The End of CD's

[mojobone]

I had dinner the other night with a publisher who is an ex-vp at Disney. He said that Best Buy isn't going to sell physical CDs anymore, in fact, they've already stopped stocking them and are just selling off the stock they have in their stores.

I'm sure WalMart and Target won't be far behind.

This is good news for indie brick and mortar music stores, imo.

[fusilierb]

I can't remember the last time I bought a CD. I've bought blank one's to put my music on, but that's only a convenience for transferring data to other people for whatever reason. Everything comes to an end at some point.
B

[mojobone]

Between the cost of a blank CD and my time to burn it, that's a push for me, vs. buying a used CD for a couple bucks; at least I know the artist got paid once. I don't put much faith in the longevity of CD-Rs vs. replicated discs. I have some that won't play all the way through, already. (granted, they're non-standard extended-play discs, -88 min.) When I consider formats for music I purchase, I take a Mad Max approach; in the event of a complete collapse of civilization as we know it, how long can I expect to still be able to play it back? I expect to be able to play back CDs for the rest of my natural life, for the moment, and I'll change my approach to archiving when that changes.

Buying music is a deductible business expense for me these days, but indie habits die hard, heh.

[billg1]

I go through a crapload of CDs in my "mix-checking" . . . the car for bass . . . the under the cabinet kitchen player for mids, etc. Wish I had another way.

As far as CD being dead as a retail product, it looks like it's going in that direction. I was looking at the soundscan figures for 2009 . . . CD sales down for everything. But it looks like patterns are emerging and distribution is taking a genre related shape. Digital downloads increased big time due to mainly to pop stars like Lady Gaga. Vinyl was up a whopping 33% and if you take away the legacy artists that have always sold in vinyl (Beatles, Metallica, Radiohead, Dylan) the rest are
more roots oriented . . . Iron & Wine, Wilco, etc. So because CDs were/are the largest chunk of the market it cripples the industry when their sales are off, but if you break it down they are really the only format in decline.

It also looks as if indie record stores are getting healthier . . . so yeah, good news for them if the big box guys quit carrying recorded music.

[fret17]

I have an old Roland Sound Canvas /Sound Brush Module I still use for quick MIDI pieces and it records to 2HD 3.5 disks...It was murder trying to find those anywhere but EBAY..LOL....
Fret17

[Hookjaw Brown]

Wow! Youze guys got some great info and ideas! I like the multi-media, weblike capabilities of the thumb drive. But I can't believe the resurgence of vinyl. When my son was spinning in a lot in clubs we talked about getting one of the acetate machines that was being junked. Spinners only use an album 5-10 times then toss it. The DJ's were always looking for new mixes and beats.

Pressing vinyl is an art, plus it is hard to do short runs. Duping CD's in house is a simple process. Writing to a thumb drive is simpler yet. These drives are also just about as cheap as business cards.

[eeoo]

I still buy cd's. I like having the physical product with the artwork/graphics and all of the info right there at hand. Some day I will get a turntable up and running as i still have a bit of a vinyl collection. I hardly ever burn cd-r's. eo.

[billg1]

Wow! Youze guys got some great info and ideas! I like the multi-media, weblike capabilities of the thumb drive. But I can't believe the resurgence of vinyl. When my son was spinning in a lot in clubs we talked about getting one of the acetate machines that was being junked. Spinners only use an album 5-10 times then toss it. The DJ's were always looking for new mixes and beats.

Pressing vinyl is an art, plus it is hard to do short runs. Duping CD's in house is a simple process. , eiting to a thumb drive is simpler yet. These drives are also just about as cheap as business cards.

You can get vinyl in runs as short as 100 but it'll cost you over $6 each (not including mastering or printing). When you get up to 1,000 the prices are comparable with quality CD replication.

With the most popular Americana/roots artists a vinyl release is pretty much the norm. The PD that's been helping me out points to the popularity as a backlash to exactly what you're talking about . . . anybody can burn a cd, download an mp3 ect. In certain situations the "perception" that the more time/money/care/attention (insert your own description!) that has been put it into a product, the more attention it deserves. most if not all of the acts on the Americana charts (both here and the UK charts) have vinyl releases as well as CD releases & it makes sense in a way since most of these artists record their records in analog studios. I'm sure there are exceptions, but there aren't many DIYers among them.

A thumb drive loaded with mp3's sounds like a cool DIY idea (better than a cd-R) especially for the gig merch table and your core fan base, there's also kind of a cool "indie" thing that goes along with any DIY product. But right now if you wanted a broader reach or indie radio play you still need a more "retail" type of package. What that will mean in the future is anyone guess! (maybe it will be thumbdrives eventually.)

[mazz]

The latest thing are USB wristbands. They are a bit wider than the Live Strong ones and they have a USB thumb drive incorporated in them. I saw an article about bands recording their live shows and immediately duplicating the show onto these drives. The audience can pay up front with their ticket for one of these so the band already knows about how many people want them, although I'm sure if you wanted to buy one at the concert they wouldn't turn you away, just probably charge you a bit more.

I was at a convention recently and a music library was giving these away as well as their demo from the show. Much cooler and easier to carry than a CD.

Check out the picture on page 2 of the wristbands being filled with music:

http://mixonline.com/live/applications/ ... index.html

[billg1]

now that's pretty cool!