Music Sales

From today's Teletext:

"Music sales in the UK have fallen for the sixth consecutive year, according to the British record industry's trade association.

The British Recorded Music Industry (BPI) said combined digital and physical album sales fell 7% last year, from £128.9M to £119.9.

The 2009 saw an overall drop of 3.5%, despite a rise in download sales.

Digital analyst Mark Mulligan said the figures were not surprising, adding "alternative products are needed".

Like what? Music holograms? The quality of music reproduction has gone down since vinyls, and so have sales. And so, probably, the overall quality and diversity of music being offered to the public.

The publishing industry is the next in line to feel the squeeze from big conglomerates putting all their weight behind all these eBook reading gadgets – which are nothing but a thinly veiled of being able to check and influence what people read and when.

You must have read that the average price of the top 100 books on Kindle is around £2.60. And you must have also read that 20 Waterstone's stores are going to close down this year, with an additional number of independent bookshops, no doubt.

Hearken publishers, lest ye die.