Self-serve stimulus packages
David Dale
June 6, 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
NOW is the winter of our mass content. Undeterred by recession and swine flu, Australians are rushing to stimulate themselves in every conceivable way - at the cinema, on disc, via the handsets of their games machines and earphones of their music players, on the box, on the computer and even via that most ancient medium, ink on paper.
Malcolm Turnbull may yell, "Stop laughing, this is serious," but we're not listening. Over the past six weeks, more than a million people bought tickets to see each of these movies: Angels And Demons, Star Trek, Wolverine, Monsters Vs Aliens, Fast And Furious and Night At The Museum 2. On DVD, we bought more than 100,000 copies of Twilight, Australia and Slumdog Millionaire.
On TV, 2 million people a week watch Thank God You're Here, Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation, Masterchef and (when there's no competing footy) Spicks And Specks and The Chaser's War On Everything. On our gameboxes we play Pokemon Platinum, UFC 2009 Undisputed, WiiFit, EA Sports Active and GH Metallica.
And we spend more than $40 million a month on recordings. The music industry was supposed to be bankrupt by now but it has morphed. Nobody buys singles in physical form but this year we've downloaded thousands of digital versions of Pokerface by Lady Gaga, So What by Pink, Sex On Fire by Kings of Leon, Single Ladies by Beyonce and Love Story by Taylor Swift.
The old-fashioned album is thriving. The Australian Record Industry Association announced last month that I'm Not Dead by Pink had gone "10 platinum" (where "one platinum" means 70,000 copies distributed by the record company).
These albums also sold more than half a million copies this decade: Innocent Eyes, Delta Goodrem; 1, the Beatles; The Sound Of White, Missy Higgins; Come Away With Me, Nora Jones; Only By The Night, Kings of Leon; Funhouse, Pink; Back To Bedlam, James Blunt; Get Born, Jet; The Eminem Show, Eminem; and Odyssey Number 5, Powderfinger.
In addition, music DVDs are booming. Each of these sold more than 150,000 copies since 2003: Live In Australia, Andre Rieu; Hell Freezes Over, the Eagles; Delta, Delta Goodrem; What We Did Last Summer, Robbie Williams; Live From Wembley Arena, Pink; Number Ones, Michael Jackson; and Pulse, Pink Floyd. You may question Australia's taste but you can't doubt its eagerness to spend on musical experiences.
Another entertainment industry that was supposed to be terminally ill, newspaper publishing, is enjoying the revelation that its death throes are so slow as to be unnoticeable. The latest report of the Audit Bureau of Circulations shows that over the 12 months to March, the sales of daily and weekly newspapers in this country declined by a massive 1 per cent. That puts Australia out of step with Britain and America, where newspaper circulations this decade have been dropping by 6 per cent a year and publishers are in a panic to find a financial model that works online. Every weekday, 2.2 million Australians buy a printed newspaper. On Saturdays, 3 million buy a paper. On Sundays, 3.3 million buy a paper.
Dying? That doesn't even look like a mild case of flu.
David Dale
June 6, 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
NOW is the winter of our mass content. Undeterred by recession and swine flu, Australians are rushing to stimulate themselves in every conceivable way - at the cinema, on disc, via the handsets of their games machines and earphones of their music players, on the box, on the computer and even via that most ancient medium, ink on paper.
Malcolm Turnbull may yell, "Stop laughing, this is serious," but we're not listening. Over the past six weeks, more than a million people bought tickets to see each of these movies: Angels And Demons, Star Trek, Wolverine, Monsters Vs Aliens, Fast And Furious and Night At The Museum 2. On DVD, we bought more than 100,000 copies of Twilight, Australia and Slumdog Millionaire.
On TV, 2 million people a week watch Thank God You're Here, Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation, Masterchef and (when there's no competing footy) Spicks And Specks and The Chaser's War On Everything. On our gameboxes we play Pokemon Platinum, UFC 2009 Undisputed, WiiFit, EA Sports Active and GH Metallica.
And we spend more than $40 million a month on recordings. The music industry was supposed to be bankrupt by now but it has morphed. Nobody buys singles in physical form but this year we've downloaded thousands of digital versions of Pokerface by Lady Gaga, So What by Pink, Sex On Fire by Kings of Leon, Single Ladies by Beyonce and Love Story by Taylor Swift.
The old-fashioned album is thriving. The Australian Record Industry Association announced last month that I'm Not Dead by Pink had gone "10 platinum" (where "one platinum" means 70,000 copies distributed by the record company).
These albums also sold more than half a million copies this decade: Innocent Eyes, Delta Goodrem; 1, the Beatles; The Sound Of White, Missy Higgins; Come Away With Me, Nora Jones; Only By The Night, Kings of Leon; Funhouse, Pink; Back To Bedlam, James Blunt; Get Born, Jet; The Eminem Show, Eminem; and Odyssey Number 5, Powderfinger.
In addition, music DVDs are booming. Each of these sold more than 150,000 copies since 2003: Live In Australia, Andre Rieu; Hell Freezes Over, the Eagles; Delta, Delta Goodrem; What We Did Last Summer, Robbie Williams; Live From Wembley Arena, Pink; Number Ones, Michael Jackson; and Pulse, Pink Floyd. You may question Australia's taste but you can't doubt its eagerness to spend on musical experiences.
Another entertainment industry that was supposed to be terminally ill, newspaper publishing, is enjoying the revelation that its death throes are so slow as to be unnoticeable. The latest report of the Audit Bureau of Circulations shows that over the 12 months to March, the sales of daily and weekly newspapers in this country declined by a massive 1 per cent. That puts Australia out of step with Britain and America, where newspaper circulations this decade have been dropping by 6 per cent a year and publishers are in a panic to find a financial model that works online. Every weekday, 2.2 million Australians buy a printed newspaper. On Saturdays, 3 million buy a paper. On Sundays, 3.3 million buy a paper.
Dying? That doesn't even look like a mild case of flu.
2 comments:
This is true, Australia is well placed to handle this economic downturn. Unempolyment figures are optimistic at 5.7% in May.
This article also corroborates with these figures
Australia in good shape to face slump
David Uren, Economics correspondent | April 20, 2009
THE era of financial deregulation left Australian consumers in good shape to deal with the downturn, contrary to widespread opinion.
Yes, However the accuracy of the music industry becoming bankrupt was by figures and speculation, there was no fact. The music industry revenue can be compared to economic trends, and cycles, periods of downturn are natural.
It also shows how the media still influences and fortifies the needs and wants of Australians.
What also must be taken into consideration, is that it is a Global Financial Crisis, and whilst Australia did suffer from Economic Downturn, we cannot base expectations from the outcomes of other countries each economy has different strengths and weaknesses and no two economies are alike.
To note, however, most of these purchases will not necessarily improve Australian growth, with most of the products sold as mentioned in the article, are from overseas markets, Console games, Music and Movies are generally from other countries, therefore little revenue is given to the Australian Economy, however there are such contributors such as Newspapers and Television shows.
Newspapers such as the Bulletin have been trying to improve the Gold Coast economy by offering Half Price meals with certain restaurants, by halving the prices at the restaurants in return they receive advertising and Gold Coast Recognition.
Thus improving the local economy.
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