RECORD LABELS HAVE SOLD AN estimated $2 billion worth of music online or through mobile phones in 2006, doubling the previous year’s sales and accounting for 10% of the total music market, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s Digital Music Report 2007. Read the whole story at Mediapost.
This story is important to newsagents for two reasons: recharge business has not peaked yet – sales of recharge for products like iTunes, BOPO will grow and need to ensure we can service this efficiently and for an equitable return; also, the disruption which has hit music will hit publications. Consumers have demonstrated they want what they want and not necessarily the extras surrounding what they want. i.e. they want a song or to but not always the whole album.
Consumers want stories and not necessarily the whole magazine or newspaper package. TV, Radio and music have been broken down. Aggregating product have been replaced by single songs, single shows and even individual stories from TV shows. This will happen in the printed space.
By planning for these changes newsagents can build business models which serve well into the future.