Not one album has gone platinum this year.

[Pat Vegas]

unless this has changed since a few weeks ago.

Music RIP. There will be many talented musicians who will never be seen as it's not a viable career anymore.

Somebody needs to come along and shake up the industry. I.E me.

I wouldn't be surprised all these illegal downloader types are now working for Sheffield United.

[71 Guns - channeling the spirit of Mr Hat]

after you've nicked it from HMV.

[Pat Vegas]

They charge too much.

For a simple t-shirt they are charging 25 quid they can get f**ked.

[redgunamo]

you did because of your passion for it, funded by your viable career, or day-job.

Of course, the Big Con, from Elgar to Elvis to Eminem, has been that it wasn't about the money.

[Pat Vegas]

But it's not cheap.

Though recording stuff is cheaper with todays technology.

I like the music. I'd rather make an album than go on a big tour.

Therefore I should become a session guitarist. Though I am not that good yet. But I will be.

[redgunamo]

[Pat Vegas]

rather than just an hour here or there a day.

[redgunamo]

already described the thing as a viable career, i.e. work.

[Berni]

music simply isn't a viable business model anymore. It's a means to get yourself popular enough that people will pay to see you live. That's the way to make money now. You can't sit there complaining that the system as it exists isn't fair. The recorded music goldmine is nearly empty - adapt or die.

[redgunamo]

glwtpimo.

[Monty91]

Singing optional

[Berni]

irritates me. Prior to the early 20th Century, recorded music simply wasn't available, so musicians made their livings by playing live or - if they were really good - getting patrons. Some composers made a living from sheet music as well, but not many.

The music industry as we have known it was just a bubble based on a certain model that reinforced the roles of technological gatekeepers and narrowed supply down to a level where demand was constantly unsatisfied and people got hugely rich as a result. This idea that music should be a route to enormous wealth - or even a living - is a pretty new one and is not long for this world.

[redgunamo]

[redgunamo]

We can all see that there's a distinct lack of sympathy from the public-at-large.

[Brentwood]

Then came the alarm clock and they weren't needed any longer. There are loads of examples of professions changing as a result of technology.

[Brentwood]

[Berni]

Is that good for music? Not for me to say, but it seems to be giving the public the faceless, here-today-gone-tomorrow, anodyne pap they clearly crave, so I can't argue with it.