"CD-format to be abandoned by major labels by the end of 2012..."

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by MarilynsPickle, Oct 29, 2011.

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  1. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    What pressing plant do you use ?
     
  2. ChrisPineo

    ChrisPineo Active Member

    Location:
    Dade City, FL
    Yes, the only named source is the head of the website. Anyone can say "higher ups told me this or that". Why would you go to press (or put on your site) with something like that? Especially when its the same song and dance we've heard for 10 years. 10 years ago CDs were going away but they haven't. Then people read this (even news organizations) and treat it like its fact. Its just somebody saying something. At least when ESPN says "sorces say Peyton Manning will sign with the Broncos" (which burns me up, don't report it until you can identify the source) they will lose credibility if they are wrong. This website won't even be held accountable if (really when) this doesn't come to pass.

    And I disagree that the speculation presented is consistent with current trends. Well somewhat, we all know physical media is going away but the key is "by the end of 2012". I don't think it'll be that soon and there is no evidence of it. The world didn't need another "CDs are doomed" article.

    Journalism is in sorry shape in this country. That is far more disturbing than no more CDs and that's my concern. Traditional news sources are lowering standards to get it first instead of right (and objectivity and straight reporting is a dying art) and blog posts are treated as legitimate news sources when most of them aren't. Unnamed sources should be rare and used as avenues to finding the truth, not published as fact.

    But yes, they were clear there was no official confirmation. So small ups for their honesty (though the article's title made it sound like fact).
     
  3. seventeen

    seventeen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Paris, France
    I press at MPO, Alexpop, they do a great job.

    Chris, small labels do not do CDs anymore, they go back to vinyl. That's the sign CD is on it's way out.

    Now, the funniest is when reviewers ask for the CD -- they didn't got it yet :)

    CD almost killed vinyl. It's now time for CD to go away, and let vinyl take back it's rightful place. it will take decades, the damage have been severe, but vinyl will still be with us at the turn of the next century, while CD...
     
  4. ChrisPineo

    ChrisPineo Active Member

    Location:
    Dade City, FL
    The question is when not if. I think its a couple of more years yet with the sales continuing to trend downward. But if its at the end of this year so be it.
     
  5. Sounds to me like you have your own agenda. Wishful thinking?
     
  6. houston

    houston Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, Texas, USA
    IIRC, didn't CD sales actually increase in 2012, vis-a-vis 2011?
     
  7. ChrisPineo

    ChrisPineo Active Member

    Location:
    Dade City, FL
    I think they did slightly but this was also the first year downloads topped CDs in total sales (by a hair). IIRC. I was focused more on market share when I said trending downward but I stand corrected. :)

    I think how people purchase music will determine the CD's fate more than how much music is being bought. The reduction of CD space in stores is an indication that the format is alive but struggling. Why make CDs when most of the public will buy downloads?
     
  8. Claude

    Claude Senior Member

    Location:
    Luxembourg
    Damage? Do you care a bit about music?

    Think about all the music that was OOP or has never been released on LP and has been reissued thanks to the CD boom. About how affordable it became for small bands to release an album on CD compared to LP.

    You sound like a newspaper publisher who complains about the internet.
     
  9. therockman

    therockman Senior Member In Memoriam



    Great post with well worded arguments. This post would be a great "discussion starter" for a part two of this thread, seeing that we are now near 1,000 posts.
     
  10. ChrisPineo

    ChrisPineo Active Member

    Location:
    Dade City, FL
    Thanks for the kind words.
     
  11. seventeen

    seventeen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Paris, France
    My agenda Rsharpe is to sell records (or at least, recoup costs) ;) . CD was dead, the minute one cannot press 3000 copies and sell them within a month. That's not our fault, but the shops fault. Their economical model "fire the knowledgable seller and hire the first idiot walking through the door who don't know anything about music because he is cheaper" have collapsed, when it comes music in general. It works only on the exception, and it won't be long either.

