Print is Dead: Books in Our Digital Age

The New York Times had a story earlier this week entitled “ The Album, a Commodity in Disfavor,” which talks about — as have many stories lately — how declining CD sales and the rise of digital downloads are contributing to the death of the full-length record. And what’s interesting is that this is being caused by consumers, newly empowered by online stores such as iTunes that allow them to purchase single songs instead of entire records. Because of this, “to the regret of music labels everywhere … fans are buying fewer and fewer full albums,” writesthe Times. “In the shift from CDs to digital music, buyers can now pick the individual songs they like without having to pay upward of $10 for an album.” And after gradually eating into CD sales for the past five years, digital downloading is about to reach its digital tipping point (which spells trouble for, if not the beginning of the end of, the LP). More from the Times: “Because of this shift in listener preferences — a trend reflected everywhere from blogs posting select MP3s to reviews of singles in Rolling Stone — record labels are coming to grips with the loss of the album as their main product and chief moneymaker.”

Looked at in terms of the “print is dead” debate, if records die as a concept (which is different from CDs dying as a format), i.e. there will no longer be immersive listening experiences with a beginning, middle and end, this could end up having deep and troubling ramifications for print publishers. For example, an entire generation used to buying and listening only to unconnected songs (not to mention shuffling them and listening to them in a random order), will no longer have the patience for long narrative works of fiction. This mindset has already given rise to Youtube’s “clip culture,” but it could soon give rise to the “snippet culture” which has already been discussed in this context elsewhere.

In terms of the Times story, while it seems to show a glimmer of insight on behalf of industry executives (“Executives maintain that they must establish more lasting connections with fans who may well lose interest if forced to wait two years or more before their favorite artist releases new music”) this is unfortunately not being reflected by the current actions of the Record Industry Association of America, who continues to vigorously go after file-sharers. The latest target of their lawsuits has been college students, which is beyond ridiculous since college students is who they should be courting, not trying to get into court. So while some record executives are lamenting the death of the record, the RIAA continues to the nail the coffin shut. Newspaper, magazine and books publishers will hopefully better handle their digital transition.

The Album, a Commodity in Disfavor