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The Seventies Music Sale Slump


Lorraine
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But, seriously, no one knows why there was such a slump in record sales in the seventies?

 

He did say also that the music industry in general was in bad shape back then, but who knew? :huh:

 

Most

Likely due to disco. Bands were getting booted out of bars and replaced with lighted dance floors and glass balls. I was in a band at the time and I remember how it was starting to be difficult to get work. The bar owners just wanted to hire DJs which were a lot cheaper than a band at the time.

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I had one of these in my Chevy Vega. I could play 8 tracks or cassettes. Full of state of the art features too. PLAY STOP FF.

 

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/custom55/s-l1000_zpspmekhmel.jpg

 

That's very impressive. :) Mine had those three features too, plus REWIND which always stumped me and still does to this day. When I think I'm going forward, I'm actually going back.

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But, seriously, no one knows why there was such a slump in record sales in the seventies?

 

He did say also that the music industry in general was in bad shape back then, but who knew? :huh:

 

Most

Likely due to disco. Bands were getting booted out of bars and replaced with lighted dance floors and glass balls. I was in a band at the time and I remember how it was starting to be difficult to get work. The bar owners just wanted to hire DJs which were a lot cheaper than a band at the time.

 

I disliked disco intensely.

 

The author seemed to want to blame punk rock. He mentions that Rats Scabie fellow too in the book. :LOL:

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Disco was to blame...

 

I'm not sure if you are joking, but that's a possibility.

 

I was kinda srs. I remember reading something that disco was being blamed. I think it drove sales of albums down and more singles

 

Or something like that

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But, seriously, no one knows why there was such a slump in record sales in the seventies?

 

He did say also that the music industry in general was in bad shape back then, but who knew? :huh:

 

Most

Likely due to disco. Bands were getting booted out of bars and replaced with lighted dance floors and glass balls. I was in a band at the time and I remember how it was starting to be difficult to get work. The bar owners just wanted to hire DJs which were a lot cheaper than a band at the time.

 

I disliked disco intensely.

 

The author seemed to want to blame punk rock. He mentions that Rats Scabie fellow too in the book. :LOL:

 

Too many drugs. I don't remember punk rock being until later. Actually now that I think of it, I remember The Ramones and Patti Smith being in the magazines at the time, but I think that was more of an NYC thing.

Edited by EagleMoon
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I've never heard about a record sales slump back then. But I agree with those who are saying that disco may have been to blame if there was one. That genre was more focused on selling hit singles then they were selling whole albums so that may have contributed to it.

 

If this slump was in the late 70s, it could have been because popular bands like Zeppelin and some others were not releasing albums as frequently as they were earlier in the decade.

Edited by J2112YYZ
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Disco was to blame...

 

I'm not sure if you are joking, but that's a possibility.

 

I was kinda srs. I remember reading something that disco was being blamed. I think it drove sales of albums down and more singles

 

Or something like that

 

That's possible. It did rope a lot of people in. We used to call them back then the "glitter people."

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Disco was to blame...

 

I'm not sure if you are joking, but that's a possibility.

 

I was kinda srs. I remember reading something that disco was being blamed. I think it drove sales of albums down and more singles

 

Or something like that

 

That's possible. It did rope a lot of people in. We used to call them back then the "glitter people."

 

And punk rockers were "the homeless people." Or you'd think so from their wardrobe. :LOL:

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I've never heard about a record sales slump back then. But I agree with those who are saying that disco may have been to blame if there was one. That genre was more focused on selling hit singles then they were selling whole albums so that may have contributed to it.

 

If this slump was in the late 70s, it could have been because popular bands like Zeppelin and some others were not releasing albums as frequently as they were earlier in the decade?

 

He didn't explain his comment, so that's why I'm asking here. He did say though (so you could be right) that when the LZ album in (I think it was 1975) was released, it caused a surge in business in the record stores. And the same thing for their next album a few years later.

 

It just shocked me to read that because, like Custom, I never stopped buying albums so to read that the stores and business were both hurting surprised me.

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One thing i can say is albums were kind of expensive back then. From my memory they were compared to the cost of living today more expensive then now. I could be wrong, ive had a few beers dince then
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I grew up in NJ ( I'm still here :codger: ). EJ Korvettes was the place to buy music.

