The NPD Group released a new report yesterday detailing the changes in music consumption among U.S. music buyers during 2007 (report)

The report claims an overall increase in music acquisition of 6% for the year, while stating a decline in “average annual per-capita music spending” of 10%. That statement must be carefully read. All it really says, is that more music found it’s way into the hands of consumers during 2007, but on average each consumer spent less to acquire that music. Yes, that’s bad news for labels. Based on this report, the labels saw a 10% decline in revenue.

The report indicates that iTunes has become the second largest music retailer in the states. Only Wal-Mart sells more music. The problem seems to be that consumers are opting for purchasing single tracks rather than albums as a whole. This hurts pop/major labels who have invested heavily in the album/CD culture, whereby the consumer was required to purchase music in which they may have had no interest (other tracks on the CD), in order to acquire music they desired (the one or two tracks they really wanted). The ability to purchase individual tracks for download has resulted in increased freedom for the consumer, and spread their music spending cash around a little more.

This situation has also resulted in less money being spent on music per capita. Spending is down from $44 to $40 per capita for users of the internet. The assumption might be that the internet savvy user is simply acquiring his music illegally rather than purchasing it. The NPD data suggests though that the percentage of users doing so did not increase statistically in 2007, holding steady at 19%. The report does say that those users downloaded more music illegally during 2007 than they did in 2006.

The report also indicates that online music sales are now being driven by consumer between the ages of 36 and 50. This segment of the market having just acquired MP3 players in recent months.

I’m sure many of you are already familiar with iLike, and most with iTunes, but for those who aren’t I thought I’d share.

iLike is a social networking site that revolves around music. But the site isn’t where the magic is. It’s the iLike Sidebar that makes the music happen. The iLike Sidebar is an application enhancement for both iTunes and Windows Media Player. Since I’m on a Mac I’ll just tell you how it work in iTunes.

Once installed, the iLike Sidebar will become visible in iTunes and fulfill it’s purpose in life, helping you find new music. When you’re listening to something, the Sidebar will show the current track at the top. Beneath that it will show related music that you already own and have available in your library. Next up it will show you related music you don’t own, but can purchase from iTunes. It generally shows about 6 potential tracks for your interest. And finally, it will actually show you related music you can download for FREE from new artists wishing to connect with an audience.

Right now I’m listening to the new Longview CD and it’s showing me tracks from Del McCoury, Jim Lauderdale, Alison Krauss, Gibson Brothers, Laurie Lewis, and The Nashville Bluegrass Band. Those sound like pretty good matches to me.

There are other options with the iLike Sidebar. What I just explained above is just the “Related Music” tab. Other options include a tab for recent activity from artists you’ve selected as being favorites. These updates include new music, tour dates, and other events.

And then there’s the social part of the network. Just like MySpace or Facebook, you can invite friends in iLike and when you select the “Friends” tab in the Sidebar, iLike shows you the most recently played song by each of you friends. And this includes a link to listen and potentially purchase that music for yourself.

How well does iLike accomplish it’s purpose of connecting you, the listener, with new music? According to this study from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, it works extremely well.

* Long-term users of iLike added nearly 250% more music to their personal music libraries within a month of registering on iLike versus the month before.

* Five months later, active iLike users continue to add nearly 30 to 50% more music per month than before joining.

* It is indicated that the iLike Sidebar may account for this dramatic increase in music purchasing among iLike users.

I don’t know if I’ve added THAT much music to my library because of iLike, but I have discovered a few artists I wouldn’t have otherwise. Check it out and see if you like, I know iLike.

It can be argued that a music video is a good promotional tool. And while that may be true, bluegrass artists seeking to get a video out to their fans have quite probably felt some frustration. Youtube and other online streaming services can be a good way to let people see your video, but what about getting a higher quality version into the hands of your fans?

TuneCore may be your solution. The company has been around for a while and offers a service allowing you to sell music through iTunes and other similar digital retailers. The way TuneCore works is quite different from other services such as CDBaby. TuneCore charges you a flat rate submission fee (per song, album, or video) along with a yearly hosting fee. After that, you keep 100% of the money paid out by iTunes.

Your video must meet iTunes requirements, and at this time only music videos are being handled by TuneCore. No other type of video will be submitted to iTunes. iTunes sells the videos for $1.99, you get $1.40.

Most videos will cost you $85 upfront and a $20 annual hosting fee. Longer videos may incur a higher setup charge from TuneCore. The upfront submission fee is non-refundable, so if iTunes rejects the video for quality reasons, you lose the money.

A band would only need to sell 75 copies of the video through iTunes to break even during the first 12 months.

If your band does submit a video that gets accepted into the iTunes store, please let us know so we can get the word out here to the bluegrass community.

In the midst of the inescapable media coverage last week marking the 30th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, here’s a story you might not have seen.

Bluegrass singer/songwriter Shawn Camp and rockabilly singer Billy Burnette have joined forces to release The Bluegrass Elvises, a new CD out August 14 with bluegrass versions of some of The King’s most cherished hits. Songs covered bluegrass style on this CD include Don’t Be Cruel, All Shook Up, Jailhouse Rock, Burnin’ Love, Hound Dog, That’s Alright Mama and several others.

In addition to Camp and Burnette, musicians on this project include Scott Vestal and David Talbot on Banjo, Aubrey Haynie on fiddle, Chris Henry on mandolin, and Mike Bub and Terry Eldridge on bass.

Audio samples for all 13 tracks can be heard in iTunes, and you can find out more about the CD on The Bluegrass Elvises site.