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

[CryingBass]

I can almost guarantee that some company is working on "burn direct to brain" technology as we speak!

 

[bkbirge]

My last 2 CD releases didn't sell at all. I'm 110% sure it's because of the CD format.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Very true. Unfortunately, I don't have the resources nor the gumption required to manage other folks' performance rights. Certainly, I'd like to flash my ASCAP/BMI/SESAC credentials in every single establishment that I enter, inquiring: "Hey, I just heard a Faith Hill tune...have you paid the proper licensing fees to broadcast that music here to your patrons?" But that's not how I earn my living. I can only hope that a percentage of my purchase price makes it back to the artist.

It doesn’t. Used CD sales never go back to the artist, not are they required to do so. Just pointing out that the artists aren’t going to care about that portion of the market. And they never have.

 

[BigBear77]

What’s a USB?

 

[ThinCrappyTone]

Hey Guys,

I'm curious to see if any of you have stopped using CDs to sell/distribute your music and have moved to USB Flash Drives.

I'm looking into this for my band and I was wondering if any of you had any experience with ordering them as well as how they went over with you fans.

Cheers

So my band was debating this very question:

“We should print some CDs for the merch table”, said the guitarist.

“Why? So people can travel back to 2003 in their time machines and play them?”, said I.

“Trust me, people still like CDs”, said the guitarist.

“No. YOU still like CDs,” said I. “The rest of the world has moved on.”

So, my mocking disdain won out. We made a pile of super cool, branded USBs, and...

nobody knew what they were

And lots of people asked for CDs.

And I’m the ahole.

True story.

 

[Son of Wobble]

True! I know they're "relatively" non-perishable, as I have CDs that are 30+ years old and still work fine. In the article, CD-ROM and DVD-ROM life expectancy estimates are quoted as varying from 20-100 years. Environmental conditions are also cited as having an impact, and all my CD are kept in climate controll conditions in plastic cases, minimizing their exposure to heat and humidity. I also don't treat them roughly so scratching or potential for cracking due to rough handling are both minimized. I think I can expect longevity of the CDs to be substantial.

Some CD-Rs have been known to degrade depending on the type of home burner used,
as some systems evidently create micro-fissures that can oxidize over time, rendering the disc unplayable.

Sounds like you're on top of storage, though, where the bulk of the degradation is apt to occur (sunlight, heat, dirt).

Thats it!. An audio T-Shirt!. Your band T-Shirt with the music encoded into the graphic, when you point your iphone at it or scan it you get sound..........what will they think of next?.....

Ringo's album "Liverpool 8" was released in bracelet format!

 

[fishdreams]

Interesting idea. I don't see too much difference between this and a regular square folded (map like) cd insert, which I hate. Too many creases and just not as easy to look at and read through as a regular stapled cd booklet.
The demo video seems to be edited in a way that cuts out parts where folding the origami booklet didn't go as planned. The whole origami thing is neat, but I think in practice that it's just a gimmick that is not as usable as the standard booklet.

To me it is very different. I have a few Biopholios at home, and they fold in and out perfectly fine, due to the actual spines built into the design (which the folded maps or booklets don't have), and allow much more space for lyrics, liner notes and design, than your standard 4-to-6 panel cd booklet or digipack.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

What’s a USB?

AKA a thumb drive or a memory stick. Usually the band will add interview videos, artwork, etc on the drive to give you something extra that you can’t easily get on Spotify or whatever.

 

[KohanMike]

Along with being the bass player for a ukulele group, I'm also the staff photographer for the Los Angeles Lawyers Philharmonic/Big Band of Barristers/Legal Voice Chorus. They still sell CDs at all their shows, and part of the proceeds go to various charity organizations that support legal groups for low income clients.

 

[slowjam98]

Thanks for all the replies.

I’m not concerned with making money on these. They would be just for giving out our music in a tangible form. That why I wanted to hear if other had used it and if so what service did they use.

Out philosophy is to get the music out to people which will draw them to shows.

T-shirts with a cool design are still the best merch for making money. I’m not questioning that.

