Are CD's coming back?

They haven't gone and may never. Said the same about vinyl some years ago. Remember downloads? - look how those declined after taking over the world.

 

It's quite possible that certain artists will ditch the streaming model. It really depends on how much they get paid.

 

Since CDs are now coming back, here's a humorous cartoon to lighten the mood.

 

Whatever the model will be in yrs to come, I just hope its centered around the artist and them getting paid.

There is no ownership, no effort, nadda, in streaming. People just want to push a button and get everything for free, while many of the artists continue to get screwed. That maybe a bit of a generalization and the financial metric is a different can'o 'worms but that is culture in which we live. Just think if one were charged a one time "full price" for every complete album they want to stream? I'm all for technology and all the advances, which I use many of, but tech isn't the issue its the business model, but....I digress.

Would be interesting if the artists could some how "seed" their own discography and if spotify, apply etc.. wants it, they pay the artist an initial fee and then on going royalties (some formula). The end user continues to pay a monthly fee as we do now. I dunno.

I know its a losing battle in the current environment, but I'll continue to buy CD's, the equiv download, SACD or whatever for as long as I can, especially from places like Bandcamp, direct from artists et al

 

This ignores the point of my post, but whatever. Vinyl isn't/wasn't just a storage medium. The CD *is* just a storage medium. The thing is, it preceded - technologically - the liberation of the file on the CD from the storage medium, so people initially didn't really think about the CD as being what it actually was. Once that liberation occurred, however, the days of the CD were numbered and the current cratering of CD sales was inevitable, because people - en masse - want convenience and low cost more than anything. The CD overtook vinyl because of convenience. The CD eventually died (as the method of choice for people to hear music) because something else was more convenient. People ditched downloads for streaming because "people" (again, meaning most people in general, not everyone) really don't care about "owning" music, as long as they have on-demand access to music. Which they now have, and never again will be without.
The notion that streaming is just some bait and switch gambit wherein the switch hasn't yet occurred is likely just a fantasy perpetrated by people who, for whatever reason, have something against streaming and/or philosophical opposition to the access vs. own model. The industry really likes the current model. People really like the current model. Artists who have come to prominence in the last 10-15 years generally accept the model without reservation. The main points of contention typically come from older artists who aren't getting paid like they once did for their recordings. Those artists need to accept that that era is over and gone. If the consumers, the providers and (mostly) the artists accept the model, then it's not going anywhere until something even cheaper and more convenient comes along.

Yes, physical media (vinyl and CD) will likely stick around for a long time in some capacity, but it has already fallen from being a mass consumer item to the province of hobbyists, collectors and luddites.

 

They're coming back to my house with a value of less than a buck apiece.

 

Are CD's coming back? Gawd, I hope so. Vinyl...feh.

 

Lots of new releases and reissues are being released on cd/download only, so for me cd's are still an important and viable medium that hasn't gone anywhere. The upside of cd's not enjoying the current popularity of vinyl is prices on used stock has come down quite a bit, especially on the classical side. So grab them now.

 

Records, tapes, etc., are all storage mediums. It isn't hard to do needle drops, convert tapes, etc. You only need the tools.

 

It's NEVER went away for me.

 

. . . which means they're durable. Streaming, controlled by an outside party, not so much.

 

They definitely are durable. Implying that streaming isn't, though, puts us thoroughly in tin-foil hat territory.

 

"Less than a buck apiece" is the price.

The value is whatever you invest in it emotionally.

 

The availability of any given title as a stream rests entirely in the hands of someone other than you. They will not disappear as a result of a "conspiracy." They will disappear as the result of marketing studies, etc.

If that's tin-foil hat territory, it's inhabited by the majority of us.

 

.

 

This CD's always coming back!

 

The availability of given titles in < $1 CD bins is also in hands of someone other than you.

For now, streaming seems to be a bird in the hand.

Streaming companies can offer almost infinite libraries, as they only pay for songs or artists that they stream.

I listen to streaming Pandora, because I like the variety. When I hear new artists that appeal to me, then I will often order the CD of that artist.

