The Shift Toward Digital Continues
Still not convinced that the world is going digital? Today, USA Today ran a story about U.S. music album sales. Get this: 2005 album sales were down 7% from the previous year while digital downloads of music doubled!
The article goes on to note that this isn’t particularly bad news for recording companies, but “it doesn’t bode well for music retailers.” Why? Because digital downloads bypass them entirely.
As I pointed out in my first and second posts on the future of digital book publishing, I believe that the music industry, while different, is a harbinger of things to come in the book industry. Before you post a comment that “digital books will never replace traditional books, blah, blah, blah,” keep in mind that that’s not my argument. I am simply arguing that a shift will occur once the right device appears. Like it or not, digital books will take a slice of the pie.
If 5–10% of book sales go digital, it will have a significant impact on the industry. There will be winners and losers. The winners will be those companies who see digital books coming and prepare accordingly. The losers will be those who stick their head in the sand and refuse to acknowledge that the world is changing.
I didn’t spend any time in my previous posts about the impact on book retailers, but that is clearly something that needs to be addressed. Music retailers are already feeling the impact of digital music downloads. Book retailers are in a good position to begin thinking about this issue before the tsunami hits them.
Technorati Tags: books, ebooks, future, publishing, technology
Posted on December 29, 2005
In: Publishing
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