iTunes vs CD sales revenue

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 9:35 am

Interesting article around Weird Al's statement that he gets far more from CD sales than digital downloads. They go on to analyze the two scenarios. Not sure quite how accurate it all is, but it does make a good read and starts to get at the components of each transaction.

Post by **Spud** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:17 pm

Octothorpe makes roughly 5 times as much from digital downloads.

boltoph · Post by **boltoph** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 3:06 pm

Spud wrote:Octothorpe makes roughly 5 times as much from digital downloads.

Yeah, so does Boltoph.

5 x 0 = 0

I make all my money playing live gigs. The vibe of live music is something that can never be replaced by a CD or an MP3.

sausage boy · Post by **sausage boy** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 5:37 pm

I'm working from the boltoph system of finance as well.

It is interesting to note that the article has more to do with artists who have their digital downloads managed by a record label, which applies to... lets see, no one around here, as far as I can tell.

I wonder how much iTunes would pay for a Sausage Boy song?

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 4:07 am

sausage boy wrote:It is interesting to note that the article has more to do with artists who have their digital downloads managed by a record label, which applies to... lets see, no one around here, as far as I can tell.

I figured even indie musicians might like to have some insights into how things work, since some of them do make money on their recorded music and others are simply...interested. No one source is the "truth", so a variety of articles helps to form opinion. If you have other input I'd be...interested.

sausage boy · Post by **sausage boy** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 4:44 am

roymond wrote:
sausage boy wrote:It is interesting to note that the article has more to do with artists who have their digital downloads managed by a record label, which applies to... lets see, no one around here, as far as I can tell.
I figured even indie musicians might like to have some insights into how things work, since some of them do make money on their recorded music and others are simply...interested. No one source is the "truth", so a variety of articles helps to form opinion. If you have other input I'd be...interested.

Sorry if that sounded negative. I found the article quite interesting. I was just doing that thing where I state a blatantly obvious fact and make a complete fool of myself.

It makes me wonder, though, in the case of guys like Kompressor and Frontalot, do they make more from albums or downloads?

boltoph · Post by **boltoph** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 11:28 am

I forgot to mention that yea, it is an interesting article, thanks Roymond. It is interesting to see the financials of where the money goes...

I thought it was also interesting that they didn't really touch on all the file sharing that happens with the MP3's, but really, that can happen from the CD as well, so I guess it's not really an issue regarding the revenues of MP3 vs. CD.

Perhaps some of this is due to the MP3-selling industry as still being in it's childhood stages, but it's nice to see people still put value on the CD. I like having the CD, myself, because from there, one can have the MP3's as well, and still have the high quality finished product of the CD.

sausage boy wrote:It makes me wonder, though, in the case of guys like Kompressor and Frontalot, do they make more from albums or downloads?

I was wondering this, too. I think that the target audience probably plays a big role in this, as well, and wouldn't be surprised to hear that these "newer" guys make more revenue off of MP3 sales...considering that Weird Al surfaced in the 80's and probably has a much different fan base.

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 8:17 am

boltoph wrote: I thought it was also interesting that they didn't really touch on all the file sharing that happens with the MP3's, but really, that can happen from the CD as well, so I guess it's not really an issue regarding the revenues of MP3 vs. CD.

Well, really, most of the online music stores are NOT using MP3 because the RIAA is worried about this. They're using DRM'ed crap which you can't share unless you somehow cracked them. Only a couple like Emusic actually use MP3.
-bill