Downturn for Downloads?

Figures released by Nielsen Media Research found that total digital-music downloads to media players, computers and other devices advanced a meager 0.3 percent during the first half of 2010, suggesting some weakening in demand for certain types of digital-music content.

The continued pullback in once reliable digital-media revenue generators hasn’t helped matters, say analysts. For example, ringtones, which raked in well over $700 million in total revenues during 2007, have given up nearly one-quarter of those gains in the three years since, according to researcher SNL Kagan.

However, there were also some significant bright spots. While sales of physical CD albums continued their multi-year downward spiral, plunging 18 percent through the first half of 2010, their digital-album counterparts rose some 13 percent through the same period. By contrast, sales of individual digital tracks during the first half decreased fractionally from the first six months of 2009, down .2 percent from to 597.4 million units through June 30, compared to nearly 599 million last year. Observers placed some of the blame on Apple’s iTunes Music Store, which recently raised its price per track from .99 to $1.29. However, they also suggested that consumers are once again embracing the concept of full-album listening.

Howard Bass, a senior partner with advisory services provider Ernst & Young, says that current data indicate the market for digital downloads is fast approaching a level of maturity. This will compel key players within the music industry to adopt newer strategies in an effort to respond to changing consumer demands.

Still Upbeat
While media leaders appear willing to roll with the changes, a new report from Ernst & Young entitled “Poised For Digital Growth: Preserving Profitability In Today’s Digital World,” found that a cross-section of industry CFOs remain generally upbeat about the long-term prospects for digital and mobile content.

“The phenomenal proliferation of digital entertainment among consumers continues to challenge media and entertainment companies,” says E&Y global media and entertainment head John Nendick. Revenues are dropping due to the unbundling of media and the reduction of per unit pricing, and this is challenging CFOs to identify innovative ways to reach their financial objectives, says Nendick. “However, as the demand for digitally delivered entertainment continues to increase significantly, CFOs feel optimistic about revenue potential,” he adds.

Media-content bundling is one way that companies may be able to offset falling revenues while taking advantage of the increased consumption of digital content, according to the survey. Broadband usage in U.S. households has quadrupled since 2005, and increased more than 600 percent globally through the same period.

Says E&Y’s Bass, “CFOs see growth in new distribution channels, products and services. Publishers and similar content companies are embracing the fact there are almost 2 billion digital media users to leverage their content and core products and services to the web, mobile devices and electronic gaming globally.”

In his recently issued report “Paid Music Content: The Answer Is Blowin’ in the Cloud,” Paul Verna, eMarketer senior analyst, suggests that U.S. consumer spending on digital music will jump by more than 11 percent through 2013, from $3 billion in sales last year to an estimated $4.56 billion. Verna sees subscription-based models leading the way. “U.S. consumers are growing accustomed to accessing digital content on remote servers via Web browsers,” says Verna. “Extending this paradigm to music files is a logical step, and one that content owners are determined to make work.”

Hope is the building block for our tomorrow. Without hope, we see only where we are and not where we want to be. Without hope, mountains that stand between our today and our dreams remain mountains that can’t be climbed. Hope takes us beyond our circumstances and allows us to get where our dreams lead.

On Monday we visited a home that showed little hope for tomorrow. The mother of the family has been beaten by life, bruised by her surroundings and left with only survival as her focus. Her children..especially the 3 year old twins don’t know they live in poverty. Their reality is the life they live today. They have such joy and zest for life that they don’t even realize that their current path leads them to a cycle of poverty that will be difficult to break. Without someone giving them a path of hope, they’ll find themselves the same place their 16 year old sister; living a realization that life won’t get any better than what they have today.

Kelly and I talked about it a lot. How do these kids ever break this cycle? How does a life without hope ever change? What good is anything we’re doing in helping to break this cycle of despair? Today, we got an answer.

Compassion has a program called the LDP (Leadership Development Program). It’s actually a part of the organization we knew little about. My idea or understanding of Compassion was the child sponsorship process, that feeds and teaches the children. What we’ve learned today is that while the sponsorship program is the largest part of the organization, LDP completes the puzzle. We met four wonderful students today. They’re all a part of the LDP and are an amazing illustration of how hope can be restored. Each of the projects in a country has an opportunity to nominate candidates for LDP on an annual basis. The country office puts together a committee of both Compassion and non Compassion resources to select based on a list of criteria. Participation is limited and it’s very difficult to get into the program. The greatest thing about listening to these kids is the hope they all have for tomorrow. Each of them has a plan to help their families, their neighborhoods and their country. They want teach kids in the Compassion projects that there is a way out, there is a hope for tomorrow.

