Interview with Billboard Magazine

Music blog D Unknoen interview with Ed Christman of Billboard Magazine- Gone were the days of flipping my own cassette or even having my new Walkman, which I played to the ground night and day, as a teenager, flipping my tapes for me, nor was the culture anymore to exist. Little did I believe, that it was actually possible, that it was actually going to happen. Then I came upon a new invention I was destined to try. It was the dawn of the portable Discman, SONY’s worst take on a supposed invention, and the beginning of the downfall of easy music listening; no, not of the elevator type, the other easy, the stress free easy, where everything played in your ears continuously, just the way you wanted it to. Digital music was the new era about to dawn itself unanimously, and this unfortunately led to the experiment of switching music listening formats to digital files and compact discs and lasers, were at hand. Gone were the days of replaceing your batteries once a week, even if you played your favorite cassettes every waking moment away from your house, like I did. I even cut class, (I had really good grades, but I cut a lot), and would listen to my radio the entire time, with the cassette running with a mix tape I created, and it never died for at least five days or so, most times about six or seven. I ran with this habit for several years, until Discman would eat an entire set of AA batteries, brand new after a couple of CD’s. Batteries were being thrown away daily and rebought, luckily I didn’t steal too many. Anyway, this failure in music listening components , brought in the dawn of the music industry as we know it today. Also gone, are the old favorite record stores of old, the chain ones anyway, and after years of trying to make sense of music and the music industry and its place in the minds and hearts of those of the human race, I decided to put the conspiracy theories aside for a second, despite any evidence I powerfully had to the contrary, and hold a personal interview with an editor from Billboard Magazine, to decide if the fate of the music industry at present was worthy of documentation. Upon deciding that it was, a Billboard editor called me on my line, and refused an interview, however he did allow me to contact one of his reporters, who so very kindly, disclosed what seemed like the Official position of Billborad magazine, in regards to the present state of the music industry. I had the interview to host Ed Christman, of Billboard to answer some questions that I had been brewing together for just this special of occasions. After playing phone tag for a few days, we decided on a day and time and eventually got in touch with one another. Dane: What is your take on the present state of music industry and business today, is there an industry left and how is the digital market affecting music sales after the transition (to digital markets)? Ed: I really do have to say, that the music industry is on a rebound, and for the first time since 2003, last year was the first time, that digital overtook physical sales. While vinyl business is actually up as of last year, streaming was up by 3%. The market has seen digital take over physical sales through streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music; digital singles were down 25%, digital albums down 20%, cd sales dropped 16.5%, vinyl is up something like 12.5 % but streaming is turning out to be healthy niche. D: With the quick transititions the music industry has been making, do you see a possible future for potential brick and mortar outlets participating in music sales? Is it plausible? E: The brick and mortar outlets still made over a billion dollars last year. Brick and Mortar is still a powerful additive to the industry, no record company is going to back down from sales, and as long as there is still a demand, music can still make profits. D: Wow. So there is money in it, brick and mortar? So, let’s say if someone wanted to start a store, there could potentially be some sort of profit there? E:Well, the chain record stores, the ones that are left anyway, they make money off of music, but they’ve incorporated some other products, like tshirts and video games. The only of those left , is Transworld….from the original record store chains, and another one, a smaller chain based out of New England. But the big ones, the chains, made something like 22% of their profits from music sales, while smaller more local shops bring in something like 35 – 40% of their net from music sales. So lifestyle stores, as we like to call them and independent shops both alike can and do still make some of their money from physical music sales. D: What do you think of the idea, we tossed this around in school as a premise, but do you think it would succeed, an idea like stores like Blockbuster that sold movies that went under if there was a combination of music and video in the same store? E: That idea, the combination store, there have been stores like this in the past, Hastings is a good example, they just closed down last year, where the store incorporated movies and games and books, they sold comics, had a coffee shop, but they were bought recently and the new owner established some newer variations on the store, watering it down and wasting its profits on too many variations, they’re gone now because of developing too many options. D: What aspects do you see as being a method in which to promote sales, how do digital sales affect the artist? In a time where very few artists are making enough money, are royalties more in tact with the higher percentage in the digital market? (Royalties went up 300%, but profits are a lot lower due to digitalization and pirating.) E: The best way to bring in royalties, is through entering premium tiers on stations like Spotify or Apple Music, and away from free tiers. Free tiers only pay one twelfth of a cent per stream, and half of that goes to the streaming service, premium members and streams generate a half a penny per stream, so the likely percentage of royalties will rise under premium tiers. D: Do you see a future for Itunes? E: Itunes is on a decline, but Apple Music is on the rise. As long as people want or need to download they can possibly still have a big use for itunes. D: So is there a future for brick and mortar? E: Music could always use more outlets and will continue its experimental path down the distribution market runway. Even if the brick and mortar was to be eliminated as an option, record companies could still license out the manufacturing of physical vinyl and CD’s through a private contractor, making sales that way. It is still within their rights to license out that manufacturing if they so wanted to.