• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

CDs are pretty much dead... Long Live USB?

#181
People want rdownloads, not physical media they have to pay for.

I went through this about 10 years ago with a previous band. We released CD's, for minimal outlay, but we were bombarded by requests for free downloads. The "hardcore" fans will buy media (especially in "niche genres"), but in general, your average "music consumer" wants a download.

For me, downloads and streaming almost makes music into a "commodity". Music is in the "background", and people end up with a huge catalogue of songs that they shuffle through, and don't really pay too much attention of. Even when I uploaded the CD's onto Bandcamp (again, asking a minimal amount), there was very little take up, because of the outlay involved. When I eventually made them a free download, they were downloaded many, many more times than when they had a cost involved.

Bizarrely, Band Merchandise was a big seller. The only time when the band actually made any money.
 
#182
Skybone said:
People want rdownloads, not physical media they have to pay for.

I went through this about 10 years ago with a previous band. We released CD's, for minimal outlay, but we were bombarded by requests for free downloads. The "hardcore" fans will buy media (especially in "niche genres"), but in general, your average "music consumer" wants a download.

For me, downloads and streaming almost makes music into a "commodity". Music is in the "background", and people end up with a huge catalogue of songs that they shuffle through, and don't really pay too much attention of. Even when I uploaded the CD's onto Bandcamp (again, asking a minimal amount), there was very little take up, because of the outlay involved. When I eventually made them a free download, they were downloaded many, many more times than when they had a cost involved.

Bizarrely, Band Merchandise was a big seller. The only time when the band actually made any money.
Click to expand...

This is all spot on. I have no interest in selling downloads because listeners are likely to listen to the files on crappy equipment (like subpar PC headphones).

One of the things that really bothers me is that music is an audio-only medium (when not being performed live). So why is the sound quality of music presentation such trash compared to say, the sound quality of a movie?

In theaters across the country this fall, people will be going out to movie theaters in droves to hear the music of Queen presented in glorious 6.1 sound, spread across many speakers. One theater near me has added a Dolby theater that specifically is designed for great sound with a buttkicker in every seat.

Even many of the people that wait to see this movie at home will hear the music presented in a surround sound mix, as they watch a Blu-Ray on their home theater systems.

But if they want to listen to JUST the music? Bland, old-fashioned stereo. Subpar earbuds. Car stereo system with the frequencies altered to account for road noise. Crappy lossy download on an iPad seated in one of those wee music systems.

Honestly it's embarrassing. I was excited many years ago when the new music formats were competing for everyone's business, like SACD vs 5.1 audio DVDs, and I was interested to see which would win. The answer? Nobody. Nobody wins and nobody has won. Consumers are idiots that only care about convenience and audio engineers are stuck in their stereo past even if they are 20 years old. So the only time we get to hear music sounding really great is when it makes it onto the credits of a Hollywood flick.

Currently there are HiRes download options for audiophiles that sound better than CDs, but I'm skeptical of even those because of the way everyone mixes for an iTunes audience.

Once upon a time, making an album was an art form for its own sake, and yes, often a commodity to sell. But now that people don't buy music, bands don't record songs for the same reasons. The main purpose is as an advertising tool. And that does not interest me very much, so I much prefer live music to recording.
 
#184
CDs are in decline, yes, but far from a dead medium.

We still get lots of requests for CDs and most bands we've played with do as well. Every radio station, physical and internet, has requested a CD of our material and not the readily available digital file.

That said, we generally steer most of our followers toward Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, etc. as the digital version is the most widely requested, but CDs are still requested.
 
#187
Tony In Philly said:
Privately pressed vynil maybe? Seems like we are going the route of the Chinese stone cutter fable: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...

Yo Tonyyyyy!

If you mean we have come full circle to where we started, then certainly. Except that this time around, vinyl, instead of being an essential delivery system, is now a signifier of a lifestyle choice, as well as a piece of hipster decor to fill the coffee table and feed the $89 faux retro pitiful portable picnic player.

How about an 8 track renaissance? Not the actual articles, but perhaps an app that emulates the program bleed of the misaligned heads, which was often such that you'd hear two songs simultaneously...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tony In Philly
#188
Son of Wobble said:
Yo Tonyyyyy!

