So, What ARE People Buying Instead Of Music?

Yesterday I asked the question, “what are people buying instead of music?”. If the free availability of music - legal or otherwise - has led to a relative decline in money spent on non-free music, where has that money gone? I got a bunch of really interesting responses, so here they are.

Tech

“Tech, above all. The most egregious piraters I know spend over $100 on Internet and mobile data a month, easy, let alone cost of hardware. Video games would be #2” (minimoonstar)

“how many records could you buy for the price of an iphone (and its monthly service contract!)” (jrichmanesq)

Videogames

“The money moms use to buy virtual goods in Zynga games was almost certainly going to the latest installment of the Rod Stewart Songbook series not long ago.” (crumbler)

“the industry’s seeing record turnovers and AAA titles now get lots of media coverage at launch. Might still be more niche in terms of consumption, but the $$ are there…” (hndrk)

Food

“ I would totally agree that I buy craft beer and good food rather than records much of the time. I’ll happily pay $20 for a burger and beer on the way to a concert and not spend any money on the band.” (beckyontheinternet)

“Food is really the only consumer product that hasn’t seen a “cheap and cheerful” sector arise. And health care is becoming the developed world’s no#1 concern, and food is a part of soft health care.” (teenageart)

Books

“I can only speak for myself but since I can get the music I want for free I spend what little spare cash I have (which trust me is very little) on books. And comic books.” (andrewtsks)

Stuff

“ I’d like to say BOOKS and other less-pirateable and more sentimental media, but the sensible answer is probably ‘***’: rent, food, heating, travel etc.” (littlejoeii)

“if the (average) cost of music has dropped, maybe other forms of entertainment (let alone anything else) have become more expensive, not necessarily consumed more?” (hardcorefornerds)

What I Think!

Speaking for myself I think tech is both likely candidate and hidden cost - because it’s intangible I don’t feel it as a discretionary purchase, more as a utility. I have also bought more books in the last few years than I had for decades, food prices keep rising… I do buy apps but not expensive ones, and while I don’t pirate games many do, but in general I’m not sure about the videogames cannibalise music argument - this was advanced in the 90s but both industries were booming simultaneously then.

More generally what thinking about this points up is something I don’t think I’ve ever seen acknowledged in the piracy debate. That lost money has gone somewhere. It’s not just been saved up or spent on evil pirate cocaine or all been siphoned into Kim Dotcom’s pockets. It’s now being spent on other things. Good things. Deserving things, very often, made by creative and talented people, just like the people who make music. So turning the clock back and getting people to pay for music again - if that’s the industry plan - contains an unspoken trap. If, magically, free music were to vanish and all music had to be paid for again, people would be in a position of choosing between music and the stuff they now spend music dollars on. And there is no guarantee at all they’d say “goodbye books, tech, food and games, come back music!”. And if they did, what happens to that stuff?

(Or, of course, the restoration of the CREATIVE ECONOMY to full bloom would mean a return to growth which increased the disposable income of the music-buying middle and working classes, and all would be well. Hurrah!)

Hey look, it’s Becky up there!

Also, I’m kinda surprised that clothes didn’t come up at all. A lot of people (certainly me) have gotten used to the idea of paying a lot more for nice, new clothes when ten years ago I mainly shopped vintage and thought any garment over $100 was a crazy luxury. Part of this is just fairly normal becoming-an-adult and wanting to look presentable, but it’s also that hip culture has gotten a lot more aspirational in the last decade. I think a lot of kids ten years younger than me care a lot more about fashion and are much more comfortable spending money on clothes than I was at that age. At any rate, clothes are probably my number one non-essential expense and this is, straight-up, money I used to spend on records and CDs.

Also, yeah, foodie culture is a thing. I spend way more now on nice foodstuffs than I used to, which is (again) partly just growing up and partly the aspirationalization of eating.