Here’s the bad news: album sales in the U.S. are down to levels not seen in decades. And here’s some other news: music consumers may spend $46 billion on streaming services by 2018.
The last part is not labeled as good news because it depends on the perspective. For example, if you are in the business of selling albums, neither of those pieces of information are particularly good news. If you are an artist in the business of selling your music, however, the $46 billion number may be great news.
The Future of Music Subscription
ABI Research reports that subscription services will generate $46 billion in consumer spending over the next six years, which will amount to about $32 billion in trade value for the industry. While many including Billboard are reporting that this may be a very optimistic forecast, the fact remains that subscription services are gaining subscribers at high rates; in fact, ABI reports that the number of total subscribers will reach 29 million by the end of this year.
And many more users are likely to come in the coming years, particularly as Apple iTunes Radio and Google Play All Access Music, both announced this year, come into the market. The question is whether all of these services will act to complement to album sales, or if they will become a replacement for sales. While many in the industry have not seen streaming service as a major threat to album sales, if these forecasts prove true, they may be rethinking their stance.
U.S. Album Sales Hit Record Lows
Billboard also reports that U.S. album sales both physical and digital have been below 5 million for each of the past five consecutive weeks. That’s the first time that has happened since Nielsen SoundScan began counting album sales in 1991. Additionally, for the past two of those weeks, album sales have hit record lows.
The music trade magazine reports that CD sales are down 14.1 percent so far this year compared to the same time last year. While digital album sales have increased, their rate of increase is not as high as it has been in the past few years.
Still, this may not tell the whole story. Summer is known for having fairly unimpressive release lineups anyway, so that may be factoring into the sales slump. Additionally, it is too early to tell how correlated the rise in streaming subscriptions is to the fall of album sales. The subscription market is still in its infancy, and time will tell the lasting implications of the new industry. It hasn’t yet been proven how many people will be willing to pay for subscriptions -- and perhaps more importantly, it hasn’t been shown how much they are willing to pay, either.
What we do know now, however, is that on-demand subscription services like Spotify are major players in the digital music industry, and can be a great way for indie artists to spread the word about their music.
Make Pro Songs
There are 8 unique value-points inside the Sage Audio membership, so let’s go over each one so you can decide if it’s the right fit for you.
1. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You’ll get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
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2. 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio 1:1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us to answer all your questions and receive unlimited advanced mixing feedback directly from us.
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3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited mixing feedback so you can improve your mixes quickly.
- This is highly valuable - giving you access to a thriving community of mixing engineers who can provide feedback about what you can improve before sending your mix to be professionally mastered.
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4. Sage Audio University™ (SAU) — (Mixing and Mastering Education Platform)
- SAU is a modern audio engineering education platform that includes in-depth mixing and mastering course curriculums that match the new music industry.
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- SAU course curriculums include Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website, social channels, and portfolio for as long as you remain a member.
- Get first access to all future SAU course curriculums to continually build and refine your mixing and mastering skills as the industry evolves.
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5. Mixing and Mastering Competitions
- Compete in Mixing Competitions and Mastering Competitions to win prizes and connect with friends and colleagues.
- This is a great collaborative way to improve your skills alongside both aspiring engineers and seasoned industry professionals.
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6. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
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7. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content, Including:
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 58 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
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8. 700+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into playlists so you can take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your mixing and mastering skills at your own pace.
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