Ring Tone Sales Count for 20% of Rihanna's Sales
Rio Caraeff, the executive vice president of Universal Music Group’s digital division, said 20% of Rihanna’s revenue came from ring tones. You can read the rest of what Mr. Caraeff told the New York Times in the article titled Music Sales Fell in 2008, but Climbed on The Web.
Web Sales Not Enough To Cover Losses
Rio Caraeff “said other income, like the fees collected when users stream a video online, had become an essential part of the pie” (SISARIO, BEN. Music Sales Fell in 2008, but Climbed on The Web , when mp3 players and New York Times). The reality is people are not buying CDs. In the people’s defense, why would you buy CDsipods are the primary music players? You would not. You would look for mp3 files to play on your mp3 player. This is why downloads are becoming the number one music format.
This is problem for the music industry because people are no longer buying whole albums. Instead they are buying a song here a song there. The advantage of CD sales, was that in forced the consumer to buy the whole album and spend around $12. This is why CD sales where the #1 form of profit. Downloads are up, but they do not generate as much profit because people buy one track at a time at around $.99 as opposed to $10.00 for a whole CD. The music industry realizes this and as a result “We [Universal Music Group] look at the total consolidated revenue from dozens of revenue lines behind a given artist or project, which include digital sales, the physical business, mobile sales and licensing income” (Rio Caraeff, the executive vice president of Universal Music Group’s digital division as quoted by SISARIO, BEN. Music Sales Fell in 2008, but Climbed on The Web , New York Times ).
Indie Artists Rely on Music Sales
The advantage of being an indie artist is that you can rely on music sales, you do not have to look to alternative revenue as a primary form of profit. In fact alternative music revenues are just added bonuses for indie music artists. If you become a popular indie artists on your own (without a record label) you will recoup all your royalties and alternative music sales. They are not primary sources of profit like they are for main stream artists. The downside is that you must to sell your music. The other advantage to not being a famous big named artist is that your music will probably not be all over LimeWire or BearShare like Rihanna, forcing people to buy your music legally.
Till next time,
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Filed under: How To Market Your Music Online Tagged: | BearShare, Ben Sisario, Digital Music Sales, Independent Music, indie music, indie music sales, Jamille Luney Music Analyst, LimeWire, New York Times indie music, Rihanna's Music Profits, Rihanna's Music Sales, Rio Caraeff, Universal Music Group
