Erin Konrad
Arts Editor
In a world with increasing access to technology, surveys are showing that more and more people are forgoing buying CDs for downloads.
According to Nielsen Soundscan, the number of CDs being sold has fallen over 19 percent in the last year, while sales of downloads have increased by 45 percent.
Students at the University of La Verne, for the most part, are echoing this trend in the music industry.
Sales of different varieties of music continue to increase, with iTunes becoming the No. 2 music seller in the country.
The Apple Inc. company is second only to Wal-Mart.
“I download music rather than buying CDs,” Nicole Bravo, junior international studies major said. “Pretty much any genre.”
While most consumers are staying away from CDs, there has also been an increase in those that are downloading music legally.
These legal downloads now account for 10 percent of all of the music obtained in the U.S., according to a study conducted by the NPD Group.
“Lately I’ve been buying more music than downloading it illegally,” Chris Arce, junior art major said. “I know that the feds have been cracking down on downloading again.”
Indeed music downloaded legally has increased 21 percent, from 24 million people in 2006 to 29 million last year.
More and more people are taking advantage of the wide variety of songs and TV content available on sites like iTunes, Limewire and Yahoo.
But because these downloads are available wherever consumers have Internet access, more than 1 million consumers stopped purchasing CDs in the last year.
Young people are also accessing sites like MySpace to download songs from their favorite artists.
A lot of bands offer free downloads when you come across their page.
For many broke college students, this is an easy way to get their favorite songs, without spending $15 on a CD.
For some students at ULV, CDs still represent original and unique content.
“I usually buy CDs because I like having the original copies,” Madison Burga, a freshman legal studies major said.
Another factor is the portability of downloads.
Anyone can instantly download a song, upload it to his or her iPod and then be out the door in five seconds.
CDs require a lot more time and effort that most people in today’s rushed society do not have time for.
Signs of the future in the music business indicate a committed following to downloads rather than CDs.
Erin Konrad can be reached at ekonrad@ulv.edu. |
