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"CD format to be abandoned by major labels by the end of 2012"
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Sin Agog
Sin Agog
2253 posts

"CD format to be abandoned by major labels by the end of 2012"
Nov 02, 2011, 16:12
http://www.side-line.com/news_comments.php?id=46980_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. CD's 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.
Sin Agog
Sin Agog
2253 posts

Re:
Nov 02, 2011, 16:14
Perhaps the Mayans got their wires mixed up and they were talking about the death of the CD rather than all life as we know it.
Squid Tempest
Squid Tempest
8761 posts

Re:
Nov 02, 2011, 16:38
This would really be the final nail in the coffin of the last few independant shops. Sad if true.

Then again, perhaps it will herald the start of an entirely indie based business. There's no reason you, me and the band down the road can't produce our own CDs and flog them locally. Perhaps the indie side of the business needs to come up with a new paradigm to deal with this.
Kid Calamity
9042 posts

Re: CD format to be abandoned by major labels by the end of 2012
Nov 02, 2011, 16:50
It'll mean musicians and bands will probably have to create their own little record distribution set up to sell physical product. And, as I've been banging on about before, rely more on selling directly at gigs, if they're not getting any radio play. Who is this gonna affect most? Bands, labels or online stores? The trusted and fondly cherished old record shop has already been doomed to extinction, I'm afraid.
deee
121 posts

Re: CD format to be abandoned by major labels by the end of 2012
Nov 02, 2011, 16:55
Cunts :((
zphage
zphage
3378 posts

Re:
Nov 02, 2011, 17:34
we have heard this story before

the industry isn't filled with the brightest

but i don't think they are stupid enough to dump

a revenue stream, CD's still out sell downloads
Squid Tempest
Squid Tempest
8761 posts

Re: CD format to be abandoned by major labels by the end of 2012
Nov 02, 2011, 19:03
Kid Calamity wrote:
It'll mean musicians and bands will probably have to create their own little record distribution set up to sell physical product. And, as I've been banging on about before, rely more on selling directly at gigs, if they're not getting any radio play. Who is this gonna affect most? Bands, labels or online stores? The trusted and fondly cherished old record shop has already been doomed to extinction, I'm afraid.


Some record shops are valiantly surviving though, like the one in Godalming, which is, dare I say it, thriving. Or it appears to be. If the network of indie shops is canny (and I reckon the surviving ones must be, almost by definition) they might even be able to profit from the situation by cutting the big money-guzzling record companies out of the equation.

I don't want to sound too positive here. I think it is damned disgraceful the record companies are going to make their fortune (if this is all indeed true) from bits and bytes rather than a physical product. All they'll be doing is providing financial backing for advertising and stuff, not making any kind of real contribution to the artists. No change there then I suppose.

As for selling at gigs, my set-up isn't really geared to gigs, so it isn't a goer for everyone.
Davey_B
Davey_B
408 posts

Re: CD format to be abandoned by major labels by the end of 2012
Nov 02, 2011, 19:12
It's not likely to happen for a few years yet. The record companies would be cutting off a large proportion of their customers and losing revenue. This is the sort of story I would expect to see on April the 1st.
IanB
IanB
6761 posts

Edited Nov 02, 2011, 19:37
Re: CD format to be abandoned by major labels by the end of 2012
Nov 02, 2011, 19:26
Davey_B wrote:
It's not likely to happen for a few years yet. The record companies would be cutting off a large proportion of their customers and losing revenue. This is the sort of story I would expect to see on April the 1st.



Agree. The US may be at 50% digital on new releases but Europe is a long way behind that number. More like 15% - 18% on the sort of music we are interested in. There will be resistence especially in Germany where music retail still exists in a recognisable form. That is a very big market to piss off. Also doesn't mean there wont still be independent cd distribution as for starters classical wont be going down that road. Can't see Opera fans being content to go witout a libretto. I can see cds becoming more of a limited edition for major label artists. The speed with which a lot of things go out of print we are pretty much already there.
mingtp
mingtp
2270 posts

Re: CD format to be abandoned by major labels by the end of 2012
Nov 02, 2011, 21:39
IanB wrote:
I can see cds becoming more of a limited edition for major label artists. The speed with which a lot of things go out of print we are pretty much already there.


Agreed. With some albums I already struggle to get CDs, and if you've left it for a couple of weeks you're out of luck.
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