From: "Tom Fine" <[log in to unmask]>
> No sales information I have seen confirms this. All information I've seen
> indicates that the high-volume music buyers are young and that music
> consumption trails off steadily into adulthood (mortgage-holder years) and
> does not return in old age (due to lost interest and/or encroaching
> deafness, I always assumed). A niche market of wealthy older enthusiasts
> does exist, but it's not where the big bux are made. However, the last
> time I saw demographic info was early in this century. I can't imagine
> there was a huge consumption shift in the last decade but I might be wrong
> on that. And, if there was, why is the industry hurting so much from young
> people losing interest?
>
> Here's another scary proposition for the music companies -- if young
> people aren't buying what they're selling and older people aren't
> interested in the new-release stuff, how many times can the companies
> re-sell the same old stuff to the older people? I know in my case, at this
> point, I'm satisfied with the versions I have of almost all "back-catalog"
> music and new purchases are additions to the collection, usually from the
> "back catalog" but a few new releases are of interest each year. So, once
> I bought the round of CD's, that was it, they can't re-sell me. There's no
> format on the horizon that will change that. Anyone with half a brain can
> rip their CD's to their iPod so only fools go and re-buy stuff as lossy
> digital files. There were a certain percent of these fools for a while,
> and I think that inflated the download business for a brief time, and now
> they're done and have all the music they want so it's growing at about 6%,
> which is a logical expectation.
>
This is the EXACT reason I collect 78rpm phonorecords! A very small fraction
of my holdings
have been re-released on CD (and/or vinyl)...in fact I have purchased
several "CD sets" of
re-released music...! However, many (including my many Grey Gull discs) have
NOT been
re-released...and it is very unlikely that they WON'T be...?!

Steven C. Barr