The music industry is still reeling from the post-millennial warp drive of technological evolution, which is accelerating faster than business models can adapt to it. Thirty years ago, vinyl and cassettes ruled the day, with the clunky joke of 8-tracks fading rapidly into obscurity. Within a decade, however, both mediums barely moved the needle on music sales, replaced by a 94 percent market dominance by CDs.
Now, the music industry has reverted to a Wild West level of consumption, with digital downloads making leaps of public acceptance and everything from ringtones to on-demand streaming cutting the CD market down to 30.4 percent. CD singles are virtually nonexistent, with vinyl hanging on by a 3 percent thread, revitalized by a romanticized return to wax by the likes of Jack White and Pearl Jam.
Jack White’s ‘Lazaretto’ is the Best-Selling Vinyl in 20 Years
People have more ways to buy music now than ever before, and as the graphic below from Digital Music News indicates, the future of music consumption is anyone’s guess. Watch the pattern of trends and dominating formats shift over the course of three decades below:
Penthouse Music History: Awesome Stories, Gorgeous Girls
If you’re in the unfortunate 1.4 percent actually spending money on ringtones, this song is particularly for you:
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