According to the Nielsen Co.’s SoundScan Service,
“Music sales have declined for the seventh time in the past eight years, and paid-for digital downloads have not grown fast enough.”
In congruence with this data, Nielsen also reports that “Hip-hop record sales have declined by over 20 percent, which is more than most genres with the exception of Latin, country and classical music.”
What is the culprit for the decline in hip-hop album sales? Some commentators would simply state that the economic recession is the underlying reason.
To be sure, I would agree that the Great Recession, which most economists concur started in 2007, played a part in the declining sales over the past several years.
Additionally, one cannot overlook the adverse effects that piracy and illegal file sharing has had on the Hip-Hop industry. But, beyond these external culprits, I believe that the overall stagnancy and degenerating condition of this culture that began in the South Bronx can be linked to one primary reason- the commercialization of non-value adding and non-substantive Hip-Hop.
Peep The Rest Of This Interesting Insight On The Decline Of Hip-Hop At: The Atlanta Post
