Unspoken Truth by JAWAR, Keynote Motivational Speaker, Business Consultant and Author of the Music Industry Connection Book Series.

1. DECLINING CD SALES
THE UNSPOKEN TRUTH
By JAWAR

2. Over the past few years there has been a growing discussion in mainstream media about file
sharing, illegal downloading of music over the internet and bootlegging of CDs as the causes
for declining CD Sales. While this has some merit what is rarely mentioned in mainstream
media is the reasons why people are sharing music over the Internet and buying bootlegs, the
unspoken truth about declining CD sales.
Perhaps spending anywhere from $14.99 to $18.99 for a CD with two to three great songs is
not a great value for music fans. Perhaps the traditional music business distribution model
was changing and like dinosaurs the major record companies either did not see the change
taking place or were slow to adapt to the change, rendering them helpless in the digital
distribution arena. Perhaps like the dot com & stock market boom of the 90’s the music
industry was experiencing tremendous growth and instead of navigating that growth and
keeping with the pulse of the streets it chose to do business as usual, hence the traditional
music business model has become outdated.
Perhaps major record companies have neglected to do what they did in the past, which was to
develop an artist with star quality that would tour extensively creating a loyal fan base one
fan at a time. Perhaps more artists should perform in record stores for FREE as a way to get
potential fans interested in their music. Given that most consumers buy on impulse it would
seem that artists have a great opportunity for selling CDs if they performed at the location
that sold them. Perhaps with a failing economy, continued job loss and high unemployment,
households no longer have the same amount of disposable income to spend on CDs that they
did in years past.
Perhaps fans simply want to listen to their favorite artist’s music as soon as possible. While
building with Sound Shop Records, Assistant Store Manager, Keenan at the West End Mall
in Atlanta, Georgia, I noticed a young man looking at CDs. I asked him what he planned on
buying and he said the ‘Black Album’ by Jay-Z. He also said that he had already heard the
CD, because he bought the bootleg, but that he was buying the OG CD because he wanted to
support Jigga and have the real thing. Point being that real fans will buy the real CD if they
feel that it is worth buying.
Perhaps the decline in CD sales—the unspoken truth is that major record companies simply
overlooked the new music distribution model, fans simply were not going to continue buying
CDs with inflated prices and that artists should work on creating great CDs versus one with
two to three good songs and the rest as fillers or B-Side Material.
JaWar –Keynote Motivational Speaker, Business Consultant and Author of the Music
Industry Connection Book Series and the Twitter Resource Book speaks and consults on
personal achievement, social media, self-publishing and the music business.
Schedule JaWar as a keynote speaker or consultant by visiting http://jawarspeaks.com or
calling 678-887-4656.
Music Business Resources:
http://gomusicconnection.com
http://indiemusicconference.com
http://leasebeatsmakemoney.com

3. http://industrypimping.com
http://motivationalmusicradio.com
http://worldwidemic.com
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