More Bad News for traditional media

A recent piece in The Economist has an interesting take on the competition between physical media products and the digital world.  In "Not Worth Nicking," they look at criminal activity in the UK - with a focus on what is being stolen.

“Years ago, you’d see a man in a pub selling CDs,” says Eric Phelps, a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. “Not any more.” Indeed, thefts of entertainment products like CDs and DVDs have collapsed in England and Wales, to the point that they are now taken in just 7% of all burglaries in which something is stolen

 The article contributes the decline to the drop in the price and value of recorded content from legal outlets, and that the "dishonest" can get pirated digital versions for free.

On the other hand, computers and digital devices are not only valuable, but increasingly portable, 

On a side note, the recording industry in the U.S. reported that digital music sales in the U.S. topped sales of physical media products for the first time.  Digital music sales accounted for 50.3% of purchases in 2011, while sales of physical copies dropped 5%.

The most recent Nielsen Company & Billboard’s 2011 Music Industry Report also found that:

• In 2011, more than 76,000 albums were released that sold at least 1 copy
• There were 1.27 billion digital tracks sold in 2011, a new record (up 8.4% from 2010)
• Digital album sales reached a new all-time high of 103.1 million sales, upf nearly 20% from 2010
• Top genres in 2011 were: Rap and Electronic (up 42%), Country and R&B (up 27%) and Latin (up 23%)
• For the first time ever, a digital song had more than five million downloads in a calendar year; Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep” (5.8 million) and LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” (5.5 million) both topped the mark
• For the first time, more than 100 Digital Songs (112) exceeded the 1 million sales mark for the year
• In 2011 there were 38 different digital songs with sales that exceeded two million (there were 37 in 2010, 31 in 2009, 19 in 2008 and nine in 2007)
• In 2011, eight different artists broke the 10 million digital track sales mark
• In 2011, 31% of albums were purchased from online sources,  31% from mass merchant outlets (like WalMart), 20% were bought at retail stores, and only 7% came from independent music stores

It sure does look like digital is winning.

Sources -  Not Worth Nicking, The Economist
See Ya, CDs: Digital Music Sales Overtakes Physical Media, PCWorld
The Nielsen Company & Billboard’s 2011 Music Industry Report, BusinessWire