The Long Overdue Death of Retail Compact Disc

[highfigh]

Yes, I like CD's, I've got about 1200 right now. Been awhile since I've bought any, most of my new music purchases are from Apple iTunes store. It is confusing to me in the 'early days' of CD, they'd put out a disc marketed as DDD or AAD and I wondered if there really was a discernible difference? At least when buying a used CD, there was less chance of getting a dud, not like buying a used vinyl LP which might be scratched by improper handling.

Since one title wasn't available in AAD and DDD, it's kind of a moot point but either can sound great- there's a lot involved in making a recording and a lot that can go wrong.

I will say, though- in looking for the first DDD CD, I saw a link reminding me that Sony's PCM-F1 came out a year before CD players and, having made several live recordings, the PCM-F1 recordings I made stomped the crap out of the open-reel tapes, using the same mics and recording techniques. That said, I don't like some qualities in the low frequencies when I listen to some digital recordings- that's the one area I thought it should really shine, but for me, it doesn't. That said, re-mastering for digital would have used a different studio, equipment and usually, different ears to make the end result.

 

[highfigh]

I don't want DRM. I'm not a thief and I don't want to be treated like one. As long as I have an option to get music uncompressed, no DRM I'll be fine. The issue is that with electronic sales where is my market place that I can purchased used tracks legally?

A CD is a physical object that passes to me and confers ownership.

Ever copy a CD and sell it or give it to someone? That goes against Fair Use.

 

[highfigh]

Renting music concept by itself is not inherently evil nor necessary bad for the consumer, BUT RIAA sees streaming (ie: really renting) music in the same light as it looks as CD/iTunes track sales. These are absolutely not the same thing and they should not expect pricing/income to be anywhere near the cost of ownership of physical media with future release option. I am referring to constant pressure/lawsuits on Spotify to nearly push it towards bankruptcy.

As to point of the article - Yes, CD physical media has limitation and disadvantages.
I agree time to move on from CDs, but not necessary from getting music on physical objects just yet. For example, they could figure out to DRM USB and sell it on USB sticks.

Are you referring to lawsuits against Spotify that may be pushing it toward bankruptcy? Do you know how little Spotify and Pandora pay artists for each time a song is played? I have seen quarterly royalty checks for 68 cents, for thousands of plays.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Are you referring to lawsuits against Spotify that may be pushing it toward bankruptcy? Do you know how little Spotify and Pandora pay artists for each time a song is played? I have seen quarterly royalty checks for 68 cents, for thousands of plays.

That seems quite low indeed, but at the same time, these people played the song, not bought it. How much do the artists get paid then it's played on the radio? Is Spotify is rolling in dough and wasting it on extravagant and silly purchases or barely surviving? From my personal tracking of news, it seems the laters.
One thing I will tell you that is if Spotify will drastically raise prices, they will only fuel the increase of people turning back to pirating music, which currently almost doesn't exist, specifically because of Spotify, Pandora, and Youtube.

 

[Old-Timer]

That seems quite low indeed, but at the same time, these people played the song, not bought it. How much do the artists get paid then it's played on the radio? Is Spotify is rolling in dough and wasting it on extravagant and silly purchases or barely surviving? From my personal tracking of news, it seems the laters.
One thing I will tell you that is if Spotify will drastically raise prices, they will only fuel the increase of people turning back to pirating music, which currently almost doesn't exist, specifically because of Spotify, Pandora, and Youtube.

I know of more individuals who rip CD's and then sell them than ones who keep the CD's after ripping. I think this a much greater problem.

 

[highfigh]

That seems quite low indeed, but at the same time, these people played the song, not bought it. How much do the artists get paid then it's played on the radio? Is Spotify is rolling in dough and wasting it on extravagant and silly purchases or barely surviving? From my personal tracking of news, it seems the laters.
One thing I will tell you that is if Spotify will drastically raise prices, they will only fuel the increase of people turning back to pirating music, which currently almost doesn't exist, specifically because of Spotify, Pandora, and Youtube.

What no-name singer gets airplay?

https://musically.com/2019/02/06/spotify-financials-revenues-premium-subs/

A quote from Peter Frampton-

"For 55 million streams of, ‘Baby I Love Your Way’, I got $1,700. I went to Washington with ASCAP last year to talk to law makers about this. Their jaws dropped and they asked me to repeat that for them."

This is from David Crosby-

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DjtlCdsU8AA-O3x.jpg

 

[highfigh]

I know of more individuals who rip CD's and then sell them than ones who keep the CD's after ripping. I think this a much greater problem.