So far, I like the recording quality of new vinyl, but I am not in any hurry to amass a new large record or CD collection.

Over the years, I have listened to many songs on the radio and have listened to many of my friend's records and tapes.

That doesn't mean that I went out and bought all of them.

I have a reasonable and manageable collection of CD's and records. I am content with that.

I really don't see that much difference in "streaming" today, as compared to listening to different stations on the radio, years ago.

Early on, Pandora was marketed as Internet radio.

 

CD's are an excellent flexible storage medium.

 

Just went and bought the original Black Sabbath album for 2.99 and the remastered Metallica jfa album yesterday . Great time to be buying cds . Wish the mastering got better though

 

I’m a vinyl picker. There’s some surprises out there but the CD opportunities aren’t to be disregarded. I just found a digitally remaster directly from analog tapes - “Time Out” - The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Columbia Jazz Masterpeices (1987). $2.99

Second the motion, Great time to be buying CDs.

 

You’ve got yourself fooled if you don’t think you’ll either be-

A.) Paying more for streaming in the not too distant future.
...or...
B.) “Enjoying” commercials on even paid streaming.
...or...
C.) Both.

The only thing stopping the music industry from doing this now, IMO, is illegal uploads to YouTube.

I don’t believe any conspiracy theories and have finally embraced streaming but I also understand how profit driven the music and tech industries are.

 

As long as there is competition in the industry, and there is and will be. I don't think that streaming is going anywhere and I don't think that people will be paying any real differences in prices, except accounting to inflation driven prices.

Has cell phone usage gone up in price? No.

When you have a gigantic user base, prices will always level out to where they can get the most users on their service and can therefore get the most income revenue.

Companies will continue to garner additional profits the same ways that they are doing so now, with add on services, family plans and the same kind of things that they are doing now.

I operate a small motel and provide my guests with DirecTV. I subscribe to their Ultimate package of over 150 channels, local channels, music channels, premium services of HBO and Cinemax and have upgraded the boxes to HD. When I installed the equipment, years back, I bought all HD equipment, so that I could upgrade the services and boxes easily in the future.

I have a 65" TV set in my office/listening and viewing room.

I do not have a satellite box connected to it as I refuse to watch anything where I am subjected to commercials.

The minute that my Pandora subscription that I pay extra for, puts commercial's into my feed, is the moment that I cancel their service.

I lead a completely forced commercial free life and will continue to do so.

Services like Pandora, due to technology can do things that a mass broadcast station can not do. They can deliver content with commercials or they can charge more for that same content to make up for the lack of revenue that commercials bring in.

Either way, they will get the same dollar in their pocket's, maybe even more for commercial free programming.

These services have already figured out, that having a regular established commercial free listening base is the way to keep premium subscriber's happy.

All they need do, is to offer a lower tier of service to those whom they can push paid for commercial advertising on.

 

Bingo!

 

I think it all depends what you listen to. I just checked Spotify and they don't have my favorite CD of classical music thats in my collection. And neither do they have my new obsession, Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, which is considered a seminal avant garde record that influenced rock and alternative music for generations to come. So good thing I have those on physical format.

But yes, streaming does have > 90% of what I like to listen to, and if I were a younger person into pop and hip-hop only, it would probably by 100%.

 

I would be interest to see your source.

I think a bigger issue and danger with streaming is that music and artists are becoming like muzak was in the 90s. No one cares or gave a hoot who made or what was muzak. It was just background music that was meaningless and not important in the grand scheme of daily life. There was not attachment to the musical artist/band or their catalog and there was no identification to the persona that those artists were. I watch my kids and am seeing a similar trend but with pop music. If the artist isn't in the media/social media in your face 24/7 they forgotten really really fast. In my house hold Katy Perry & Taylor Swift and Niki Minaj are still alive and well but Julia Michaels (the girl that had the "issues" hit last year and I thought she made a pretty good debut EP/record) is already forgotten.

Collecting physical items attaches fans to an artist in some way. Its like collecting baseball stuff or hockey cards. Its not the same thing to have digital images of the stuff.