Digital Home Thoughts: Joe Public to Music Industry: "Your Music Sucks"

"The music industry has long blamed rampant illegal file-sharing as the primary cause of its declining revenues. And with digital music fans flocking to P2P services in record numbers last December, that argument continues to have supporting data. But music fans themselves disagree, according to poll results released today. The poll, conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of the Associated Press and Rolling Stone, found that most music fans think that the declining quality of music and expensive CD prices are to blame for the industry's woes. Global music retail revenues fell about 2 percent in 2005, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, and have fallen about 20 percent globally since 1999."

I'm not one of those people who believes that there's no good music out today - I still pick up, on average, 30-60 CDs a year. There's a lot of good music out there, and not just one song on a CD. However, it seems that the people surveyed here tend to disagree, and it doesn't surprise me. CD prices are still too expensive - if an album is $9.95 CND, I'll take a chance and buy it even if I'm iffy about the music. At $18 CND, I'm far less likely. For me, the evil DRM found on so many albums now is becoming a huge factor - ever since my scarring DRM experience I haven't purchased many CDs, mostly because it's becoming such a hassle to buy a CD and rip it.

Has DRM impacted your purchasing patterns? Or the quality of the music out now? Think back five years to 2001 - are you buying less albums? Or are you buying more digital singles, but less actual albums?