I don't know if you guys have heard or not, but apparently all the kids are downloading music. Totally putting his neck out there, Sony BMG's President of Global Digital Business & U.S. Sales Thomas Hesse was recently quoted as predicting that digital downloading is, get this, growing. Something tells me that seemingly prestigious title is compensating for something. With 30% of the company's sales coming digitally in the U.S. in 2007, predictions find that number growing by as much as 10% in 2008.
Taking his head out of his ass for a minute, Hesse did have some useful in$ight to share, admitting that digital sales are "not enough to make up for the overall decline in sales." Offering a glimmer of hope for anyone with a soul, he also noted the "flattening of growth" in the sale of ringtones, but continued to remark on the potential of ringback tones, citing a big opportunity in "full track downloads to phone." Apparently, it's huge in Korea. Hooray.
With the focus on digital music, though, Hesse -- the little optimist that he is -- called the "glass half full" and with another breakthrough said that the companies must "make access easier, the offerings more compelling and allowing music to be freely shared on social networks." That, allegedly, "is the future." Fascinating. In other news, I hear these folks at Apple have this device brewing... iRod, or something. You heard it here first. Oh, and these dirty rocker kids -- Chronic Youth, I think they're called -- they really have something going for them. Could be huge.
