[Dixielandjazz] target audience - say music is getting worse

[BillSargentDrums at aol.com]

The following only confirms what I have been saying for  years. 
Associated Press 
Fan Memo to Music Industry: Lower Prices 
By  DAVID BAUDER , 02.02.2006, 04:45  AM  
Music  executives love to blame illegal downloading for their industry's 
woes. But,  based on the results of a new nationwide poll, they might want to look 
in the  mirror.  

Eighty  percent of the respondents consider it stealing to download music for 
free  without the copyright holder's permission, and 92 percent say they've 
never done  it, according to the poll conducted for The Associated Press and 
Rolling Stone  magazine.  

Meanwhile,  three-quarters of music fans say compact discs are too expensive, 
and 58 percent  say music in general is getting worse. 

"Less  talented people are able to get a song out there and make a quick 
million and  you never hear from them again," said Kate Simkins, 30, of Cape Cod,  
Mass.  

Ipsos'  telephone poll of 1,000 adults, including 963 music listeners, from 
all states  except Alaska and Hawaii was conducted Jan. 23-25 and has a 
sampling error  margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points. 

The  music industry has spent several years in turmoil, as downloading and 
the  popularity of iPods upend its traditional business model. A total of 618.9  
million CD albums were sold during 2005, sharply down from the 762.8 million  
sold in 2001, according to Nielsen Soundscan. 

At  the same time, 352.7 million tracks were sold digitally in 2005, a 
category that  wasn't even measured five years ago. Digital sales of music and ring 
tones offer  new revenue opportunities, but often at the expense of more 
lucrative CD  sales.  

Although  buying music digitally hasn't exactly become widespread - only 15 
percent of  poll respondents said they have done it - there appears to be a 
growing  acceptance of this type of transaction. The poll found that 71 percent 
of music  fans believe that a 99-cent download of a song is a fair price or 
outright  bargain.  

Even  though millions of tracks are downloaded for free each week on 
peer-to-peer  networks, a sense of queasiness remains. 

"Somebody  is putting their art out there. They should be compensated for 
it," said Mickey  Johnson, 41, from Charleston, Tenn. 

The  industry would be wise to embrace downloading, said Greg Hoerger, 42, of 
Minneapolis,  who suggested that customers could receive five or six free 
downloads from an  artist when they buy a CD. 

For  fans like Hoerger and Simkins, buying a CD for about $20 is no bargain. 
They'd  rather download one or two favorite songs to their iPods. The digital 
music  revolution also has other benefits, Simkins said: with the iPod, she no 
longer  has to have cassettes or CDs cluttering her car. 

The  last CD she bought, a few months ago, was by the Killers. "It was on 
sale," she  said.  

Many  fans also say they just don't like what they're hearing. It may not be  
surprising to hear older fans say music just isn't what it used to be when 
they  were growing up. But the poll also found that 49 percent of music fans 
ages  18-to-34 - the target audience for the music business - say music is 
getting  worse.  

"Even  if our parents didn't like how loud rock 'n' roll was, or that it was  
revolutionary, at least they could listen to some of it," said Christina  
Tjoelker, 49, from Snohomish, Wash.  "It wasn't gross. It wasn't disgusting. It 
wasn't about beating up women or  shooting the police." 

The  last CD she bought was Neil Diamond's new one, "because Oprah was raving 
about  it," she said. 

Overall,  music fans were split on why music sales have been declining for 
the past five  years: 33 percent said it was because of illegal downloads, 29 
percent said it  was because of competition from other forms of entertainment, 
21 percent blamed  it on the quality of music getting worse and 13 percent said 
it was because CDs  are too expensive. 

FM  radio is still the main way most fans find out about new music, according 
to the  poll. Television shows are a distant second. 

Rock  'n' roll is the most popular style of music, cited by 26 percent of the 
fans. It  runs neck-and-neck with country among fans ages 35 or over. 

Rap  music is the source of the biggest generation gap. Among fans under age 
35, 18  percent called rap or hip-hop their favorite style of music, the poll 
found.  Only 2 percent of people ages 35 and over said the same thing.