To What Extent Has The Credit Crunch Simply Sped Up the Next Natural Development Of The Music Industry?

The Credit Crunch made the first move from music going from Physical to Digital. This is because during the crunch it was seen that music/ entertainment forms were not essential and so initially the sales declined. People couldn't afford to go out and buy the newest song or album due to the lack of money in the economic crisis therefore this contributed to the decline of sales. This provided the gateway to transfer physical Cd's onto digital to provide people with easy access and at cheaper prices. On iTunes you can buy a single for 99p where as if you were to buy it in the shop it would be double the price - making it more affordable to buy.As of January 2011, Apple's iTunes Store made $1.1 billion of revenue. Due to this is still enabled people to use music as an escapism to get away from the doom and gloom of the credit crunch. 

Because of the digital sales increasing it meant that record shops were being put out of business, an example of this is Zavvi (once virgin) which went into administration and now only exists as an online store. Therefore this had a negative result on record shops as they lost money and the stores went bust however proved positive for online stores as they could get more money from single and album sales. 

An example of a band benefiting from this credit crunch is the Gorillaz. They are a virtual band in a fictional world started by Damon Albarn (Blur) and Jamie Hewlett (comic book artist). Their debut album Gorillaz sold over ten million copies. The second album - Demon Days -  released in 2005 (around the time of the crunch) when five times platinum.Their latest album, The Fall, was released in December 2010 as a free download for fan club members. Without the move from physical to digital they wouldn't have been able to pursue this project as easily as they did. 

Ultimately the credit crunch provided the initial boost needed for the transference from physical to digital proving positive for the online stores and proving cheaper for customers and negative for actual stores which lost out on money.