This meeting helped me to put all the parts of this puzzle together. Where there is no hope…the people perish. Poverty is a cycle, and unless it’s broken it’ll continue to repeat and worsen through each generation. Hope and change have to come one child at a time. That’s what Compassion is doing in Colombia and countries around the world. These kids are the start of change, the catharsis of hope. They are the vision of tomorrow for every little child that we’ve seen this week.

We have one more full day here in Colombia. I have loved being here this week, seeing all the amazing sites of this country and seeing the amazing faces of these kids. We don’t know how God is pulling all this together in our ministry..but we know He is doing just that. We may get a little impatient at times…but we heard an amazing sermon tonight about waiting on God’s time..and not trying to force a time line to fit our needs. The sermon came from one of these amazing LDP students. She ministered to us tonight, God is already using her to provide hope to the world.

Please consider helping kids like these make a difference in their world, and ours. Just click here to read more about helping through Compassion

Yes it is a line from a great country song. But that’s not where I heard Him today. We had just walked up a steep very rugged incline in a Bogota neighborhood. More than 250 steps that were broken group, rugged rocks and running water. It’s not the typical place you’d expect to see God…but there He was. We walked past lots of broken down lean too houses that were slapped together out of scrap wood and tin. We walked past lots of dogs, lots of trash, lots of people who have no concept of the most simple things we take for granted like running water, clean clothes or going to a McDonald’s. But there He was. As we approached the home we were going to visit with the Compassion team, God met us with a great big smile and open arms. He was in the form of a 3 year old little girl who squealed with delight that we were going to visit her home. She never let Kelly out of her sight the entire time we were there. She never seemed to notice the tears we shed as we stood in a room that might have been 8×8, holding 2 beds that sleep all nine people in the family. She was happiest to be sharing her world with these strangers who were coming by for a short visit. God was there this afternoon. He looked wonderful.

I saw God a little later in the day too. We went to a different neighborhood and visited a lovely little home. The momma and her 4 kids lived in a 4 room shanty that did have an actual concrete floor. You had to step over the running sewage to get this home…and momma did share her bed with 2 of the kids, while the other 2 shared another room. But she welcomed us into her ‘house full of love’ and gladly shared about her family and their life. As we prayed with her…she talked about how hard it is to keep everything going with watching the kids, working 13 hours a day and keeping their home together. But she asked God to bless us as we went on our way. But during this visit, I saw God again. He wasn’t in the usual way you might see him. He wasn’t adorned in all white or have a long white beard that showed His wisdom and grace. Instead…I saw God in the local Pastor and head of the Compassion project in the neighborhood. There are about 300 sponsored spots for this project. That means Compassion has slotted this project to support 300 kids. The Pastor here feeds between 500 and 600 kids, twice a day. The extra comes from support from the church. It’s the only food that many of these kids get…breakfast and lunch. Otherwise they’d not get to eat. God runs this project, runs this church, feeds all these kids and works to provide a safe and quality area for them to learn, get medical treatment and get told about the love of Jesus. I saw God in the form of the Pastor. Oh, and this Pastor was a 23 year old young lady who also handles the mid week service with lots of kids from the neighborhood. He really looked great.

Today was a hard day for us. It was wonderful that we had the chance to hang out all day with our sponsored little boy named Jhordan. We also had the chance to spend the day with Kelly’s brother and sister in laws sponsored little girl. They were great kids and despite the need for the translator, we had an incredible day with them. It was difficult though in that we also saw poverty and need in a way that I’ve never seen it. Now remember, I grew up in the mountains of Appalachia where people lived without running water and inside plumbing. Seeing folks living in trash is not something that’s brand new for me. But this surpassed anything I’d ever imagined. Houses built of scrap, dirty rugs for walls, open sewer and people piled all over these hills. It’s not something I expected to see. It’s not something I planned to or braced myself to witness. This is absolute poverty in every stretch of the imagination. In one case the family has a 6 year old little boy who has been taken by the government. They’re working to get him back and show that they have the best home for him. But I found myself wondering of this wasn’t a plus for him. He’ll likely get adopted and maybe be removed from this cycle of poverty. But that doesn’t ease his mommas heart. It doesn’t ease the hurt of his brothers and sisters. They want him home…cause that’s all they have.

I saw God today…He was high and lifted up, magnificent in His glory. His presence was on these families, on their homes, in their faces. I don’t know how to reconcile why some peoples and nations have luxury and some live in poverty. I can’t understand why my kids have opportunity to be and do anything they want in their lives, and some of these will never be able to escape a curse of poverty. But I know that God has a control and a plan in place. He uses all the resources at his disposal, and uses us as willing vessels to carry a message of love and hope to kids that otherwise would have no hope. As the song says…I’ll never be the same anymore. We’ve got 3 more days of visits and visions, and I’m bracing myself in preparation of the emotional beating I’m about to take. But I know that I’ll never look at need the same way again. And I’ll never look at my kids the same way. God has blessed us in an amazing way. I’m so honored that He has allowed us to make the difference in these kids lives. I’m seeing that first hand…and seeing God in the presence of these poeple.

