Arctic Monkeys debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not recently became the fastest selling debut album in UK chart history, selling over 360,000 copies in its first week alone. However, the band’s huge fan base was not built up by clever marketing gimmicks; instead it arose almost by accident as a result of fans putting their 2003 demo CD on the Internet to download for free.
Whatever People Say… is widely available to download, for free through a file-sharing program (technically illegal), or paid for, through an on-line music store (legal). Major record labels such as EMI have argued that anyone downloading music for free is stealing from the artists. As CD sales have fallen over recent years and legal downloads have risen in their short lifetime, we could be forgiven for thinking that downloading is the future of music sales. But the band’s CD sales have ultimately come because of downloading, not despite it. So is the group’s success a one-off, or is it the future of the music industry?
What it shows is that the Internet can be used to promote a new band to an almost unlimited audience, which is certainly something that the major labels will be interested in. Meanwhile, high street music stores will be giving thanks for a small miracle: the album’s success could not have come at a better time than the difficult post-Christmas sales period. It is doubtful, however, that the band’s achievements will be equalled for a while.
Whatever People Say… is widely available to download, for free through a file-sharing program (technically illegal), or paid for, through an on-line music store (legal). Major record labels such as EMI have argued that anyone downloading music for free is stealing from the artists. As CD sales have fallen over recent years and legal downloads have risen in their short lifetime, we could be forgiven for thinking that downloading is the future of music sales. But the band’s CD sales have ultimately come because of downloading, not despite it. So is the group’s success a one-off, or is it the future of the music industry?
What it shows is that the Internet can be used to promote a new band to an almost unlimited audience, which is certainly something that the major labels will be interested in. Meanwhile, high street music stores will be giving thanks for a small miracle: the album’s success could not have come at a better time than the difficult post-Christmas sales period. It is doubtful, however, that the band’s achievements will be equalled for a while.
They are the right band at the right time – the perfect antidote to X-Factor nobodies at a time when people are starting to realise the potential of the Internet. But the future, as nice as it sounds, is unlikely to be filled with new bands discovered by fans. Instead, things will return to how they were – bland, soulless singers ‘discovered’ by television shows will dominate the charts. We are at a musical peak right now, enjoy it while it lasts.
1 comment:
Cool.
I was reading an article about this a few days ago.
Intresting stuff and shows how the internet can help enhance sales of bands material.
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