The times, they are a'changin'
This is a fascinating little animated pie chart that shows US record industry sales by type of product, every year for the last 20 years (1980 - 2010). It isn't until 1983 that CDs even make an appearance, which of course is why this particular stretch of time is crucial, because it's when Everything Started To Change.
I wish that the graphic were available as individual charts, though, or a slideshow with speed options, because I can't take in all of the information with as quickly as it cycles through. I did find it interesting that since their introduction, music videos seem to reliably account for 2-5% of sales. Which seems quite low at first, for something that tends to be fairly costly to produce (OK Go excepted *g*), but of course one of the main points of a video is that it helps drive sales of singles and albums (digital or physical, nowadays!). Looks like that much is still a viable business model.
ETA: Individual charts are available here.
I wish that the graphic were available as individual charts, though, or a slideshow with speed options, because I can't take in all of the information with as quickly as it cycles through. I did find it interesting that since their introduction, music videos seem to reliably account for 2-5% of sales. Which seems quite low at first, for something that tends to be fairly costly to produce (OK Go excepted *g*), but of course one of the main points of a video is that it helps drive sales of singles and albums (digital or physical, nowadays!). Looks like that much is still a viable business model.
ETA: Individual charts are available here.