Where to Find the Best Music Deals Now
Filed under: Bargains & Freebies, Buyer Beware, Budgeting & Planning, Daily Deal, Economizer, Family Finances, Shopping, Weird & Wonderful
Music is everywhere and we like it that way. Studies have shown that the majority of people will go to bars and restaurants that play good music and people even expect good music to be piped into their gym. That said, you'd have to have your Discman earbuds stuck into your brain not to realize the music industry has changed: big music retailers are shutting down and that Ikea CD Tower you were once so proud of now looks more like an antique. So what is the future of consuming music and where are the deals?
CD's
The poor CD isn't faring too well these days. Sales of the plastic disc dropped by 50 per cent between 2006 and 2010 and they keep falling. The upside is if you're not willing to commit to a pricey MP3 device, you can pick up some sweet deals at HMV and other retailers looking to unload their merchandise (I saw one sale: four CDs for $20).
Digital downloads
Canadians have gotten used to downloading whatever they want, whenever they want -- and not always legally. In fact, some studies have shown that Canada leads the world in illegal file sharing, whether it be music, video games or movies. With Canada's copyright laws about to get stricter on this kind of activity, digital music lovers can take heart knowing that there are plenty of places online to download or stream their favourite tunes. Stingray, Rdio, Slacker and CBC (to name a few) have tens of thousands of songs in their libraries and charge around $5 a month for an all-you-can-listen-to buffet.
Music videos
It may seem counter-intuitive but a lot of folks are discovering new music and listening to old favourites via Internet video. YouTube is the biggest platform for online videos with more than 10 billion videos watched per month. As long as you have an Internet connection this is all free and legal. The downside, of course, is that it's not exactly cool to play YouTube videos through your dinner party.
The Cloud
Cloud-based services allow people to access the music they've downloaded to their computers (whether they've purchased it online or transferred it from their old CDs) through a range of devices like their smartphones or iPods. This means you can download a song one time (on iTunes it's usually about a buck) and then listen to that song from any of your devices.
Radio
As Van Morrison sang, "Turn up your radio!" That's what Canadians keep doing year after year. Between 2006 and 2010, Canada's radio market experienced the second biggest growth in the world behind only China (about $500 million). That means people love listening to radio so advertisers love to spend their money on stations. Although the listening is free, the downside is there's not a lot of variety. If you're looking to discover something new, satellite radio is an interesting option. Sirius, for instance, features hundreds of stations catering to pretty much every taste. There's the initial cost of a radio to think about (between $50 - $150) and then an annual subscription fee of about $160.
CLICK BELOW FOR A GUIDE TO DOWNLOADABLE MUSIC
CD's
The poor CD isn't faring too well these days. Sales of the plastic disc dropped by 50 per cent between 2006 and 2010 and they keep falling. The upside is if you're not willing to commit to a pricey MP3 device, you can pick up some sweet deals at HMV and other retailers looking to unload their merchandise (I saw one sale: four CDs for $20).
Digital downloads
Canadians have gotten used to downloading whatever they want, whenever they want -- and not always legally. In fact, some studies have shown that Canada leads the world in illegal file sharing, whether it be music, video games or movies. With Canada's copyright laws about to get stricter on this kind of activity, digital music lovers can take heart knowing that there are plenty of places online to download or stream their favourite tunes. Stingray, Rdio, Slacker and CBC (to name a few) have tens of thousands of songs in their libraries and charge around $5 a month for an all-you-can-listen-to buffet.
Music videos
It may seem counter-intuitive but a lot of folks are discovering new music and listening to old favourites via Internet video. YouTube is the biggest platform for online videos with more than 10 billion videos watched per month. As long as you have an Internet connection this is all free and legal. The downside, of course, is that it's not exactly cool to play YouTube videos through your dinner party.
The Cloud
Cloud-based services allow people to access the music they've downloaded to their computers (whether they've purchased it online or transferred it from their old CDs) through a range of devices like their smartphones or iPods. This means you can download a song one time (on iTunes it's usually about a buck) and then listen to that song from any of your devices.
Radio
As Van Morrison sang, "Turn up your radio!" That's what Canadians keep doing year after year. Between 2006 and 2010, Canada's radio market experienced the second biggest growth in the world behind only China (about $500 million). That means people love listening to radio so advertisers love to spend their money on stations. Although the listening is free, the downside is there's not a lot of variety. If you're looking to discover something new, satellite radio is an interesting option. Sirius, for instance, features hundreds of stations catering to pretty much every taste. There's the initial cost of a radio to think about (between $50 - $150) and then an annual subscription fee of about $160.
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Really good overview of music in Canada right now.
June 19 2012 at 2:33 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
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