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"Sales of CDs are falling faster than you can say iPod"
I can't remember the last CD I bought; it's been years. (My nephew, in his late 20s, was telling me over Christmas how he's into vinyl big-time.) From the story: "It remains too early to say that the CD is dead, as in buried in a casket underground. It's certainly terminally ill, condemned, a dead medium walking." (Houston Press)
January 4, 2007 | Permalink
Comments
Only becuase the music is crap. I am a vinyl collector and still buy CDs.
I refuse to buy MP3s, but I sure enjoyed illegally downloading them.
Posted by: Otis Chance | Jan 4, 2007 2:37:48 PM
I bought some CDs last year, but I spent a lot more money on concerts because I love live music.
Posted by: Phranqlin | Jan 4, 2007 2:42:24 PM
"For one thing, we really are awash in a sea of crap these days."
I will heartily agree with that statement!
I don't have an iPod or any kind of MP3 player because the cost makes me balk. I was hoping my in-laws would buy me one for Christmas. They bought my husband one two years ago and this year his sister and even GRANDMA got one from them. But I got stiffed again.
We still buy plenty of CDs. Usually jazz, though, like Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck and Bill Evans. Rarely something "new" unless it's Guster or Bare Naked Ladies.
Posted by: Swangirl | Jan 4, 2007 2:58:35 PM
I'm a vinyl and acetate (78 rpm, one song per side) collector, just for the nostalgia. However, I won an iPod last March and bought the kids mp3 players.
Will we stop buying CDs? Probably not, but only of some artists. For instance, 2007 is Elvis Year. A few years back was Beatles Year, with the idea of collecting one copy of all the albums by that artist that have been released on CD. New music, well, I dunno. If my kids hear a song they like, I'll probably buy it online.
Except for Weird Al. You can't just buy one song.
Posted by: Soo | Jan 4, 2007 3:05:11 PM
"Except for Weird Al. You can't just buy one song."
Absolutely! :-)
Posted by: Swangirl | Jan 4, 2007 3:51:25 PM
The music experience hasn't been the same since vinyl went by the wayside. I mean, how are you supposed to get the seeds out of your grass without that Pink Floyd double album open on your lap?
And MP3s? Jesus, it's like we're ripping the soul out of recorded music altogether?
Posted by: Oxhead | Jan 4, 2007 4:11:00 PM
Ox, I'll agree with your last comment, since so-called artists don't make "concept" albums anymore. Consider Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys. Every song was great if played from beginning to end. But when I put the album into my music cache, each song was shuffled into the big list and now aren't quite so good.
Posted by: Soo | Jan 4, 2007 4:24:51 PM
i'm different for music and movies. I haven't bought a cd in years. I don't need the physical item. I don't care about the liner notes.
I don't download music illegally because its a hassle, but its just as easy to take a portable hard drive to a friends house and copy their entire collection.
If i enjoy a band and see they have a new cd out i'll download it on itunes. I don't mind paying.
as for dvds. I don't do the digital thing. I'll pirate a movie if i want to see it bad enough in between theaters and dvd. But i'll buy it on dvd... if its not crazy imporant and i still kind of want it, i'll wait till blockbuster has a used dvd sale.
Posted by: boynamedsue | Jan 4, 2007 4:44:18 PM
"Ox, I'll agree with your last comment, since so-called artists don't make "concept" albums anymore."
is that true or are you just getting older. what kids are calling concept albums now, you just might be calling noise. I'm sure the same happened when pet sounds came out.
personally my tastes stay around what i consider the finest examples of each genre. but mainly i like old country/honky tonk, and old punk rock.
Posted by: boynamedsue | Jan 4, 2007 4:46:57 PM
I'm probably getting older. Either way, we listen to just about everything around here except Rush and rap (long stories), but I'm a rocker chick gone a little punk myself. I've got a teenager who prefers Japanese rock, and two younger kids who prefer Weird Al and anything Doctor Demento would play.
Anyhoo, not much which makes the so-called top 40 would be found on a cd in what I think of as "concept." I will agree that some truly dedicated bands have put together some pretty good albums, but they are often under-appreciated.
Posted by: Soo | Jan 4, 2007 4:58:42 PM
Is Doctor Demento still around? I used to listen to him every Sunday night on the Mighty Met (KMET Los Angeles, may it RIP) in the early '70s. I remember when he went into syndication, we got a full night of the Doctor while the rest of the country got a condensed version. Good on your kids for listening to him, they'll grow up with warped, er, I mean great senses of humour.
Posted by: | Jan 4, 2007 6:18:41 PM
There may be some artists who still view the CD album as a vehicle for one "concept" or storyline. Radiohead comes to mind, although I might be mistaken about them. Generally, the digital age has made new artists more like their 1950s Rock 'n' Roll forebears: one song at a time, daddio.
I don't think we're going to see another Sgt. Peppers or Tommy for a long time, if ever again.
Posted by: Oxhead | Jan 4, 2007 6:31:09 PM
Boynamedsue must have not read the article (typical on this site).
It's not about "paying".
Eventually your hard drive will crash or your PC CD will poop out.
Then you have NADA.
Posted by: Otis Chance | Jan 4, 2007 7:09:26 PM
In other news... water is wet, the sky is blue, and the earth is round. Stay tuned for more breaking news!
Posted by: Cameltoes | Jan 4, 2007 8:02:04 PM
Yeah...I sure miss those skips, crackles and pops you got off vinyl. I REALLY hate that clean, crisp music I get when I listen to a CD.
