GLENNApril 03, 2017

Dawning of a New Age: Digital Music Eclipses Traditional Sales

This is the dawning of the age of digital music. Downloads now account for 51 percent of all music sales.

"That's incredible to me. I would have thought, honestly, it was 80/20 digital," co-host Stu Burguiere said Monday on The Glenn Beck Program.

If Glenn's movie buying preference is any indication, other entertainment forms may soon follow suit.

"I still buy movies, but, again, I do it like records or CDs . . . either [downloaded] through Amazon or iTunes," Glenn said.

Enjoy the complimentary clip or read the transcript for details.

GLENN: Another way -- another way the world has totally changed. What's the last CD that you purchased? What's the last CD that you played?

PAT: Oh, I play them pretty regularly.

GLENN: Do you?

PAT: But I haven't purchased a CD of a single artist in probably ten or 15 years.

STU: Yeah, you're big on stealing them.

PAT: Yeah. I still burn songs from my iTunes to CD and then just use my --

STU: That's surprising to me. Because I plug the phone into -- the Bluetooth thing doesn't work in my car for some reason. But I plug it into the little port and will play it through my phone mostly.

GLENN: Yeah, I do the same thing with BlueTooth, it's easy.

JEFFY: The special CD set that my wife wanted for Christmas. Told the kids, eh, you can get this for me for Christmas. We got it. I looked at it yesterday, it hasn't been opened. Never listened to it.

STU: It's such a pain, in comparison.

GLENN: Did she download it, or --

JEFFY: Yeah. Well, we just listen to it on her phone.

PAT: Yeah. Why? Why not?

They say gold and platinum records are a thing of the past. Because downloads now account for 51 percent of all music sales.

GLENN: I'm surprised it's that low.

PAT: I know. I would have thought it was higher too. But it's --

GLENN: Who is buying them?

PAT: Old people maybe.

GLENN: Old people aren't buying records.

PAT: I don't know. I don't know.

STU: I mean, I think --

JEFFY: The kids.

PAT: It's the first time ever though, streaming music has eclipsed both downloads and CDs.

STU: That's incredible to me. I would have thought honestly it was 80/20 digital. And it's just passing -- and this is the same thing that happened with DVDs. People are like, oh, it's a dead industry. It's a dead industry.

And it's like, well, actually, they're still selling billions and billions of dollars of them.

JEFFY: Yeah.

STU: And I understand that obviously it's easier to get digitally. And once you go there, it's hard to go back.

JEFFY: It sure is.

STU: But people stay on those trains for a long time.

GLENN: I still buy movies, but, again, I do it like records or CDs.

PAT: You just download them, right?

GLENN: Yeah, either through Amazon or iTunes.

PAT: That's the other thing, I don't know what the last DVD is that we purchased because we just buy them online.

GLENN: I will tell you, the one who needs to bend -- because Apple never will -- Amazon needs to fold in, if Apple will ever do it, fold in their service to Apple. I hate --

PAT: Which one is the resistant one?

GLENN: It's Apple. Always is.

PAT: Won't allow Amazon on?

GLENN: Yeah.

PAT: That sucks.

GLENN: And I'm getting sick of it. I'm getting sick of it.

PAT: Me too.

GLENN: I just want one thing that will just do the apps.

PAT: Right.

GLENN: That's all I want is the apps. Give one thing --

PAT: I love Apple TV, but they don't have Amazon on it.

GLENN: It's like why?

PAT: So then you have to go through the incredible hassle of pulling it up on your iPad and then tossing it up on the screen. Do you know how long that takes? About a minute and a half! About a minute and a half!

STU: Oh, my gosh.