If you mean we have come full circle to where we started, then certainly. Except that this time around, vinyl, instead of being an essential delivery system, is now a signifier of a lifestyle choice, as well as a piece of hipster decor to fill the coffee table and feed the $89 faux retro pitiful portable picnic player.

How about an 8 track renaissance? Not the actual articles, but perhaps an app that emulates the program bleed of the misaligned heads, which was often such that you'd hear two songs simultaneously...
Click to expand...
The last time I visited my daughter in Brooklyn I saw would be novelists using manual typewriters in the park and others asking where the nearest pay phone both was. It was priceless!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Son of Wobble
#190
Rickter said:
CDs are in decline, yes, but far from a dead medium.

We still get lots of requests for CDs and most bands we've played with do as well. Every radio station, physical and internet, has requested a CD of our material and not the readily available digital file.

That said, we generally steer most of our followers toward Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, etc. as the digital version is the most widely requested, but CDs are still requested.
Click to expand...

here's how dead it is.

I purchased a new car 18 months ago for my wife, and a new one for myself 2 weeks ago. Standard types of vehicles. Neither of them comes with a CD player - even as an option.

CD's are dead. Will there always be ones around? yes. but fewer and fewer. Novelty items, nothing more. I can fit 4,500 songs onto one SD card. Who needs a CD?
 
#191
I pretty much agree that producing CD's at this point in time is grasping at straws. If the hardware to play them is no longer featured in vehicles and PC's, then it is only a matter of time before the very devices that play them break down and leave circulation. It's essentially VHS at this point. If you are going to produce them, best not to make too many.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Son of Wobble
#193
This is the trend for a format that was essentially dead. Now over $15 million a year. Considering that sales have quadrupled in just 5 years, there is no telling how high it will go. That fact is, people just love to buy “stuff.”

F89AAAFF-B967-47BC-B242-73F3897E6679.png
 
#194
BassFishingInAmerica said:
This is the trend for a format that was essentially dead. Now over $15 million a year. Considering that sales have quadrupled in just 5 years, there is no telling how high it will go. That fact is, people just love to buy “stuff.”

View attachment 3119287
Click to expand...


I don't think $12 million dollars in vinyl sales is that meaningful a rebound in the context of cratered CD sales, which at peak reached over 900 million UNITS and is some 80% off that high. These vinyl sales are not a new market, but cannibalized from the tattered CD market.

Moreover, note the artists listed in 2017 top vinyl sales.
70% of these bands are defunct, and the artists dead.
This is a niche nostalgia market.



chartoftheday_12950_cd_sales_in_the_us_n.jpg

2017.jpg
 
Last edited:
#198
jerry said:
I noticed the trend too, the latest Spielberg movie Ready Player One has a lot old songs in it too. I will admit the mix-tape and talking raccoon got me to watch the Gardians movies, not normally a genre I dig.;)
Click to expand...

I didn't realized that Guardians of The Galaxy was a compilation. Bowie, MJ, Marvin...

Well, Ed Sheeran sold 62,000 vinyl copies at least. Score one for an artist still breathing...

galaxy.jpg
 
#199
USB is fine might be a tad bit more expensive than burning CD's.
I do know younger bands with a following are also putting out Vinyl and cassettes in a limited run, thus making them more valuable on down the line. My daughter has a cassette and record player as well as all the other modern devices, apps and programs. There is something about vinyl, the sound, the liner notes and pictures, the moving parts, the pops and hisses that still intrigues audiophiles. At one point around a decade ago, there was only one company left making vinyl records. Two more just reopened.
There is a demand but vinyl is more expensive to manufacture than CD's or USB.
You want to get your music out there and on people listen list. Use what ever means possible...within the limits of the law, lol
 
#200
dtripoli said:
There is something about vinyl, the sound, the liner notes and pictures, the moving parts, the pops and hisses that still intrigues audiophiles.
Click to expand...

If CDs or even downloads were sold in LP jackets I'd be satisfied. Downloads and streams have no liner notes (OK, sometimes you can get a pdf along with a download) which for me is a total drag...no way to follow the players, songwriters, producers, engineers as in the old days. Going back to the anonymity of 78s and 45s...ugh.

Pops and hisses are intriguing? Don't get me started.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jerry

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back