What I have learnt about the state of the music industry in 2012

There are four major record labels that dominate the industry. They are :

 However even though there are still these major record labels - the  industry is suffering from the decline of sales. The CD format is declining , due to many reasons such as music piracy. Due to this many shops are closing - for example chain store HMV is currently planning to close around 60 of its stores during this year. The industry is still making money off ITunes downloads - but this doesnt mean that people buy albums , many just buy a few tracks.

There are expections to this. Take That still manage to sell millions of albums - a reason for this may be that they attract an older audience who are used to buy actual CDs , unlike the younger audiences who download – illegally and legally. Some bands have even used some unusual techniques to sell their music. For example Radiohead , who sold their album , ‘In Rainbows’ on their own website allowing customers to pay any amount they would like.