Poll: Music Buyers Are Dissatisfied

A majority of American adults are dissatisfied with CD prices and the quality of music, according to a new Rolling Stone/Associated Press poll. Seventy-four percent believe that CDs are too expensive, but seventy-one percent consider ninety-nine cents a fair price for digital-song downloads. The music itself is getting worse, according to fifty-eight percent -- not surprisingly, though, that belief is considerably stronger among adults older than thirty-four.

Despite digital music's explosive growth, downloading remains a minority taste among adults: Only twenty-six percent of those polled have downloaded music from the Internet, legally or illegally. And a mere fifteen percent have paid for music online through services like iTunes. Thirty-three percent agree that piracy is responsible for music sales' decline during the last five years, while twenty-nine percent blame competition from other entertainment, and the remainder blame bad music and high prices.

Meanwhile, reports of terrestrial radio's impending death appear to be exaggerated. Fifty-five percent of those polled said that they discover new music via FM radio. Still, that number lowers to thirty-nine percent among those who download music. Ten percent of adults discover new acts from music channels like MTV and Fuse, while another nine percent look to network shows such as The OC and CSI.

The poll also reveals that record labels that sue file sharers may be targeting their best customers: Downloaders are more likely than other respondents to frequently buy CDs in stores.

Source: Rolling Stone/AP/Ipsos

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Song Stories

“Helen Wheels”

Paul McCartney | 1973

A rollicking good-time hard rocker, "Helen Wheels" was not about a woman but about Paul McCartney's Land Rover, the anthemic chorus voicing the vehicle's reckless joy as "she" took to the road. The song was added to the U.S. version of Band on the Run but was issued only as a single in McCartney's native U.K. "I like that because it's a British road song and there's not many of those around," said McCartney. "It's always Route 66. But Carlisle? How many songs have got Carlisle in them?"

More Song Stories entries »

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