Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by makeramen 4795 days ago
>> When adjusted for inflation, revenue has been more than halved since Apple launched the iTunes Music Store.

Whose revenue? RIAA? What about the artists revenue? It'd be interesting to see that broken down.

Here's an interesting infographic showing how much artists make from various sources: http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2010/how-much-do-music... iTunes is actually less profitable than retail, but only if you're on a label that takes a lions share of what's left after Apple. It'd be interesting to see what independent artists' revenues on iTunes are like.
1 comments
unreal37 4795 days ago
Also, they're talking "inflation adjusted revenue", not profit.

The music industry is as profitable as it ever was. They just don't need to spend money creating CD's and shipping them all over the world. Direct to consumer (or through a service like Apple) is the future.

And more artists won't need a record label at all. Like Macklemore.

link
simba-hiiipower 4795 days ago
as much as i'd love that to be true, i just don't see it.

macklemore (and ryan lewis! - no love for the production, ever!) are the exception, not the norm, and i don't think represent the beginning of larger some trend..

i think the music industry is very analogous to startups in the tech space.. most fail, some make it alright, and some make it big. the difference between them usually comes-down to the right combination of talent, luck, and external support (from people who know the industry, have capital, and have been there before). in the startup world vc fills the support gap, in the music one it’s the labels..

as an aside: i genuinely do wish it were true though.. i could easily put together a really good case study charting the composition of a growing artist’s fanbase before and after signing to a major label. in the case of hip-hop, i’ve encountered countless data points where sentiment among an artist’s early fans takes a sharp nosedive down once signed and under the pressure from labels; this usually tracks song quality very closely and is a perfect inverse of trendlines for radio plays and itunes sales..

link