Piano sales have fallen by 90% over the past century

05 January 2015, 12:11 | Written by Laurence Day

(News)

(Stevie Wonder)

Piano artisans worldwide must be feeling strung out after a new report published by Associated Press reveals that piano sales are a mere tenth of what they were a century ago.

It's a grand claim, but as the report notes, the US market has been hard-hit by a few key factors: keyboard sales increasing, the lack of juvenile interest, and the rise of computer music. Children's affinity for sports as opposed to music is apparently also a major cause of the decline, with kids seeming to prefer aiming to be the next Stevie G as opposed to Stevie Wonder. New methods of restoring older instruments to full working condition are also partly to blame. In short: a hydra-headed plethora of reasons are dragging sales down.

In hard figures, the piece explains some despair-inducing truths:

"The best year for new piano sales in the U.S. was 1909, when more than 364,500 were sold. But after gently falling over the years, piano sales have plunged more recently to between 30,000 and 40,000 annually... The average cost of a new grand piano last year was just over $16,000."

You can read the full article here.

[via Stereogum]