Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

It's not age, it's cohort: these middle-age record buyers of today are the same young record buyers of yesterday.

The music biz became a multi-billion dollar phenomenon in a few short decades (50's to 80's) on the back of postwar youth consumers. Indeed "youth culture" as we know it is defined by consumerism and was most perfectly symbolized during the baby boom years in the "Rock Album".

Then comes the "baby bust / generation Y" that grew up sending email on the Internet, taking pictures with their cellphones, etc. "Records" and "Radio" are primarily baby boomer phenomenon, which simply do not have the same relevance for the generations post-baby-boom.

Can you even imagine a youngster band of today singing a sentiment like "long live rock" or "rock and roll will never die"? They'd be laughed at as impossibly square and old fashioned. "Mom and Dad" hang on to that way of thinking though (and are willing to buy those Who and Zep albums all over again.)

Point is, don't expect a revival in CD sales when today's youngsters reach middle age and suddenly have more money! The record-buying generation is not being replaced.