Posted by Keith

So here we are then at the end of another decade.
The noughties began with the record companies screaming and complaining that illegal downloading was killing the music industry. It would have been difficult to imagine then, how by the end of the decade, these same record companies would be embracing the downloading phenomenon so enthusiastically. So much so that, we now have a situation whereby, these same companies no longer feel a need to issue any physical product at all to represent a large number of their current singles releases.
At the end of the decade however, they’re still screaming and complaining that illegal downloading is killing the music industry.
Looking at the chart of the top 50 best selling singles of the noughties below, I can’t help thinking that maybe there’s another reason why music is not selling anywhere near as well as it’s sold in previous decades.
When I became a serious music fan at the age of twelve in 1972, the record companies of the day were screaming and complaining that home taping was killing the music industry. Yes, I would sit in front of the radio all day with my cassette recorder. Poised, ready to record and examine anything that sounded half decent. Then after careful consideration, would decide which of these recordings I would then spend ALL of my disposable income on.
Forty years later, almost all of the acts that I discovered in the early seventies are still selling albums by the shed load. Some of the original vinyl singles and albums that I purchased at the time, sell today for hundreds of pounds apiece.
So then, were the contemporary acts of the sixties and seventies really creating music that was of more value than the acts listed below, or am I just being sentimental?
Who knows, maybe in forty years time, many of these acts will still be selling records by the shed load. Maybe an original CD by Gareth Gates will be selling on eBay for hundreds of pounds. That’s assuming of course Gareth’s record label have bothered to issue any of his recordings on CD.

Anyway, have a look at the chart and let us all know what you think.