Major labels to cease CD distribution

[KYYX4ever]

http://www.side-line.com/news_comments. ... 80_0_2_0_C

"You read it well. The major labels plan to abandon the CD format by the end of 2012 (or even earlier) and replace it with download/stream only releases via iTunes and related music services. The only CD-formats that will be left over will be the limited edition ones, which will of course not be available for every artist. The distribution model for these remaining CD releases would be primarily Amazon which is already the biggest CD retailer worldwide anyhow.

3 weeks ago we heard it for the first time and since then we have tried getting some feedback from EMI, Universal and Sony. All declined to comment.

The news doesn't come as a surprise to those who have been working in the business. In a piece that was published in a q&a with the Alfa Matrix people back in June 2011 in the 1st issue of "Matrix Revelations", our chief editor Bernard Van Isacker said the following when asked if a CD would still exist in 5 years: "Yes, but in a different format. Normal CDs will no longer be available because they don't offer enough value, limited editions on the other hand will remain available and in demand for quite a few more years. I for one buy only limited editions because of the added value they offer: a nice design, extra bonus gadgets, etc. The album as we know it now however will be dead within 5 years, if it isn't even sooner. I predict that downloads will have replaced the CD album within the next 2 years. I don't see that as something negative, it just has run its course, let's leave the space to limited editions (including vinyl runs for bigger acts) and downloads instead."

It's a move that makes completely sense. CDs cost money, even when they don't sell because there is stock storage to be paid; a label also pays money to distributors when CDs get returned to the labels when not sold and so on. In short, abandoning the CD-format will make it possible to just focus on the release and the marketing of it and no longer focus on the distribution (since aggregators will do the work as far as dispatching the releases to services worldwide) and - expensive - stock maintenance. In the long run it will most surely mean the end for many music shops worldwide that only stock and sell CD releases. In the UK for instance HMV has problems paying the labels already and more will follow. It makes the distribution of CDs no longer worth it.

Also Amazon will benefit from this as it will surely become the one and only player when it comes to distribution of the remaining CD productions from labels. Packaged next to regular album downloads via its own Amazon MP3 service it will offer a complimentary service.

The next monument to fall? That will be printed magazines as people will want to consume their information online where they also read most of the news."

Your thoughts? We've discussed this topic before; it seem(ed/s) inevitable.

[bpdp3]

My thoughts? Well, of course I'm disappointed. I'm a miserable 45 year old fossil who likes to pathetically try to convince kids how they're missing the pure bliss of walking through a record store on a rainy wednesday afternoon.

Truly the biggest loss is the aesthitic of cover art. Thumbing through a bin of import Factory, Rough Trade or 4AD albums was like walking through the Louvre.

What I've finally resigned myself to is the fact that for me, it was about ownership. You could be (or think you were) the coolest kid if you actually owned the first Echo and the Bunnymen album. You went to the trouble of seeking the record out, maybe for many weeks in vain, and maybe just because you'd read about it in Trouser Press and had never heard it.

It's no longer about ownership. People just want access to the music. It's a big difference.

..and while I struggle to see how music acquired so easily could mean as much to a kid as what mine meant to me (going through the whole 80's record-buying process), I'm probably wrong. Music evokes a visceral response in a 14-year-old, regardless of how you came to it.

[q89747]

[quote][i]Originally posted by bpdp3[/i]
<br>My thoughts? Well, of course I'm disappointed. I'm a miserable 45 year old fossil who likes to pathetically try to convince kids how they're missing the pure bliss of walking through a record store on a rainy wednesday afternoon.
Truly the biggest loss is the aesthitic of cover art. Thumbing through a bin of import Factory, Rough Trade or 4AD albums was like walking through the Louvre.
What I've finally resigned myself to is the fact that for me, it was about ownership. You could be (or think you were) the coolest kid if you actually owned the first Echo and the Bunnymen album. You went to the trouble of seeking the record out, maybe for many weeks in vain, and maybe just because you'd read about it in Trouser Press and had never heard it.

It's no longer about ownership. People just want access to the music. It's a big difference.
..and while I struggle to see how music acquired so easily could mean as much to a kid as what mine meant to me (going through the whole 80's record-buying process), I'm probably wrong. Music evokes a visceral response in a 14-year-old, regardless of how you came to it.
[/quote]
But it's not as visceral when it's something that comes to one as a download and one is surrounded by a zillion other distractions, is it? You were right the first time around. Music for today's youth is just an accessory. It just ain't the same experience.

