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The Digital Era And Its Effect On The Music Industry

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this is that people were not buying complete albums anymore. On the contrary to revenue decreasing, more units of music were bought during the MP3’s popularity. The MP3 benefitted the industry at one pint, but it is streaming that is keeping the live music industry alive.

Today, MP3s start losing relevance and a new chapter of the digital era continues with streaming. Because Internet speeds are faster and people are more comfortable with technology, it leads to this innovation 's popularity. Through an ad-supported service or for a monthly fee, music lovers have access to a seemingly unlimited library of music at their fingertips (Jones, Fly). As stated before, consumers value convenience, accessibility, and portability so streaming is…show more content…
Label and other contributors take their cut, and packing costs are subtracted leaving the artist with roughly 11 percent of the sale (Fly). For example, an album selling for $11.99 would leave the retailer with roughly $3.60. The rest is split between owners and the artists would be left with about $1.32. Digital services that supply downloaded MP3s, such as iTunes, again take 30 percent of the sale. The rest goes to the label and is dispersed to songwriters, producers, and other people involved. The artists is then compensated 12 to 20 percent. With digital consumption, packaging and the tangible product are nonexistent cutting costs. Furthermore, once a file is made, there is no need to create more because the file can be easily duplicated (Fly). Although artists are receiving a higher percent of the sale, that does not mean they are earning more money. As stated before, consumers do not have to buy a whole album. This leads to consumers to be selective with their purchases and evidently, spend less than what if they invested in a CD or other tangible forms of consumption. To put it in perspective, a music single on iTunes costs $1.29 and the artist earns between 15 cents and 26 cents. The artist would have to sell six additional singles to make up for an album sale that was loss. Streaming compensation is more complex. One month an artist can have a certain amount of streams, and the next they can have the same exact amount of
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