By: Shane L. Sullivan
The Internet’s effect on U.S. music sales
The popularity of Internet users in the United States more than doubled from 1999 to 2009. Evidently, the amount of revenue generated by music sales in the country has decreased by roughly the same amount.
How has this affected the public?
“The New York Violinist” performs and sells her music at the Union Square subway station and online at newyorkviolinist.com. Photo: Jeff Gaydos
With this great boom in Internet popularity, more people have resorted to downloading music free of charge from various music-pirating websites instead of purchasing music at record stores. This drastic decrease in revenue may be lowering the amount of money made by major record companies and popular artists, but at the same time it is greatly increasing the popularity of artists contracted by independent record labels. The Internet is becoming a much more popular medium for lesser-known artists to promote themselves and gain a wider audience.
The statistics
In 1999, there were an estimated 100,125,500 Internet users in the United States and the country’s total music sales revenue was roughly 14.6 billion dollars. By 2009, the number of users had risen to roughly 239,995,600 and music revenue had decreased to only 6.3 billion dollars.
Why is this happening?
Bill O’Sullivan, singer of the heavy metal band “EGGNOGG” says, “Without Internet exposure, I would have no fan base at all and probably wouldn’t be making music.” Photo: Shane L. Sullivan
I cannot speak for the general public, but the reason I choose to pirate music is I cannot seem to find any new music I like on television or the radio. I don’t find any of today’s popular music appealing. It seems like the majority of people making popular music today are making it primarily for profit and not for self-expression–much to the delight of their record company employers. People like me are turning to the Internet to find new music because radio has failed us. Independent artists are offering their music cheaper online and in many cases for free.