[Bitter Almonds]

<p align="justify">Collecting records is totally different than collecting CDs. I'm sure the CD will be missed the way 8-tracks and cassettes are missed. Whereas LPs will be revered as they always have been... and I'm speaking as someone who only collects CDs[xx(]

The silver lining is that CDs will be cheaper and cheaper. Just got an Italo Disco compilation that was 14 bucks![}:)]


________________________
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/Nuwavghost/dij.gif">

[obs]

Based on reading that article alone, it sounds more like speculation.

"The major labels plan to abandon the CD-format by the end of 2012 ..."
+
"3 weeks ago we heard it for the first time and since then we have tried getting some feedback from EMI, Universal and Sony. All declined to comment."

So three weeks ago, who did they hear this from?

[KYYX4ever]

yeah, obs, I noticed a speculative tone as well. However, all signs really seem to be pointing to it happening, well, pretty much [i]now[/i].

[MikeP]

The writing was on the wall for a long time, but it's interesting to see actual target dates set. Anything in the Mayan calendar about this?[:D]

I'm going on a 2-day road trip this weekend with some music buddies to hit the Amoeba and Rasputin chains in the Bay area. I am going to be hauling well over 100 CDs with me as I necessarily downsize my collection and dispense with a lot of stuff I just don't need or listen to anymore. It will, in some sense, probably be one of the last hurrahs as far as selling CDs goes, as well as buying.

I'm also going to be downsizing my vinyl next, but there are plenty of gems, sentimental favorites and '70s gatefolds in all their glory that I'll be hanging on to![8D]

[Jefe]

[quote][i]Originally posted by MikeP[/i]
<br>I am going to be hauling well over 100 CDs with me as I necessarily downsize my collection and dispense with a lot of stuff I just don't need or listen to anymore.
[/quote]

If you had a list of what you're selling I bet there's some of us who might lighten your load a bit.

[Spectre General]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Jefe[/i]
<br>[quote][i]Originally posted by MikeP[/i]
<br>I am going to be hauling well over 100 CDs with me as I necessarily downsize my collection and dispense with a lot of stuff I just don't need or listen to anymore.
[/quote]

If you had a list of what you're selling I bet there's some of us who might lighten your load a bit.
[/quote]

Wow, yeah, for real, if I had any money I'd probably buy half your vinyl collection.

-------------------------------------------------
What is love after all
but occasional steps
of a dance.........
.......In a trance?

[Bitter Almonds]

<p align="justify">If MikeP still resides in South County, then I can walk on over with a wheeled cart and help him haul away the stuff.

I'll meet chu by the Pavillions on Antonio[}:)]


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<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/Nuwavghost/dij.gif">

[djcraig]

[quote][i]Originally posted by MikeP[/i]
<br>The writing was on the wall for a long time, but it's interesting to see actual target dates set. Anything in the Mayan calendar about this?[:D]

I'm going on a 2-day road trip this weekend with some music buddies to hit the Amoeba and Rasputin chains in the Bay area. I am going to be hauling well over 100 CDs with me as I necessarily downsize my collection and dispense with a lot of stuff I just don't need or listen to anymore. It will, in some sense, probably be one of the last hurrahs as far as selling CDs goes, as well as buying.

I'm also going to be downsizing my vinyl next, but there are plenty of gems, sentimental favorites and '70s gatefolds in all their glory that I'll be hanging on to![8D]
[/quote]

Tell me you're not jettisoning your old Wild Swans discs!




<a href="http://www.djcraig.net/los_angeles_dj">DJ Craig</a>

[MikeP]

[quote][i]Originally posted by djcraig[/i]
<br>[quote][i]Originally posted by MikeP[/i]
<br>The writing was on the wall for a long time, but it's interesting to see actual target dates set. Anything in the Mayan calendar about this?[:D]

I'm going on a 2-day road trip this weekend with some music buddies to hit the Amoeba and Rasputin chains in the Bay area. I am going to be hauling well over 100 CDs with me as I necessarily downsize my collection and dispense with a lot of stuff I just don't need or listen to anymore. It will, in some sense, probably be one of the last hurrahs as far as selling CDs goes, as well as buying.

I'm also going to be downsizing my vinyl next, but there are plenty of gems, sentimental favorites and '70s gatefolds in all their glory that I'll be hanging on to![8D]
[/quote]

Tell me you're not jettisoning your old Wild Swans discs!
[/quote]

Ha, well the CD haul was pretty good but in all honesty, there probably wasn't that much that our gang here would have been terribly interested in. I do have some vinyl I'm going to trade in but I will post a list here first, so stay tuned.