CD's Gone By 2020?

Especially when they start to remove albums from the platform. While they have zillion of albums on these platforms, they do not always have complete catalog of a given artists (e.g. Brian Eno)

I am with Tidal for more than a year now and the one who enjoys it the most at home is my teenager. She doesn’t care about hifi or 63 inches tv, everything has to fit on an iphone...

I am streaming from time to time but far better enjoy spinning vinyl and cd. IMO, streaming is the new radio. Great way to sample and discover music. That’s all.

 

Yeah, my parents are around your age and they don't really consume any new music. Besides my mom passively listening to pop radio. I assume that's the norm for most people over 50.

Though, I recently bought the From Elvis in Memphis CD (not new, but new to us) CD and my mom and I both love it.

 

Vinyl is niche. It isn't niche on this forum, but in the general population it is.

 

Getting rid of them or replacing them.

 

It's not 2000 level of niche, but it is certainly niche compared to streaming.

 

Hopefully. Then we can stop predicting when it will happen.

 

That's the senior, music nut perspective re: streaming being comparable to radio (no offense, I fit into that group too).
For everyone else, streaming has replaced physical media rather than radio.

 

Alright, of course it depends on one's definition. What I meant by "not niche" is that it's now a given that major albums get released as LP, sometimes even when there is no CD version. Major record stores have been stocking vinyl for years now, you can even get LPs in some supermarket chains. On television when an artist presents a new album they'll show the LP, not the CD. I'm aware this is because the larger sleeve is more attractive for the camera, but still it's a phenomenon. And I'm not biased, if I buy any music it's CD or download. I own a record player only for my vintage collection.

 

Why did you do that? I mean both, why did you get rid of your vinyl then and why did you buy them again now. And did you own those same albums on CD in the time between?

 

CD's cost practically NOTHING to produce. As long as there is ANY profit to be had, they won't be going anywhere.

There are "experts" everywhere who like to predict the end of CD's, other physical media.... The END of the WORLD!

In 2014 people said Nintendo would stop making consoles and we'd see Mario and Zelda games on Sony and Microsoft platforms.
Meanwhile, 2019 and they have one of their most successful consoles to date, AND they still have their games on physical media
despite everyone claiming consoles would be 100% digital by now.

A lot of people also thought the vinyl resurgence would be OVER by now.

 

Vinyl was 4.3% of the market for music in the US on a revenue basis in 2018, up from 0.6% of the market in 2008, according to the RIAA. Revenue has grown from LP steadily for 10 years, but it still remains at a level of around 58% of CD revenue. All physical media combined represented about 11% of the recorded music market on a revenue basis in 2018 -- with the money from rising vinyl sales unable to offset the losses from shrinking CD sales. How we define what's niche and what's mass market I guess is open for debate. But around 90% of the money in the recorded music business in the US comes from something other than the sale of physical media.

 

In the US, it was 1988 when K-Mart type of stores stopped carrying vinyl

 

You forgot

8-track cartridge
compact cassette
DAT

Sure, there are a few hobbyists still using this stuff, but for 99% of the world, these formats are extinct.

I don't think you understand my point. The masses have accepted streaming for whatever reason, and we will pay the price when the labels go to a pay-as-you-go model, and you will no longer be able to find music they, and the artists, decide not to give us anymore. If you buy the music either on physical formats or as a download, you possess it. Then, they can't take it away on a whim leaving us with nothing.

Many average people in their 50s that I know are attending live shows more than buying CDs or streaming music. Many people of that age think you have to use a smartphone to download and stream. The millennials probably gave them that impression.

Many of us dumped our vinyl in the 80s because we were into CDs. We saw the way things were going and the labels were starting to reissue classic albums on CD. So, to many of us, the CDs sounded equal to or superior to the vinyl, and it saved space. It also gave us funds to buy more CDs.

 

Just to clarify, PD is "public domain." So, basically, unlicensed comps from Europe. Not a big wonder that they're operating on the cheap.

 

I remember buying Paul Simon's Negotiations and Lovesongs at Tracks (formerly Record Bar). It was the only record on sale in the entire store! I think that was late '88.

 

Yet Best Buy sees fit to carry them but not CD

 

You are on a global music nuts forum so expect comments that reflect different perspectives and life experiences.

To your point, radio is also streamed nowadays...

 

Nice to see a new topic being discussed on the board.

 

Honestly with the way things are going it almost seems like CDs are being considered niche now. When I tell to people that I collect rare CDs more so than rare Vinyl they go like "oh there's a CD collecting scene?".

 

Most everyone on this forum knows there is a CD collecting scene.

 

Well, I am very aware of that
But people who aren't much into music or music collecting are always surprised to hear that.

 

Yeah, I just think members need reminding that there's a very different and much bigger world out there once in a while (where physical media is an anachronism and streaming is IT) .

 

My Songs (Deluxe) by Sting
New Album Out Now

 

Music streaming is fueling vinyl's resurgence

Streaming has been blamed for killing off the CD, but industry experts agree it's helping bolster the growth and quality of another physical music format: vinyl. Since 2015, streaming income has eclipsed CD sales, and the likes of Apple Music and Spotify have become major players in the music industry. This year the Recording Industry Association of America reported that 75 percent of music revenue in the United States came from streaming services. In the past three years, vinyl sales in the US have steadily risen about $2 million annually.


Streaming accounts for 75 percent of music industry revenue in the US

The numbers also show that more people continue to join paid subscription services, with subscription rates growing by about one million per month. But while streaming revenue is still on an upward trend, the news isn't so good for digital downloads and CD sales. Digital downloads have only made up 12 percent of overall revenue so far this year, down from 19 percent last year, and CD sales saw a whopping 41 percent drop in revenue. To compare, during the same time last year, CD sales were only down three percent from the year before. Vinyl revenue, however, is up 13 percent.

 

For me, it's a deal-breaker. If a CD-R is advertised and sold as a CD, it's misrepresentation in my book, and it would go back immediately.