Uh oh - no regular CD release of upcoming major release?

U.S. music album sales by format 2017 | Statistic

this is a chart of actual sales of albums. cd's are still the preferred option. downloads are close (but i am not sure if this includes digital albums that come with a physical unit). vinyl is just holding in there.
digital downloads are the preferred option for the singles buyer, and as singles are very much trend oriented, that isn't surprising.
to suggest that cd's are going to be wiped out, at this stage, with eighty million sales last year seems rather odd. the problem is overall sales. the music industry is dying, for many reasons. stopping the manufacture of cd's would pretty much end the music industry.

 

Yeah, one of my favorite albums of this year so far ("Pent Up" by Rogue + Jaye, an indie side-project), released digitally, but had no CD release and a vinyl pressing of only 500 copies.

 

... as long as the CD's are brick walled, they might as well skip them anyhow.

 

SHFers Complain About Digital-Only Release From Sting, Ignoring Past Five Years Of Digital-Only Releases From Literally Dozens Of Hip-Hop Artists....

 

Hip hop isn't a genre I usually listen to (I have a soft spot for the classics, Run-DMC and the like), but I'd be ticked off if it was and I couldn't get physical releases.

 

Well the vinyl hasnt been much different. And a lot has been poorly produced

 

I know, it's very sad.

 

A digital only release that actually isn't a digital only release at all.

 

Physical media will eventually only be a premium/limited product whether it a CD or LP...streaming will be it for the masses

 

Its been rumoured for a few years that major labels are about to ditch CDs but... it ain't happened yet.

Give it ten years, by when I think the CD market might have shrunk enough to be killed off.

Maybe by then we will be able to have HD sound files transmitted directly to our brains via 11g mobile networks.

 

Fire.

 

Shaggy and Sting. That's awesome in the worst way possible.

 

if that happens, so be it. i still won't/don't want downloads

 

Not sure what downloads have to do with backing up one’s CDs onto a HD and keeping it offsite in case of something catastrophic like a fire or flood. You would rather have nothing and start over from scratch?

 

it will be, what it will be. if i lose everything tomorrow, so be it. i won't be happy about it, but a disc file somewhere isn't going to change the fact that it's gone. i mean if it was just a case of having some songs, i could pay a fee to amazon or someone else and have access most files that exist.

 

i'm not interested in downloads, what's there to roll your eyes about?

 

Because the only options left are niche or too expensive.

That may be so, and personally I'm fine with digital but it has to be much cheaper than a CD. If I pay 10 <currency units> I want a physical object. If it's download only, I'm prepared to pay half that at best. And that is not an outrageous thing to ask, because they have way lower cost with downloads than with the production, distribution and retail of a physical product, and they should hand that advantage down to the consumer instead of keeping it all to themselves.

 

I love it.

Hopefully just go Hybrid SACD for the 'digital standard' - $30/whack.

Line em up, boys!

 

It costs more to produce and ship CDs for a new release in 2018 than you can make selling them, as a new artist with no backing.

Not enough people buy music anymore.

 

Thankfully it's the new Sting album and not someone relevant.

 

But, if your collection is backed up off-site and/or in the cloud it wouldn't be "gone". Seriously, some of you guys and your militant stance on this, it's like cutting your nose off to spite your face. "Well, I won't have physical media I can hold!". So you'd rather have nothing given how much you've invested?! Mind boggling, that's the reason for the eye roll emoji.

In a nutshell, that's where we find the industry, especially for the average consumer. They're not going to invest that much in physical media, further invest in storage options for said media, and then search for the one or two tracks they wish to hear. I watch some of the young folks going through their record collections on YouTube. Very few have more than 50.

It's been over a decade since I bought physical media voraciously. It took me awhile to get into streaming, but now that it's all said and done, it's my primary music delivery system and I'm closing in on 60. It's not something you have to take to overnight, but I have found it very freeing not to have to go through racks and racks of media to find what I want to hear at a given moment. All I know is if this accessibility had been around when I was a teen, I would have squealed like a delighted piggy sloshing around in fresh slop.

 

You remind me of myself in 2001 when Prince said his latest The Rainbow Children would only be released as a download to music club members. The panic I felt!
Of course he changed his mind and quickly arranged a distribution deal for a CD. But like you I hated even the prospect of no physical album/digital only.

 

You have to admit there is/was a certain charm in spending time rummaging through racks of records. Some of my best friends I have either met at/worked at/or owned record stores. Would not trade those experiences for anything.

 

it wouldn't be cutting off my nose to spite my face. enjoy your downloads and rips ... it is of no interest to me. just because you like it, doesn't mean i have to.
if my collection ends up gone, it's gone. i have stuff on my computer. i have the obligatory amazon music free downloads .... but at the end of the day, that is not my music.
if i lost everything, perhaps i would get a decent streaming account, but perhaps i would just play my guitar more