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.
![Shopping for Music Online Mini CD in shopping cart isolated on white](https://api.sageaudio.com/storage/article/uploads/2013-10-Music_Streaming_Subscriptions_Sales-300x300.jpg)
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.
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
- SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes 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 and social channels.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
- Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
- Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
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3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
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4. 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 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 mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
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5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
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6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
- 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).
- 71 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
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7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily 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 skills at your own pace.
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