Quote:
Originally posted by slobro
I don't get it tho. The 'smash' albums in the 80s sold ridiculous numbers (comparable if not better to the 90s/00s albums) yet the overall market wasn't that high, like it doesn't make sense 
Maybe people double dipped because of the vinyl->cd switch?
Decades of catalog sales?
Or maybe figures were simply inflated, there was no Nielsen to verify
I just don't get it |
My hypothesis is that it's a case of more distributed sales to more artists.
Recording music was an expensive and difficult process in the 1960s, 70s, 80s, independent artists had few platforms to promote their music, and TV/radio were the dominant platform for exposure and only featured a small selection of artists and songs.
Today, music production is much more accessible: anyone can record and edit music digitally with easy-to-use software, take advantage of myriad free or inexpensive platforms for exposure, and sell their music without the aid of a label at the biggest music retailer in the world. We can look up any lyrics we hear on the Internet, and we have software that can identify any song. We have global discussion boards where people can talk about lesser-known artists.
Soundscan has only been around since 1991 when sales were speeding towards their all-time peak in the US, so all we ever hear about is how much sales have declined relative to that peak as a result of piracy, etc. But the past few years were comparable to the 1980s. I just think the landscape has transformed.