Me, I listen to whatever floats my boat. I have country, hard rock, Top 40, New Wave, etc on my iPod. I like what I like. Everything from Johnny Cash to Rick Springfield to AC/DC...if I like it, I'll listen to it.
Posted by: pnwgal | Jan 4, 2007 8:56:29 PM
I am spoiled, because the libraries here in Las Vegas offer the latest CD's for a free three week rental, so why buy them?
Furthermore, why pay anywhere from $10 to $18 for a new CD when you can download the best three songs for less than $3? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the record companies have been surviving by trying to sell a product for north of $10 that is really worth $3.
Posted by: Charles | Jan 4, 2007 8:56:58 PM
I bought about 90 cds last year, less than in 2005 but that was a conscious attempt to save some cash for other priorities.
I do actively collect cds, but I buy them from Amazon, or from other smaller online distros. Say what you will about Tower Records but their selection was average at best and extremely overpriced (about double what Amazon would charge for a new cd).
On another note, I have seen how certain aspects of music have greatly benefited from the modern age. For instance, older bands that never got recognition or promotion 30 years ago can be easily discovered today due to mp3s and word of mouth on message boards. In many cases they have become popular enough to rerelease their albums or even record new stuff. It's meaningless when compared to the billion dollar music industry, but very meaningful for the band and their few thousand fans.
Posted by: SwarthyTroll | Jan 5, 2007 6:57:20 AM
Speaking as an old (43) fogey, I agreed with just about everything in that article. I liked vinyl and like mp3s, but good riddance to CDs -- way overpriced, and the record companies used them to try to kill off the single, a strategy thwarted by the rise of the mp3. Singles more than LPs have been the lifeblood of rock music. I'd agree vinyl gives better sound quality than an mp3, but for me at least the mp3 player's convenience is a worthwhile trade-off for the trivial loss of sound quality; I'm more bothered by songs that were meant to be heard in mono being released in stereo mixes; it's like colorizing a black & white film.
Posted by: Bud Norton | Jan 5, 2007 7:32:04 AM
Hey Soo, I have a song ("Smut") on "Dr. Demento's Momentos" album. When I began my career in music the record labels were just beginning to take over (and squeeze the life out of) the creative process. Joplin and Hendrix were dead, The Beatles were no longer together and mindless A&R creeps were mixing and matching musicians to form super bands. When the disco era began the music industry experienced huge economical growth at the expense of individual creativity. Then MTV ushered in an era where, if you didn't get your video on the network, your album was doomed. With the melding of audio and video, the industry leaders wouldn't even let the record buying public form their own images in their mind when they listened to a favorite song. CDs really were fake icons of the "future of music." They were just shiny, miniature versions of vinyl discs. As the article explains, they had that space-age look. But the real value of CD technology was that the music industry could manufacture them for less money and sell them for more and display them in less space than vinyl. The growth of the Internet has finally crippled the major label music industry monster. Utube, MySpace and other user-friendly cyber venues are allowing individuals and bands to share their creativity with the world; and the music monster is powerless to control it. Old friends and fans often admit to me that they recorded copies of my album and gave the copies to their friends and family members. I am always flattered that people would like my music and message enough to share it with others. The loss of revenue wasn't that important. Like SwarthyTroll said, "It's meaningless when compared to the billion dollar music industry, but very meaningful for the band and their few thousand fans."
Posted by: wllysmrth | Jan 5, 2007 8:57:04 AM
"Boynamedsue must have not read the article (typical on this site).
It's not about "paying".
Eventually your hard drive will crash or your PC CD will poop out.
Then you have NADA."
Otis, while attemptint to rip on me you've just made yourself look like an idiot.
1. Backups. I have my MP3 collection on my desktop system, a backup hard drive, and a sizeable chunk of it on my ipod. also my friend has a backup of it because he wanted the music as well. short of a meteor hitting the bay area, my music is covered. thats more than i can say for the pre digital era of buying my favorite disc multiple times because of damage, or lending.
2. PC CD will poop out. whats a pc cd. is it your pc's disc drive? what does that have to do with files? is it a backup cd you burned of your music.. how does that make it different than other cd's?
Posted by: boynamedsue | Jan 5, 2007 10:16:55 AM
BNS,
PC CD is not that uncommon of a term. PC CD refers to CDs with a file format and directory structure readable by PC (as opposed to UNIX or Mac). You also have VCD and audio CD format.
Posted by: Cameltoes | Jan 5, 2007 10:59:03 AM
and how often to pc cd's poop out? 5 years 10 years... if its a cheap brand. In the meantime the scratch just as easy as a store bought audio cd.
Posted by: boynamedsue | Jan 5, 2007 11:03:05 AM
well, you can't sell CD's when there are no stores to sell CD's. If the record industry had any sense, they would have incorporated digital downloading into their brick and mortar stores to save a few of them.
Posted by: The Mewl | Jan 5, 2007 11:49:35 AM
This is a phenomonon cross all of media. For journalism, substitute "newspaper" for "cd" and "blog" for "mp3". For book publishing, it's ebooks & POD vs the big houses. For broadcasting it's network TV vs You Tube.
The reason some music sounds better on vinyl is the same reason some actresses look better in soft light than in HD.
Posted by: d_m_arnold | Jan 5, 2007 12:04:02 PM
BNS is fixing to learn what hacking is all about.
Hope you use Iron Mountain, baby ;-)
Posted by: Otis Chance | Jan 5, 2007 7:06:51 PM
