CDs Are Dying Three Times as Fast as Vinyl Is Growing

I suspect that if the industry had their way, you'd buy everything on some sort of physical format that you could not copy in any way. That's how they made the money from the 50's through the 90's. I don't think there's much of an upside for them from streaming.

 

Let the cds grow!

 

of course, they lost control...they gave us the key to their lock...they are thrilled with this so called "vinyl resurgence"...LOL. high prices for new vinyl and inconvenience in ripping.

 

I rip a lot of music from CD and LP and it is no way more convenient that streaming. It's a lot of work. I like the result, but I can't pretend that it's convenient.

 

I agree, but for me it's worth it.

 

The industry certainly doesn't hate CDs today but if less people are being them, then what? Of course it is easier to sell downloads but most labels LOVE the idea of a physical format. But I know they make more on a download.

 

Have ripped all my thousands cds to a Hard drive. Love putting them on my phone and burning cds of comps or albums. Just love owning a physical copy of my media.
Whatever suits the music listener physical or download is up to them.

 

?? The majors all have a piece of the streaming companies, and they get paid $$ every time you listen.

Fallible, decaying, hard-to-duplicate media has NOTHING on getting paid every time someone listens to a work.

 

but cassette sales are up 10,000% the industry is saved

 

All I'm getting at is CD's allowed people to rip their collections very quickly which led to the up rise of things like Napster (in its original incarnation) and other illegal file-sharing sites. The industry suddenly lost control and they didn't see that coming.

 

I think this is a bit too harsh and elitist, and does no favors for our hobby or image as a whole (which you may have noticed is steadily contracting).

We are more obsessed with music than probably 95% of the population, who don't give a rip about tubes, loudness curves, sampling rates, compression, or hoarding a massive "collection" and just want some nice background music or something to sing along to in the car reproduced with reasonable fidelity. These individuals are not "stupid" or "sheep" (they might be "hipsters", but what's wrong with that?), they simply have different priorities than we do and for them the ability to abandon the trappings of physical media in favor of virtually unlimited access via streaming IS the smart choice.

Honestly, if you can read between the lines and see the bigger picture in audio forums, it actually looks like we audio nerds are the ones truly guilty of groupthink, tribalism, and the resulting "sheeplike" behaviors! (The term "projection" comes to mind here.)

 

For awhile, at least a few years ago, new vinyl often included a CD or download code. Dylan's Shadows In The Night and Bowie's The Next Day both included CD's, but their next releases did not. Now the odd release still has a download code, but many don't. Either way, it was way easier to rip CD's than a record.

 

Oh, these stories are by those who think vinyl and its "warmer" sound can never falter, despite sending back 6 copies of each new pressing until they get one not so noisy, warped, off center, etc. Yes, surface noise, rumble and inner groove distortion is the audiophile's dream. But isn't the RIAA referring only to retail sales? Do you think all the CD's I sell through my websites and other direct outlets end up counted by the RIAA? I don't think so. So tell me, what is the point of vinyl reissues when the original pressings are easy to find or have never been on CD (or streaming). Some of us want to hear what the master tape sounds like, and not through surface noises and distortions. And if the only way that's possible is a well done CD reissue then I think the format will still retain its tiny little niche following.

 

Well, I'll take your word for it, but I always thought that the big money years for the biz were when everybody was buying a single, LP, or CD to get music, and the only alternative was the radio or MTV.

 

Bottom line is that this is the 31st straight year that CDs will out-sell vinyl in the USA and globally.

And let's face it - vinyl is 'resurging' in a niche sense, among audiophiles, an inherently small market. It will never be what it was before cassettes and then CDs took over in the 1980s.

 

Well, that's the thing: CD isn't going away, but it is on the way to being a niche market like the LP is and has been for years. And I think some CD aficionados are having a tough time with the transition.

 

No one is saying or has said that it will. It's a niche market. CD's will be one too.

 

If you truly think about it... CDs are not "dying" they are just going to be manufactured in smaller quantities now.

 

This is what I think will happen.

 

Ding ding ding. You want to get the McCartney 2025 album on CD fuh get about it. You want to get the Tame Impala 2025 album on CD, get about it.

 

I think these decline numbers also have to take into account the age group of who is still buying CD's. My logic, whether or not flawed, is that with the music I am reissuing from the 70's and 80's that the buyer will be very happy to buy the CD's. Especially considering many have either never been on a digital format or streaming. Sure, there are times that I walk in my basement and think I'm never going to move all that stock, but then I have to realize how many CD's I've actually sold since my first was released in April. And now having signed on with a real distributor, the idea of those boxes gradually disappearing is not so far fetched. But in a few years, we will see. With pressings of 1000-1500, I have to assume that it's not an impossibility that amount can sell out over a few years. You know, to us old folks anyway.

 

For a few more years, but 50 years from now, no.

yes they are, no they aren't, yes they are!

 

That will be available in a 9 record 78 rpm album set.

 

No format can ever succumb to anything unless it was really hated by many, say the 8-Track tape for example. I hope that format never returns.

 

The upside of streaming from their point of view is forcing you to rent your favorite music forever and pay for it every month. As opposed to buying Sgt Pepper on cd in 1987 and listening to that for the rest of your life (not that that would happen to us here, but...)