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> Revenue is broadly in line with what it's been: https://www.riaa.com/u-s-sales-database/ https://www.riaa.com/u-s-sales-database/ > I grew up during the age

> Revenue is broadly in line with what it's been: https://www.riaa.com/u-s-sales-database/ https://www.riaa.com/u-s-sales-database/ > I grew up during the age of peak CD sales, and I still only bought like ten audio CDs in my life, all of them on the secondary market. This is the kind of anecdote that tries to make an example that proves the argument, but it's so wildly different from the average music consumer in the 1990s that it's completely irrelevant. You bought 10 CDs at a 2nd hand store in your entirely life and now you pay more for Spotify. But most people were buying 10, or 20, or 30, or more CDs a year, .... and now they're paying _less_ for Spotify.

aitechguy77171 3y ago
> most people were buying 10, or 20, or 30, or more CDs a year So most people have a collection of 100 to 300 CDs? And if you include tapes and records, the average senior owns between 300 and 1500 albums? This seems totally delusional, I think you are in a bubble.
ghaff 3y ago
I’m willing to bet that the average poor college student I knew in school was buying at least one album a month—albeit sometimes secondhand and I probably bought a lot more than that after graduation.
washadjeffmad 3y ago
No one makes money when I play the Funkadelic album I've owned for the past 20 years, but my SO can't make it two or three songs without an ad on Spotify. Distribution costs are lower without, so any reduction in CD sales seem easily offset by digital sales, ads, etc.
morsch 3y ago
Yeah I mean, I wish people would illustrate their anecdotes with statistics, right? Oh wait, I did. I even alluded to the fact that I was an outlier in not buying CDs in the late nineties. But then the rest of the world got the message. And now we're spending as much on renting music as we did buying it in the eighties.
scarface_74 3y ago
The total revenue of CDs sold in 1999 (Peak CD) was $938 million. https://www.statista.com/statistics/186772/album-shipments-in-the-us-music-industry-since-1999/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/186772/album-shipments-i... The best estimate for the number of adults that same year I could find was 191 million. Let’s say 200 million to include some teams. That’s nowhere close to 10 to 20 CDs. I can’t find a citation. But I’ve seen other places that people were spending $65 a year on music before streaming and iTunes
- ghaff 3y ago
  I believe those are US units not revenues. So depending on how you count relevant consumers that’s actually close to 10 CDs per year per person. Which puts music purchases in the rough ballpark of streaming which is probably not coincidental.
  - scarface_74 3y ago
    That’s about 5 CDs per adult then.
    - ghaff 3y ago
      Yes. But most music purchases were probably people from about their late teens through about their 30s. So the relevant adult population is probably quite a bit smaller. Point is you’re looking at on the order of $100 per year plus or minus.

aitechguy77171 3y ago

> most people were buying 10, or 20, or 30, or more CDs a year So most people have a collection of 100 to 300 CDs? And if you include tapes and records, the average senior owns between 300 and 1500 albums? This seems totally delusional, I think you are in a bubble.

ghaff 3y ago

I’m willing to bet that the average poor college student I knew in school was buying at least one album a month—albeit sometimes secondhand and I probably bought a lot more than that after graduation.

washadjeffmad 3y ago

No one makes money when I play the Funkadelic album I've owned for the past 20 years, but my SO can't make it two or three songs without an ad on Spotify. Distribution costs are lower without, so any reduction in CD sales seem easily offset by digital sales, ads, etc.

morsch 3y ago

Yeah I mean, I wish people would illustrate their anecdotes with statistics, right? Oh wait, I did. I even alluded to the fact that I was an outlier in not buying CDs in the late nineties. But then the rest of the world got the message. And now we're spending as much on renting music as we did buying it in the eighties.

scarface_74 3y ago

The total revenue of CDs sold in 1999 (Peak CD) was $938 million. https://www.statista.com/statistics/186772/album-shipments-in-the-us-music-industry-since-1999/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/186772/album-shipments-i... The best estimate for the number of adults that same year I could find was 191 million. Let’s say 200 million to include some teams. That’s nowhere close to 10 to 20 CDs. I can’t find a citation. But I’ve seen other places that people were spending $65 a year on music before streaming and iTunes

ghaff 3y ago
I believe those are US units not revenues. So depending on how you count relevant consumers that’s actually close to 10 CDs per year per person. Which puts music purchases in the rough ballpark of streaming which is probably not coincidental.
- scarface_74 3y ago
  That’s about 5 CDs per adult then.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    Yes. But most music purchases were probably people from about their late teens through about their 30s. So the relevant adult population is probably quite a bit smaller. Point is you’re looking at on the order of $100 per year plus or minus.