 

Led Zep are pulling their 'album' weight.

 

"The 10 Best-Selling Albums of the 70s"

(as of 2004)

 

1. The Wall - Pink Floyd (23,000,000)

2. IV (Four Symbols) - Led Zeppelin (22,000,000)

3. Rumours - Fleetwood Mac (19,000,000)

4. Boston - Boston (17,000,000)

5. Saturday Night Fever (soundtrack) - Various Artists (15,000,000)

6. Hotel California - The Eagles (15,000,000)

7. Physical Graffiti - Led Zeppelin (15,000,000)

8. Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd (15,000,000)

9. Bat Out Of Hell - Meatloaf (14,000,000)

10. Houses Of The Holy - Led Zeppelin (11,000,000)

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Albums were $5.00. They stayed that price for ages. That wasn't a lot of money for an album back then. What was expensive were the double albums. Albums were the gift to give at Christmas to our friends because we could all afford five dollars. Edited by Lorraine
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One source I found suggested that the late seventies' slump in vinyl lp sales had to do with several factors:

 

- home taping

- competition from video games and cable TV

- youth unemployment

- increased adult contemporary and country music on radio (people tended not to buy albums in these genres)

 

source: Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World

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I always say how much I love seventies music, but my goodness whenever I look at the hit compilations, I am gobsmacked by all the dreck!

 

It is like a really ugly veneer covered over the entire decade, but once you break it away you realise it was actually hiding a heck of a lot of gold!

 

For every Bay City Rollers you get a Montrose or Van Halen.

 

For every Boney M, you get a Yes or an ABBA.

 

Hey now Lucas and I were plotting to start a Bay City Rollers tribute band.

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One thing i can say is albums were kind of expensive back then. From my memory they were compared to the cost of living today more expensive then now. I could be wrong, ive had a few beers dince then

oh I don't know about that. I remember mowing the lawn and buying an album with the same money.

 

Let's blame that damn Columbia Music Club.

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Disco was to blame...

 

I'm not sure if you are joking, but that's a possibility.

He's not joking. Disco, exploded. Record stores were forced to carry the music and probably 'pushed' by distributors to sell it.

Little known fact about me, I ran a record store/CD shop from 90-94.

I loved my rock, but I saw the arrival of Rap and Grunge and was not happy about it.

Remember this was at a time when Country, Garth etc...were huge.

Record labels, distributors, concert promoters had Zero interest in the Rock genre, classic, metal or prog.

It was a major reason I left the business.

So I can see Disco, being a reason, but Disco was 1975 on....Post Saturday Night Fever....

I think the cause in the Early 70's may have also been the styles were mellower. Eagles, John Denver etc..........my 2 cents

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Disco was to blame...

 

I'm not sure if you are joking, but that's a possibility.

He's not joking. Disco, exploded. Record stores were forced to carry the music and probably 'pushed' by distributors to sell it.

Little known fact about me, I ran a record store/CD shop from 90-94.

I loved my rock, but I saw the arrival of Rap and Grunge and was not happy about it.

Remember this was at a time when Country, Garth etc...were huge.

Record labels, distributors, concert promoters had Zero interest in the Rock genre, classic, metal or prog.

It was a major reason I left the business.

So I can see Disco, being a reason, but Disco was 1975 on....Post Saturday Night Fever....

I think the cause in the Early 70's may have also been the styles were mellower. Eagles, John Denver etc..........my 2 cents

 

The author of the book was talking about 1975 on. He says that was the beginning of the end for Led Zep.

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I have no hard evidence on this (and each family's experience will be different) but we never had money to buy things like albums. The only reason I ever had any albums was from joining Columbia house and listening to some of the albums my brother left at our house after he moved out when he was 16. I did listen to a lot of radio back then and was aware of a lot of the great stuff from that era for the most part.
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I just think that back in those days with the way people had to be majorly paid off in order to get your music played on the radio, and the lack of recording contracts (unlike today when anyone can release music from their website) it was just a lack of stuff being released on a regular basis.... slump MIGHT be a harsh term...
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