Newton Faulkner new Number 1 album Sales what do you think

[in a mo]

The sales for Newton Faulkner sales for his new album 16,000 what do you think No1 album with sutch low sales.

[andy-hughes]

It says much about trends in music consumption in modern times.

When I was a teenager, people bought albums because they were likely to be a collection of songs by artist you enjoyed, and you would probably like at least eighty percent of the contents.

With modern outlets, tastes have changed. The album is becoming redundant, as people go for 'tracks' which they simply download, and often for free, which means that the album as a solid entity like a CD sees its days numbered.

It's a sobering thought that if the total sales of Westlife's fourteen Number One singles were added together, they would still not equal the sales of any one of The Beatles' chart toppers.

Statistics like that demonstrate just how little modern consumers consider musid as an important part of their lives - because it is absolutely everywhere, so the 'secialness' of great pop nas been diluted beyond repair.

Pop music, like everything else, evolves, and more importatnly so does the consumption of it.

In my teens, the indifference to popular music would not hit people until their mid-twenties at least, when mortgages and babies took over their attention, and their disposable income - but these days, teenagers seem to exhibit that sense of bordom already, with so many other digital toys clamouring for their attention.

I am glad to have lived my teens when I did - I was sixteen in 1970, and the heyday of wonderful music was unfolding before my ears. It's a shame that my children and grandchildren don't feel the same way about music as I did then.

[Duncer]

Hear, hear. I despair of the music industry these days as it is mostly carefully packaged pap with little content or talent. Bands are no longer allowed time to grow and I fear the death of CDs is imminent.

[in a mo]

Andy -Hughes I have to say ,I enjoyed your answer very much ,thank you.
I fell in love with music when I was about 12 years old I used to listen to the radio under the bedclothes ,I started by playing the drums shortly after, actually the drums were an assortment of biscuit tins filled with books/cloth depending what sort of sound I wanted ,I decided to learn to play the guitar which I still play now ,{my Band played around Europe maybe I will learn to play one day,} when I was old enough I used to go into town to Woolworth s first then I upgraded to Virgin ,I would spend hours picking out albums that were bring played in the shop ,of course then the album covers would be so full of information pictures and inside the sleeve would be extra pictures and the words to the songs,brilliant ,I miss that so much .
I am still in love with music and comedy,I still to this day follow the charts both Album and Singles,

[andy-hughes]

Thanks for your kind words in a mo.

As you may know, I am fortunate to have a part-time career as a music writer, which serves my ever-growing passion for music very well.

i am often asked by people my age (I am fifty-seven) why I am still so passionate about music? My answer has to be carefully phrased so as not to appear aggresive, but it's basically - Why are you not passionate anymore! I have simply carried on with the passion I have had since i was in my teens, you are the one who has lost it - and that seems odd to me, even though I am in a seriously small minority given my abuility to pursue my passion by meeting and interviewing musical heroes on a regular basis.

It is a shame that the music industry has become top-heavy with the 'industry' bit, which hias increasingly less to do with cutting-edge worthwile lasting music, and everything to do with lowest common denominator TV-based bland forgettable pop. Oh well, i will carry on until I am no l,onger able, and when I go, assuming the present Mrs Hughes rememebrs, my coffin will decend into the flames to the sound of the attached.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAF9GMqiRbs

[Sipowicz]

andy, where will I find your interview with Tom Petty?

[andy-hughes]

You won't Sipowicz! It evaporated, after fulsome promises from managament, and a trip planned to London to see the wonderful TP for the first time since 1973 (!) it all went belly-up and the passes and agrteed intervies vapourised.

Musicians - what can you do!!!

[Duncer]

Andy, I am in the same boat, only for football. Can we do a swop of comps?

You're a very lucky man indeed. I briefly lost my passion for a while due to a number of reasons, mostly when I was in the Middle East, but it was reignited by seeing Neil Young live in the late nineties and I now take in many, many gigs each year, not to mention trawling Amazon and other sites to replace/replenish/augment my collection. You summed it all up so well.