CD's Gone By 2020?

Yea, it's kind of turning into an anti-Music forum

 

Couple of months away from 2020. Is the end on sight yet? Should I go out with a picket sign:

"Physical media is doomed! You've been warned!

 

ah!ah!ah!ah!...

 

Weezer will release new album on CD on May 15, 2020!
Van Weezer CD (Pre Order) | Weezer US

 

Needed to hear "I'll Be Your Mirror" today for reasons, and I'm momentarily not streaming from anyone.

It was nice to just go to storage, yank the 1993 live CD, put it on, and move on.

 

I thought it might be useful to quote the actual OP again. The thread title needs to be assessed against what the OP actually said, not in isolation. So the question was not the abolition of the CD but major labels resorting to non media digital plus maybe vinyl.

This type of issuance is certainly increasing. For myself I think 2020 is a bit premature for an absolute majority of non digital media issues but 2022 seems quite likely now. The key is when will the major labels do to CDs what they did to vinyl at the end of the 80s, which would lead to a rapid decline.

 

CDs gone by 2020? Considering it is September 2019 and there is no clear end in sight, we can put that thread to rest. Next

 

Just seen the release info for the deluxe Beggars Banquet. Physical media ain't going anywhere.

 

Don't worry, chaps, Boris Johnson has asked for an extension to 2021.

One more year of CD buying

 

Or the limited edition Tool album that is 40 bucks that sold out everywhere because people wanted it so much, and now going for 100+ on Ebay lol

 

Gone by 2020?

Nope.

 

I think you're misinterpreting the Tool CD -- it's an example of the movement away from CD, not an example of the strength of CD. Instead of releasing the album in a CD issue that remains in print and is available continuously to anyone who wants it, all the band and label did was release a limited edition "collectors item" type CD with all kinds bells and whistles like a speaker and a rechargable HD screen and exclusive video content. It's not just a CD, it's a whole multimedia software and hardware package in a limited edition to create scarcity. Had the parties believed that there was demand for the music on CD, they also would have released a standard CD package. Now, they may still release more of these special CD packages (I see they did a second print run) or eventually even if standard CD if they think they miscalculated. Meanwhile, I saw this week that the #4 album on the Billboard chart, Lil Tecca's debut "mixtape," has no physical release at all, which is typical of a lot of rap "mixtapes" that are major chart hits.

 

I get what you mean, for me though I still think that the sheer craziness of obtaining these does show that there is a very vocal minority interested in the physical media, and this Tool CD and the people so interested in it, multimedia speaker or not, shows that there are people giving physical media enough business as to where it will not be dead by 2020 in the slightest

 

I agree with that. Not to mention that there are markets where CD in particular remains much stronger than it does in the US (and genres too -- this board is full of rock fans and rock is still a genre where physical media does well, so a lot of folks here may have less experience with the disappearing availablity of new releases -- or in-print catalog -- on CD that is happening at a faster clip in other genres. It's rare that old media disappears entirely, though it can become functionally obsolete. VHS is functionally obsolete. CRT TVs are functionally obsolete. I think CD is far from that. But I do think declining demand, declining retail support, declining numbers of manufacturers making playback hardware, declining sales and availability of playback hardware (both stand alone players and in cars, in computers, etc) continues to drive decision making about what to release an how and puts negative pressure on industry interest in manufacturing boxes and boxes of CDs.

 

Cd-s will be all but gone sometimes-but not 2020 that s for sure
The majority of music-consumers today don t buy their music in ohysical form and that trend will grow
Then there will always be nische-market
Personally I don t care-got more cd s already that I can listen to.

 

Here is the latest article from Billboard Magazine that shows the major labels are reconsidering the viability of the CD format based on both Taylor Swift and Tools's stronger than expected CD sales.

There's Still Money in Plastics: Big Sellers From Taylor Swift & Tool Have Labels Rethinking CD Strategies

https://www.billboard.com › articles › business › cd-sales-retail-label-strate...

 

Best Buy is "committed" to music in that each store has one remaining bin of $6.99 budget CDs, almost entirely 90's albums that everyone and their mother already has on CD. The selection per store probably numbers 50 albums from a mish-mash of genres.

Of course the music labels cut off CD too quickly, but that is all part of the industry's strategic withdrawal from the format. There are definitely some executives that want it gone yesterday.

 

BTS, with their young fanbase, sold 68% of their last album on CD. They aren't going anywhere for a long time yet. In the same way vinyl never really disappeared, CD won't either. They're so cheap to make and there will always be collectors and people who like owning albums they love. I'm totally confident that CD will still be around selling steadily if not spectacularly in 10 years time and longer, as well as there still being a very significant used market.

 

It's kind of like Netflix with DVD rentals. They'd like to get rid of it but it's still very profitable. I still use it.

 

What would be interesting to know if there are still new investments made into CD production plants. New plants opened, machines being replaced, etc. Or if the CD pressing capacity worldwide is slowly but surely decreasing, as happened with LPs in the late 80's.

 

The date will just get revised, now it is 2023!!!!

 

This is confirmed.

 

This is not sound logic.

 

Confirmed by who? Please give us more of your insider information. Isn't that like saying "the wet concrete poured today will be dry one year from now?"

 

I’m not sure that Taylor’s strategy of having super fans buy four different copies of her CD on release day in order to get four different excerpts from her diaries is a strategy that will be easily replicated by other artists.