Put the music on Bandcamp for “name your price” if you aren’t trying to get revenues from it. Put it on Spotify and Apple Music. Make cassette tapes (and shirts) to sell at shows for the folks that want to take something home. That’s how the cool kids do it.

 

[BigBear77]

I know what it is, just being facetious. Just seems like any “media” one may need can just be down loaded or streamed.

 

[ERIC31]

I guess I’m just old school but I still have vinyl, cassettes, lots of cds. I ripped my cds to mp3 and load up a flash drive for my car.

I feel bad for all the new kids coming up that will never get the chance to become millionaire rock stars from music. The only way to make any money is from merch and touring I guess. What is it that record companies do nowadays for an artist? Must be ghost towns in those big office buildings!!

 

[NOVAX]

Love my compact discs, my certificates of deposit and my unreliable serial bus.

 

[Rumbledore]

thumb drives? like the proverbial dongle? nah, those are even out of date. i can imagine a micro SD being a nice party lil favor though

 

[Captain Chaos]

I still buy cds.

 

[bound'n'blocked]

I meant to say in my other post that we just replaced all of our CD players at our station this week. Of the three machines we got. All have the ability to play either CD or from USB. Two have ability to connect via Bluetooth, and one of those even has an SD slot. It's a far cry from the days when I started and we actually cued up a 45 RPM record!

BnB

 

[tradernick]

For band use, we share a Google drive. I think USB drives are the current thing but downloads are the way to go. Just have folks provide their email and send them a link.

This.

The era of physical media for music is basically over. As mobile data access increases, almost all content will be disseminated digitally, including movies, TV, etc. Will vinyl continue to have its renaissance? Yep. Will it be always be a niche? Yep.

The one form that will last the longest? Books.

 

[garp]

It doesn’t. Used CD sales never go back to the artist, not are they required to do so. Just pointing out that the artists aren’t going to care about that portion of the market. And they never have.

Thanks for clarifying. Being of a slightly older demographic, I still don't quite comprehend the whole digital arena, and specifically the logistics of DRM. Much of my collection consists of relatively obscure jazz recordings by folks who have long since departed this world, and most of which don't have estates that could possibly benefit from their reordings' change in ownership.

 

[Nephilymbass]

Hey Guys,

I'm curious to see if any of you have stopped using CDs to sell/distribute your music and have moved to USB Flash Drives.

I'm looking into this for my band and I was wondering if any of you had any experience with ordering them as well as how they went over with you fans.

Cheers

I think it depends on your target audience. Especially age and the type of people I guess you can say. Most of my bands fans are 30-40 year old blue collar and white collar folks that still remember what it was like to hold an album in their hands.

From what I gather Hipsters and collectors will buy Vinyl records but my band has never actually been asked to release anything on vinyl which is not surprising because we have kind of an anti hipster crowd.

The usb thing is interesting to me because I haven’t seen any bands selling them around here. Might be that I haven’t paid close enough attention though because I don’t really use computers much. I have a laptop but I mainly use it specifically for band stuff like uploading videos and recordiing demos. For music and everyday web browsing it’s all my smartphones and iPads these days. Like others have said I’d also be skeptical about putting a thumbdrive into mine because you never know what spyware and crap the band member who put the music on it
Picked up watching pornos online.

Believe it or not the best money maker for us is actually CDs and it’s really not even close. I can confidently say we make ten times as much money selling actual CDs than we have from ALL these streaming and download sites combined.

This is for our most recent album that’s been out for a while now.

We sell CDs at every show and we even have people ordering CDs from our Facebook store. We make about enough off iTunes to keep our music on iTunes. Spotify pay is absolutely pathetic.

 

[osv]

To me it is very different. I have a few Biopholios at home, and they fold in and out perfectly fine, due to the actual spines built into the design (which the folded maps or booklets don't have), and allow much more space for lyrics, liner notes and design, than your standard 4-to-6 panel cd booklet or digipack.

Okay then. I'll wait to pass judgment until I get one in my hands. Thanks for the info!