even though CD sales are in the toilet, there are actually FIVE income streams in music where it is possible to make a living as an artist, and probably another 50 in the ancillary music industry, which involve production, events, promotion, education and others.
An even with CD sales down, it is still possible to sell CDs. Adele, the fab British sensation who recently cleaned up with 6 awards at the recent Grammys, sold well over 10 million albums in 2011 - the biggest selling artist of the year, with sales greater than Bieber and Gaga combined.
So there is hope, people!
