yes agreed P - companies want to openup new markets for sales and the sad fact is, RIFE commercial bootlegging is going on in places like Malaysia where you can buy bootlegged lazer-graphic'd cd's in the shops and markets for music, movies & s/w - , you have like an entire continent living on bootlegs which of course, they cant police without severe political implications.
As for lacking sales HERE in the west
i seem to remember back in the mid 90's the labels sacked ALL their lesser acts... There was mass sackings across the board of bands which WERE selling albums, and drawing concert crowds in reasonable sized venues etc... all were sacked. Now this was before file-sharing became an issue. So wassup with that!?
at the same time, companies in Uk issued an edict that they were not going to sign any bands aged over 25, and this happened as also radio-1 swept out it's closet, banning airplay of 'older' bands (including huge sellers like Elton John etc)
radio-1 (the main BBC UK radio station) lost all it's listeners overnight as one consequence. Sure, yes radio-1 is a great channel for the evening/night weekend, but daytime mass-figures slumped and have never recovered.
perhaps these steps taken were detrimental?... perhaps companies carved off a large chunk of their PAYING market, only to find a few years later that their newly targetted 'teen market only' was going to d/load instead as it had other competing goods vying for their pocket money, like cellphone cards
cellphone cards are MUCH more imprtant socialy to youngsters now that music... you are completely socialy cut-off without your phone, whereas no-ones going to complain if you dont have the latest CD's
cellphone credit sales to kids also have caused a huge slump in the 'sweets & candies' market apparently so I heard in the financial columns.
also, Garage music is banned in UK which is the main music kids like 'en-masse'... this no doubt accounts for lack of sales to this market cos acts are banned from main radio stations, TV and all charts, so kids instead get by on a diet of local-radio-taped music
in alot of european cities now people go round bars flogging bootlegged CD's and DVD's... again, it's easy to get 'ready-bootlegged' music for all the main commercial acts ONLY, so that takes a chunk out of their market.
I think we just have to face facts that
1. record/media/film companies cannot claim they alone are exempt from the global depression which has affected ALL other industries.
2. trends in product desirability have changed in the 'yoof' market
?
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