Research firm comScore has reported that online spending in the United States in October 2008 grew by only 1 percent over October 2007, the lowest monthly growth rate since comScore began tracking e-commerce in 2001.

comScore attributes the anaemic growth level to lower spending by low-to-middle income earners, with households earning less than $50,000 exhibiting negative spending growth compared to a year ago.

The slowdown comes after 6 consecutive months of slowing growth in e-commerce sales. comScore says that retail e-commerce growth rates have fallen from a height of 28 percent in August 2007 to a growth rate of just 1 percent in October 2008. October represents the sixth consecutive month this year of slowing growth rates.

Source: comScore, “U.S. Retail E-Commerce Growth Slows to 1 Percent in October as Concerns about Inflation, Jobs and the Financial Markets Cause Consumers to Curb Spending”, Press Release, November 18, 2008

As tempting as it is to dish out advice on who Americans should vote for in today’s United States Presidential election, I am no more qualified than any non-American with an opinion!

However, I will say that if you have the right to vote, you’re wise to exercise that right.

Election day may be the only time the average person can really have any kind of influence over the decisions of the government, by virtue of who they choose to govern. Decisions that heavily impact your everyday life - from how much tax you pay, to the availability of health care and education, to the state of the roads, to how you conduct your business. And in a zillion other ways I couldn’t possibly list in this article.

The point is, if you don’t vote and make your voice heard about who you think should make decisions on your behalf, plenty of other people will do so for you. And they might NOT have your best interests at heart.

What are the issues for you to keep in mind as an Internet marketer?

Well, these would be issues that affect most small and mid-sized businesses - economic policy (specifically policies that impact on inflation, interest rates and the strength of the U.S. dollar), taxes, employment laws, trade laws, competition laws - as well as issues that specifically relate to the Internet and doing business on the Internet.

I’m not sure where Barack Obama or John McCain stand on all these issues, but they are all factors to consider, along with the other issues that are important - and may be far more important - to you.

Of course, however important these issues are… and whatever the elected administration does once it gets power… nothing will affect your success as an Internet marketer more than YOU. So while it’s important to have your say about who governs - and the government of the day WILL make decisions that affect you… none of that will have anywhere near the same influence on your success as YOU and what YOU DO.

I feel fairly confident saying this about the United States (and a number of other countries). I’m not so sure when it comes to the various totalitarian regimes that still exist in the world. Which is all the more reason to celebrate democracy and vote. And after you to that… it’s back to business!

A report by eMarketer clearly indicates that the music industry is struggling, as more and more people go online to download music… without paying as much as they used to.

Whilst legitimate music downloading is increasing, overall music industry sales are declining. They’re not exactly in free fall, but in the U.S., annual music spending per capita was just $120.03 in 2006, down from a record high of $268.01 in 1995 and lower than $198.04 in 1980. The per capita spend for 2007 isn’t available yet, but is expected to be in line with the downward trend.

Folks, these are nominal figures. That means that after adjusting for inflation, the drop in spend per capita is even lower.

Meanwhile, more people than ever are buying music, with a trend towards online downloads rather than physical formats such as CDs. In January 2008, 21 percent of U.S. consumers bought MP3s or other digital audio from an online download service, up from 16 percent in 2007.

According to eMarketer senior analyst Paul Verna, the array of music formats, players and vendors has hindered sales growth. But if online sales have increased, - while revenue overall is declining - something more fundamental is going on here.

There’s no question that people love music… but now that it’s so readily available for either low (or no) cost, the price at which supply meets demand is just much lower than it was in the 1980s and 1990s.

Here’s a thought: perhaps we were paying too much for music in the first place. Not so much for production or distribution, but for licensing deals with music artists. Perhaps in an environment where people just aren’t willing to pay so much for the latest pop song, the fees demanded by prima donna music artists and bands will increasingly become a thing of the past…

Source: eMarketer, “Digital Music Spending, Complexity Up”, eMarketer, June 20, 2008