3 ms·

You can't replace something that is dead.

• wwweston 8y ago
  Revenues from US digital recorded music sales steadily rose from the introduction of iTunes up into the billions through at least 2012. Maybe 2013/14-ish. I think at one point it'd actually matched 90s CD sales revenue, though I may not recall correctly. That was hardly "dead." There's this narrative that goes around "oh, yeah, the internet happened, copies are cheap, no one was ever going to buy music again" ... and it's not true. The truth is that there was a thriving digital recording sales growing up to take the place of physical recording sales. And buffet streaming kneecaped it.
  • Daishiman 8y ago
    Buffet streaming killed it because it's cost-competitive to the consumer, period. That's a triumph of capitalism.
    • wwweston 8y ago
      At best that's like saying it's a triumph of capitalism when Walmart hollows out local retailers, or industrial agriculture hollows out smaller operators and with it communities. Sure, you get cheaper goods, but there are less pleasant externalities that go with it. As someone once said about another triumph of capitalism: when you value McDonalds, you get McJobs. Possibly McMusic, as well.