Unit CD sales were down 10% last year, the first double
digit drop ever. Some
argue that there might be reasons contributing to this other than piracy, but
it's pretty hard to ignore the nose on your face. The rest of the evidence is
largely anecdotal as it is essentially impossible to survey a pirate
market. A
recent article in the LA Times -- I think on 12/2 -- reported that many
college
networks have maxed out on their bandwidth due to massive student
downloading of
music files and videos during the evening hours.
Could it just possibly be that consumers are seeing CDs as expensive, poor
values, and don't like the fact that say the last three albums they bought
all suck except for the single getting airplay? Take a listen to radio, are
you hearing anything that really makes you want to buy it?
9/11 wasn't exactly a small event either.