So more music is being "consumed" than ever.
The number blows out astronomically if you count pirated downloads as "consuming"...
Apparently 95% of all music downloaded is "pirated" [Guardian]. The article actually says "the majority of music downloaded in 2008 was done so without payment to either the artist or record label." How much of this is actually deliberately free (ie. tracks given away by the artist), the article doesn't clearly say.
It's a little vague anyway, as indicated in the Ars Technica analysis of this press release. This same Ars Technica article claims "Universal reports that game licensing now brings in more money than licensing music for use in films". That's a pretty stunning claim.
Computer game sales in Australia doubled in 2008 to hit $2 billion, although this includes the cost of actual consoles as well as games.
I also wonder how much money artists/labels make from sales of songs for music related games like Rock Band/Guitar Hero/Singstar and if they count against game revenue or music industry revenue? The Guardian "95% piracy" article above claims "15% of overall industry sales in the first half of 2008" were from Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
Meanwhile, a judge in the US has called bullsh*t on the RIAA's claim that every illegal download is equal to one lost sale [Ars Technica]:
[Judge James P.] Jones wrote in his opinion that equating each download with a lost sale is a faulty assumption. "Those who download movies and music for free would not necessarily purchase those movies and music at the full purchase price," Jones wrote. "[A]lthough it is true that someone who copies a digital version of a sound recording has little incentive to purchase the recording through legitimate means, it does not necessarily follow that the downloader would have made a legitimate purchase if the recording had not been available for free."
But what do music sales matter anyway when the Top 10 music earners of 2008 earned most of their money via concert ticket sales.
Back to Australia, the last few months of 2008 was a ripper few weeks for CD sales in Australia: [ARIA]
Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) reports that CD sales have jumped as much as 57 per cent on a week-by-week comparison over the same period last year.
I'm very very interested to see ARIA's yearly report for 2008, due in March. I expect to see a huge increase in digital sales, and physical CD album unit sales about even on last year. We'll see.
I'd also like to see new ABS stats on how much people spend on concert tickets vs. buying music. A 2004ish? (can't remember) study on entertainment spending indicated a trend toward spending much more money per year on concert tickets than purchasing music.
Heroes is a charity album by War Child. It's a cover album by popular bands.
What makes it interesting is that War Child first contacted music "legends" and asked them to pick a track and an artist to cover the song.
I can't imagine what it would be like as an artist to receive a phone call saying "David Bowie want you to cover one of his songs." I can however imagine what I'd think if he said "I want you to cover 'Heroes'". Damn. Another Heroes cover. Great.
The tracklisting looks vaguely interesting but particularly exciting. I wouldn't mind hearing the Beck, Lily Alan, Scissor Sisters and Hot Chip covers but the rest... meh.