http://www.youtube.com/ryanleslietv

Good music, support it in whatever format it’s available! Sales will never be the same though its a new day jus like cassettes faded away so are cd’s!

Soon enough CDs won’t be the way to go just as Cassette tapes are practically gone now. We will soon consume music in a different way. Artist are going to be selling their music digitally whether it is through ITunes or some brand new way or whatever.

Jay-Z is on top of this. He knows people ain’t buying CDs that is why LiveNation signed him. Expect BIG THINGS from Jay-Z to market a new way to consume music in the next 5 years or so.

Think about it. Innovate!

‘84-’89(”the Golden Era”)-Hip Hop is now truly away of life (dress, talk, videos, dance, etc.) This is the period that everybody thinks about when they refer to the “80’s” (Run-DMC, LL, EPMD, Big Daddy Kane, Beasty Bots, etc). Also this is the begining of concious rap (Boogie Down Productions, Eric B and Rakim, Public Enemy, De La Soul, etc.) The concious rap influence had other stuff to support it also (at the time the Cosby Show and A Different World, along with film makers like Spike Lee were pumping black conciousness and positivity) Record sales were increasing,the same mediums were used, but tapes by now were No.1, and it still was a long slow process, and to be perfectly honest blank tapes were not that cheap. So bootlegging still hadn’t done any damage yet.

‘89-’94/’94-’99-(Begining of Gangsta Rap)(Rise of the South)Most people are more familiar with this era, East vs. West beef, Biggie and Tupac, Outkast, No Limit, Cash Money, and the definite rise of a lot of superstars that are still doing their thing). This is when Hip-Hop became SUPER-COMMERCIAL and this was the begining of the used of CDs. CDs were very expensive when they dropped, Blank CDs were very expensive also. CD burners were not that easy to get either. Along with internet connections being very slow, this made downloading impractical (one song could take HOURS, if you could even find something on the net). Music sales boomed, it was now unusual if your album DIDN’T go platinum (or viewed as a failure, if it didn’t). But the bootleggers were starting to catch up.

‘99-’04- Hip Hop is selling big numbers, on national labels and independents, but bootlegging was in full swing now, and the industry was starting to feel it. the peer-to-peer sharing over the internet is when it all went overboard. Who would pay $12-$20 for a CD, when they could now (with a little effort) get it for free. This is the start of the “copy the hit formula”. This is were record companies are constantly put out act or shaping acts to sound like what has sold well before. This is because they couldn’t afford too many losses on “original and artistic” work, because record sales were the most important thing. Jay-Z, 50, Kanye, even Nelly(strictly mentioned for record sales) were the last of the mega-platinum artists.

‘04-’08- Hip Hop sales are in BIGGGG trouble. Internet connections are the fastest ever. Blank CDs are now very cheap in bulk. Super speed, multi disc burners are very cheap also, along with the general price of computers going down also. This had led to era of the bootlegger. It literally is easier to buy music on the streets than it is in the store. It’s everywhere I go, and hella cheap. This will not stop, and it will destroy the music industry as we know it. If you are putting millions into artist development, production of albums, and promotions, but only get back a 10/th of your investment (even with decent sales, buy today’s standards) then you won’t stay in business for long. This is exactly what is happening to record companies now. I, mean, nowadays 500,000 in your first week is super good, when just a couple of years ago, shipping platinum was EXPECTED out of a good artist.

Think about it.