Just for fun we decided to run an Awards Poll again this year.

Like previous years, it mirrors the IBMA final ballot in structure and form.

Five nominees in 17 categories. You may vote only once.

We do require that you be a registered user to participate. Registration is quick, easy, and mostly painless.

Have fun, and spread the word.

Vote now!

UPDATE: If you’ve already voted, or are just interested, take a minute and check out the poll results.

In mid April we ran a poll asking our readers if they anticipated attending fewer festivals this season due to rising fuel prices. We had just over 500 readers participate in that poll with 58% saying that they would attend few festivals and 42% saying fuel costs would have no negative impact on their attendance this year.

Now that we’re in the middle of the festival season we thought it would informative to run that poll again, asking if you are, in fact, attending fewer bluegrass events this season.

Driving my truck to the office this morning I realized I needed to stop and fill the tank. That is a major financial commitment on a vehicle like mine. As I watched the pump quickly soar through the dollar signs, I began to wonder if the rising price of fuel would have any impact on the 2008 bluegrass festival season.

Filling up your vehicle, whether it’s a small car or a motor home, is going to cost more this summer than it did last summer. Will festival attendance be diminished as a result?

You tell me.

Following the results of yesterday’s poll, as well as several comments submitted via email, have lead me to the following conclusions.

The real question yesterday was this: Is iTunes the #2 retailer of music to bluegrass fans? It seems it may be #1 among those who took our poll. “Direct from artist” took the number one position in the results, but that’s not one single retail outlet. It is encouraging though to see that bluegrass fans still prefer to support the artists in this way. “Other” was the second most popular choice, and here’s where the emails come in. Some of you wrote in to share specifics of your “Other” choice.

I realize we are a self selecting group, in that we are all already online (you’re reading this on a computer right?), so we don’t represent those bluegrass fans who aren’t online. What that percentage is I don’t know. Nationally it’s about 30%.

iTunes we know to be digital downloads, let’s call this “virtual product.” Amazon could be virtual product, or physical product (CDs) either one. What percentage of “Direct from artist” and “Other” is virtual? I don’t know, though I suspect it’s quite low. What percentage is purchased online, even if it is physical? That number is probably higher.

So let’s try two more polls. I’ll put them both below and ask that you participate in both. The first will be a very simple choice, asking your preference between virtual (digital downloads) and physical (CDs) product. The second will be an experiment. Let’s see if we can find the most popular retail outlet. For our purposes I’m bringing back several of the most popular options from yesterday’s poll, combining Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart.com into one option, dividing Direct from artist into two options, adding a couple new ones suggested in your emails, and (here’s the experimental part) allowing you the option of adding a new choice. If your first choice of retailer isn’t already there, just select “other” and then type in your choice.

So let’s here it bluegrass fans!

* UPDATE: I went in to “fix” the title for an option and wiped out the first 12 votes. Sorry guys! If you choose “other” please specify by changing the text to the name of the retail outlet you use. Thanks.

John and I have been giving a lot of thought to the news that iTunes had seized the number two music retailer spot. We’re wondering how the bluegrass community compares to the broader music industry.

We’re in the process of doing some research and will be sharing our results with our readers soon. I thought we’d go ahead and do a little informal research right here on The Bluegrass Blog.

To that end I’ve put together this little poll so we can see where we’re all buying our music. Go ahead and participate, no registration is required. The poll will reload right in place without the need for a page reload.

With 2007 now under wraps, CD sales figures are starting to come in, and things don’t look good for the labels.

Variety.com is reporting that CD sales during the Christmas shopping season were down 21% from 2006.

From the week of Thanksgiving up through the day before Christmas Eve, 83.9 million albums were sold, a decrease of 21.38 million from 2006’s 105.28 million.

What this doesn’t take into account is the sale of gift cards for downloads. I received an iTunes gift card for $25 as a Christmas gift and have yet to spend it. That’s the equivalent of 2-2.5 albums depending on how you count. The thing is, I won’t spend it all at once, and I most probably won’t purchase entire albums when I do spend it.

These declining sales numbers don’t necessary represent the current state of affairs for the bluegrass industry, though I have heard a number of artists speak of drooping CD sales in the last year. The decline of major label CD sales will affect our little niche in the industry though.

As sales continue to decline, at some point retailers will decide they have a better use for floor space than CDs. When retailers like Wal-Mart start shrinking the amount of shelf space dedicated to CDs, the sales will slip even further since the consumer won’t be able to find the CD they’re looking for in the store. My guess is, this will drive even more people online in their search for music to purchase.

A good selection of bluegrass music isn’t readily available in most retail stores as it stands, and when they start cutting shelf space, bluegrass will probably be one of the first genre’s to get pulled. The downside for our industry is that the music might not be available online either, which means it simply doesn’t get purchased.

If a large and varied selection of bluegrass were available online from retailers such as iTunes and Amazon, we’d still have to compete for the consumer’s attention, but at least we’d have a chance.

So let’s have a poll. How many of us received a CD or download gift card for Christmas?

It’s time for another informal poll. This will help us get to know each other better. Just tell us what your involvement with bluegrass is. Some of you might fall in more than one category, just pick the one that’s primarily what you do.

If you feel I’ve left an important category off, feel free to contact me requesting I add it to the poll options.

As John and I are preparing for IBMA’s World of Bluegrass event we are presented with a wealth of opportunities for covering the event here on The Bluegrass Blog. We want to be sure to present the aspects of the event that are of greatest interest to our readers.

Last year we live blogged the Thursday evening award show from backstage. We had a great time and are considering doing so again this year.

What we don’t know, is if our readers enjoyed following along on The Bluegrass Blog as the show unfolded, or if you would simply prefer to have us announce the winners after the event has concluded.

To that end we are asking for your participation in the following poll. Let us know if you enjoyed last year’s live blog, and if you would like to see us do it again this year. Thanks!

Here’s a quick poll you can take. We’re just curious to know how often each of you stops by for a howdy.

You don’t have to be registered to participate, and the results will show right here without reloading the page.