"Without music, I'll go crazy." -Marvin Gaye, from Eric Sermon's remix "Just Like Music"
If Marvin Gaye were alive, perhaps he could do without the music that permeates our airwaves today. Then again, the great soul singer would probably be like millions- if not billions- of others who have simply stopped buying music.
The music industry has been sagging for several years, with popular music turning into a Jay-Z beer song or a Diddy dance. A major problem facing the industry, in addition to the gross lack of good music, continues to be downloads. Recent studies, according to PRWEB, show that 44 percent of domestic piracy losses suffered by the U.S. motion picture industry - more than a half billion dollars annually - can be attributed to college students, while a Spring 2006 survey by Student Monitor found more than half of all college students download music and movies illegally.
"Even piracy is down because there is nothing out there that people want to hear or that people can relate to," a Warner Music executive told this column, on the condition she not be named. Warner Music Group Corp., home to artists such as Madonna and Linkin Park, reported a wider fiscal second-quarter loss, the result of a decline in revenue and costs of a restructuring that includes eliminating about 400 jobs, or 10 percent of its workforce, the Associated Press said.
The New York-based recording company lost $27 million, or 19 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31, compared with a loss of $7 million, or 5 cents per share, a year ago.
Excluding one-time items, losses totaled 10 cents per share in the latest quarter.
Revenue fell 2 percent to $784 million from $796 million in the year-ago quarter, which included stronger recorded music sales. Analysts expected a loss of 9 cents per share on revenue of $738.1 million, according to a Thomson Financial poll
The biggest stories in music recently hasn't been about the product either. Rumors tend to bring artists to the forefront more now than ever. Las Vegas gossip columnists continue to speculate on the next Michael Jackson project, which would be his first since escaping child molestation charges in 2005, even though the long-dethroned pop king is without a record or distribution deal. Even American Idol tried to spark interest by touting what they apparently saw as a history making music event. Ryan Seacrest and the gang promoted the heck out of the pairing of the most "famous names in music history" for a show last month. The pairing turned out to be Celine Dion and a stand-in for the long dead Elvis Presley. Reports recently swirled that Jay-Z had died in a plane crash. But Beyonce's best man was later spotted partying with Diddy, Nelly, 50 Cent and othes in Las Vegas. "That's how they make news," Jay-Z said. "They have nothing else to talk about, so they make (stuff) up." But that's the problem. Musically, there isn't anything to talk about.
While Marvin Gaye sleeps in death, it may not be premature to put R.I.P. next to the words Music Industry.