    You know, when you go to a NY CD shop, and ask for Isaac Hayes discs, and the (black) seller asks you who Isaac Hayes is, and have to type his name in the database to find out where he stores him, it's over. Back to vinyl and vinyl shops ;)
     
  12. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    You really don't think that seventeen would sell CD's if he could?

    This astounds me - we have someone here who actually has a record label, is actually involved in the business of selling music, and when he says, "I can't sell CD's, but when I press vinyl, it sells easily," the response is, "This must be wishful thinking on your part." As if he'd willfully sacrifice sales for a format-based agenda. The "wishful thinking" may be on your part.
     
  13. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Yup, he has an agenda:


     
  14. ChrisPineo

    ChrisPineo Active Member

    Location:
    Dade City, FL
    I do. I also think he fancies vinyl. He said so himself.

    But I appreciate the contributions to this discussion of someone inside the industry.
     
  15. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Good luck with that. They read this forum, and a few of them are probably reading this thread right now, but they will never comment publically.
     
  16. Someone STILL buys PiL? Well color me surprised.

    Here's the problem with this--

    I think the format will continue for a while for bigger artists and for niche ones but smaller artists will go digital and vinyl (much as Marshall Crenshaw has indicated he's going to do for his independent releases).

    Vinyl appeals to a new crowd because it's "new" to them, they are into having possessions (i.e., like the artwork, like to hold it, like the process of vinyl) and also because, quite honestly, there are a lot of releases that weren't released to vinyl or have been out-of-print for a long time.

    It's a bit too soon to say it's the end of the line for CDs and, although I doubt it will have the same resurrection as vinyl did, we might see that occur.

    Personally I loved vinyl what I hated was having to take care of it and all the steps you have to get to get a really good pressing or create one by removing all the junk from the grooves for some pressings.

    There's no doubt that digital downloads will continue to remain popular but, ultimately, it's going to be about streaming just as it will eventually be for video and a subscription service (something I personally hate because then you are the mercy of someone else and licensing, etc.).

    As to the CDs in your basement...well they could be there for a reason perhaps because the artist (I'm assuming its you) isn't as well known, doesn't have the outlets to "promote" his or her music like they used to and because of these other options.

    Personally the appeal for CDs for me has been simple--good sound, portable without the hassle of vinyl (and I like vinyl...just not all the hassle factor of getting a good pressing, cleaning and maintaining, etc.) but I've been using an ipod since they first came out to listen to stuff portably.

    If CDs go the route of the dinosaur I'm glad I have plenty of bones for my museum and they all sound nice.

    To put this in perspective however I believe that they measured individual downloaded tracks, albums, etc. as a whole and compared them to CD sales. Hardly a fair comparison but it does indicate where the money is going. Personally, if I want a single track or two I'll download it if it's decent quality rarther than buy the whole CD and get material I don't want AND waste money.

    For me downloading replaced CD singles and the industry's greed to move away from that by pushing them into extinction did them no favors.
     
  17. Claude

    Claude Senior Member

    Location:
    Luxembourg
    That has also to do with online sales of CDs, not only with competition from downloads.

    Many people prefer online CD stores, because prices are generally lower, there are sound clips and reviews available etc. In most brick and mortar CD stores, the choice is more limited, the discs are sealed and it's difficult or even impossible to listen to them.

    Book shops on the other hand have suffered less from online competition.
     
  18. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    Stop.

    Vinyl will be nothing more than a niche format. The CD will never go away completely. It will also remain a niche format as downloads continue to grow in popularity. Moving forward, we will still see CDs in major retail stores (chain stores) more than vinyl, if we see vinyl at all. The fact is that far more consumers have CD players than turntables when you consider all the shelf systems, boomboxes, and in-dash car units out there.

    People need to approach this subject from the standpoint of the masses, not the audiophiles (even though plenty of audiophiles buy CDs, too).
     
  19. The question becomes whether CD pressing plants can stay open with significantly reduced production runs. I'd assume plants are expensive to staff and maintain and at what point do they become unprofitable?
     
  20. Mark

    Mark I Am Gort, Hear Me Roar Staff

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