Please pray about helping us make a difference. We need some folks to sponsor a child. My website has a link to get your right to the Compassion database. Just click here to read more about helping through Compassion.

Kelly & I are in Bogota, Columbia this week with Compassion International. Follow us through this life changing Vision Trip at Kelly’s blog. Join us in praying for protection for all the workers traveling – and most of all that we will be used of God to fulfill Compassion’s mission to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name!

>> Click here to read more about helping through Compassion.

Yes..I do realize just how long it’s been. I could spend a lot of time making a lot of excuses on how busy we’ve been and how hard it’s been to get everything together…but that would just waste even more time!

Some of you may be getting this newsletter for the very first time. I’ve actually changed the service that delivers my newsletter, but in doing that there may be some addresses that were added from my contacts in error. If so..no worries. Just reply to this e-mail with “Unsubscribe” in the subject line, it’ll take good care of you!

Things have been way crazy around here. It’s hard to believe that it’s already August. The new CD is out (more on that in a bit), Branson GMC 2010 is over and 2011 is in planning, Paige has started home school for her Junior year, Miranda and Kaity are fully taking over the world, and Kelly has an amazing magazine up and running strong with SCOOPS! To say that we’re busy is an understatement. To say that we’re blessed…even more and understatement!

So where to start? The new CD is call “The Difference”. It’s filled with songs that have either ministered to me through the years, or songs that speak about the difference God has made in my life. These are songs like “The Old Rugged Cross Made The Difference”, “Beaulah Land”, “There Is A God” and many more. There’s also a very special remake of an old Imperials song called “Water Grave”. This was a favorite of mine because it speaks about a new birth in the new man. I was very blessed to have Russ Taff come in and do some vocals on the song with me. I know you’re going to like it! There’s also a song on there that I wrote called “Light Of My World”. It’s a song about the difference in my life resulting from the amazing gifts God has given me in my wife and children. You can get your copy on line through iTunes, or order the physical CD at Rod Burton Music. The new single will be going out soon titled “Son Of Man’s Man”. Be sure to check it out! Also…be sure to contact our radio friends and the folks at Enlighten and ask them to play it a LOT!  Just click HERE to send an e-mail to Enlighten.

The Branson Gospel Music Convention 2010 is all done now. It was a great time of ministry and a wonderful 2nd year for the event. We saw an increase in attendance and met a lot of folks who are making this their annual vacation. The event had some great artists like The Melody Boys, The Chuck Wagon Gang, The Blackwoods, Dino, Mike Allen, Ann Downing, Kenny Bishop, Beyond The Ashes…and so many more. We had a wonderful week of ministry, and though you always have a few bumps to deal with, we’re looking forward to 2011. We are changing the name for next year. The word ‘convention’ just sent the wrong message for this event. For 2011, we’ll be having the Branson Gospel Music Revival! That comes a lot closer to accurately describing our vision for this week. We’ll also be changing the venue to the Tri-Lakes Center in Branson. It’s an awesome facility that works very well with our vision for growth and the spirit of the event. Be sure to check out the website often!

Kelly and I are working with Compassion International now as well. We wanted to carefully consider organizations and are really impressed by the work that Compassion does with these kids. We will be leaving on August 15th for Columbia with Compassion. It’ll be a great opportunity to meet so many wonderful children who are part of the Compassion projects there. We know that God is going to do some amazing things in our lives as a result of this trip, and we get to meet one of our sponsored children while we’re there! Please pray for us..we’ll be there for a week and while I’m sure that things will go well, a little extra prayer support will be appreciated. If you’ve ever wanted to make a difference in a childs life…this is a great way to do it. For just $1.25 a day you can literally change a childs world. They are fed and clothed…as well as educated in these projects. But the thing that excites me most is that they are taught about the grace of God and how He can change their lives. That $1.25 goes a long way, but it actually may be the difference between Heaven and hell for some of these kids. You can check out the sponsor opportunities at my website. Just click on the compassion bar at the right and change a childs life!

So much more to share, but some will have to wait. Please be sure to check out the schedule page. I’d love to see you at a service somewhere. We’d love to come share with your church or event too…so just contact me and we’ll set something up with you.  You can always keep track of us on Facebook too…just go to rodburtonmusic and do a friend request!

I promise the next update will come soon!  Till then…

Be blessed!

Rod