The second link in my last post is the real problem. There is no record industry. It's over. They used to find, groom and promote acts and now, they don't break even unless it's a huge name. There are ways to do OK, but as a friend says, "I'm well on my way to being a multi-thousandaire". He does pretty well, but he has to tour constantly, sell his CDs, DVDs, lesson books, shirts, hats, etc everywhere he goes. I saw him at a guitar store clinic (where he talks about equipment, technique and whatever people ask about) and he commented that every gig for a local act in Milwaukee is like a premier- almost nobody shows up. Fortunately for him, he has made a lot of friends in the musical equipment industry, so he now has signature model guitars, an amplifier, effect pedals & pickups and endorses D'Addario strings & accessories. He's on tour in Europe now- I think he's been there for two weeks but he usually picks up some additional gigs while he's there.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

What no-name singer gets airplay?
https://musically.com/2019/02/06/spotify-financials-revenues-premium-subs/

You own link that for the time ever Spotify is in the black. Let read that again to let it sink in.
Spotify isn't a charity and VERY long had operated in considerable losses. Once these losses are repaid to original investors I see no reason for Spotify not to increase payments to artists, but only so much to stay afloat as a viable business.
Relatively small payouts again should not be compared vs CD sales. How much Peter Frampton gets paid for Q104.3 play of his song, which reaches according to their site as much as 269+ million monthly on-air listeners or approximately 9m per day (I think a number is much much higher - many of dedicated fan listen daily, including yours truly) ?? Does he get anywhere near $1700 for a single play? does he get even 170? I don't know, and until we do, like I said comparing streaming and CD/singles sales is apples to oranges.

 

[highfigh]

You own link that for the time ever Spotify is in the black. Let read that again to let it sink in.
Spotify isn't a charity and VERY long had operated in considerable losses. Once these losses are repaid to original investors I see no reason for Spotify not to increase payments to artists, but only so much to stay afloat as a viable business.
Relatively small payouts again should not be compared vs CD sales. How much Peter Frampton gets paid for Q104.3 play of his song, which reaches according to their site as much as 269+ million monthly on-air listeners or approximately 9m per day (I think a number is much much higher - many of dedicated fan listen daily, including yours truly) ?? Does he get anywhere near $1700 for a single play? does he get even 170? I don't know, and until we do, like I said comparing streaming and CD/singles sales is apples to oranges.

OKI, but if new CDs aren't going to be available, the choices are: buy used, trade with others or stream. I guess people could steal the discs they want, but....

 

[MrBoat]

There are artists I listen to that I could youtube indefinitely but I am typically a fan, if I listen to more than a song or three. More recently, I buy the CD, often times in exchange for all the times I have taken a free ride off of them. At work I use streaming and I am constantly having to work the volume control. I notice that it annoys others when suddenly without any warning, my background music is blaring over them trying to talk to me and I have to actually rush to shut it down which makes me feel kind of foolish.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

OKI, but if new CDs aren't going to be available, the choices are: buy used, trade with others or stream. I guess people could steal the discs they want, but....

You could also choose to purchase DVD audio or BD with recording concert or simply buy songs/albums on a plethora of online stores.
Again, I don't care if we discussing physical media (CD) or digital music sales. Mixing it Spotify (not a sale) into this conversation and complain about low payouts is not relevant. I think I covered the why more than a few times.

 

[davidscott]

Last time I checked the local Half Price Book stores had a huge inventory of CDs some as low as 3.00. And used LPs as well.

 

[JerryLove]

I don't care how it's gotten to me. I just want a way to purchase (IOW. store on my own media and playback if I wish) high-dynamic-range multi-channel (5-channel or better) music.

Right now: all I can do is track down the small and over-priced supply of DVD and BD audio and hope they didn't screw the pooch on mixing.

 

[Blue Dude]

I don't care how it's gotten to me. I just want a way to purchase (IOW. store on my own media and playback if I wish) high-dynamic-range multi-channel (5-channel or better) music.

Right now: all I can do is track down the small and over-priced supply of DVD and BD audio and hope they didn't screw the pooch on mixing.

There's not much content that's competently mixed and mastered in that format, mostly just audiophile classical and jazz titles, which is a shame.

There are a handful of orchestral soundtracks that were done this way, and they're spectacular, but even CDs don't sell in large numbers anymore. High quality restoration projects of classic scores are underway but they don't sell well, often just barely making back their own cost. There's simply no money in alternative mixes, so the mastering engineers focus on working in high quality sources and downmixing to the format with the highest potential for revenue: 2 channel 44.1k/16. Fortunately, the sources themselves are being archived at much higher resolutions before the analog master tapes degrade, so there's hope that future projects can remix and remaster at higher resolution and/or channels.