CD Availability Nearing It's End And The Consequences

[TubeLover]

Just checked the numbers on vinyl sales vs CD's for 2019. Per CNET, over the first six months of 2019, 8.6 million units of vinyl were sold, vs 18.6 million units of cd's. I'm completely shocked it was that close.......what has the world come to? CD sales are dropping far faster than was expected. Both they, and other sources are now saying that CD sales are dropping so quickly that they will be outsold by vinyl by the end of 2020. That will, for all intents and purposes, mean the end of owning any music, excepting downloads (which can also be lost in a hard drive crash).  

 

Millennial's caused near destruction of the music business,first with Napster and other methods of stealing music, and later, the incredibly short sighted purchase of just single songs, in a horribly limited audio format from Itunes (the purveyor of all evil). I still find it amazing to note that there seems to be no understanding of the concept of the importance of listening to an artists entire album. Due to this overall situation, in our current world, the vast percentage of musical artists have lost untold amounts of deserved incomes. They can literally only survive via touring now. And survive is about all that smaller, lesser known acts are managing.  

 

Now, with this far faster than expected dropoff in cd sales and, before long, availability, I will almost certainly lose the ability to be able to listen to many wonderful, yet somewhat obscure bands, especially in the Celtic, folk and alternative genre's, that do not appear on streaming, or may, if they even appear, have only one or two albums (out of many) available there. These groups or individuals that I am speaking of have only ever had cd's as their available format to release new music. These artist also never have availability in Hi-Rez,. Not to mention that even in those other situations in the music world where Hi-Rez downloads are available, they are far more expensive than a cd, and at best half the same number could be purchased for the same amount. 

 

All of this could end up being the equivalent of a music virus. Dire times are upon us in many ways, it would seem.   

 

JC 

[TubeLover]

8 minutes ago, Rexp said:

The indroduction of CD was a crime against humanity - good riddance! 

Well, few of us can afford the skyrocketing price of reel to reel. The only superior format. 

Vinyl was a necessary evil before technology made listening to clicks and pops, and records wearing out through play irrelevant. 

 

Not to mention, currently, not many music lovers can afford a $10k turntable system (minimum) which is necessary to provide high quality vinyl reproduction. 

 

JC

[TubeLover]

1 minute ago, AnotherSpin said:

 

I don't remember the quality of the audio worrying me on vinyl days. Everything sounded quite natural. And only a few CDs could come close to that simple but hard to achieve analogue standard. The digital is inhumane. Yeah, pops and clicks were upsetting. It's a question of taste and the ability to adapt to natural wear and tear. Rubbed jeans are preferable to nylon pants, imho.

No question, especially in the early days of the introduction of cd's, the digital signature was simply too strident and analyitcal in many cases. As the years went on,  the masterings for CD's, the DAC and digital sections in the players improved. Thats why cd's became the choice for something on the order 80- 90% of audiophiles who, over time, dumped vinyl as the format they purchased. Out of perhaps a dozen serious audiophiles and musicophiles that I personally know well, only two have been long term, primary vinyl only users all this time.  

 

I recall the last large scale Detroit area audio show, The AK Fest, perhaps a dozen or so years back. Out of nearly fifty rooms where components and systems were being demoed, only four had turntables and vinyl in evidence. The vast majority were cd based demoes, along with a few reel to reels as sources, and perhaps ten early adapter laptop and digital file based rooms using Amarra, as I recall. That was the status quo at the time. 

 

To each his own as far as what format they pledge allegiance to.

 

I am just very concerned that my future ability to be able to access some music that I easily can now, will be gone with the disappearance of the cd format for reasons I noted in my previous post. And again, the music from the many less known groups/individuals that I always will be unavailable to me in any remaining format.   

 

JC

[TubeLover]

12 hours ago, Rexp said:

Sure, plenty of folks like CD, I just don't take audio advice from them. I'd also strongly advise any nooby reading this not to take audio advice from anyone who doesn't run an analog source. 

I owned turntables and vinyl based systems exclusively from 1968 through 1990, and have been involved with vinyl in one way or another, for 50 years? How about you? 

 

JC

[TubeLover]

11 hours ago, Summit said:

 

If it was just Millennial's that streamed music and had stopped buying physical records, it wouldn’t have that big of an impact on the music business.

 

The sale of vinyl is probable much larger because of the big second hand market which I don’t believe they have accounted for.

 

For the record (hehe) am no Millennial.

God points,but my comments never linked Millennials to streaming. If you look at the number of subscriptions to Tidal and Qobuz, they clearly aren't streaming in any meaningful way. Possibly except the essentially mindless free streams of Pandora and Spotify (although at least Spotify apparently offers supposedly better audio quality for a fee). 

 

JC

[TubeLover]

10 hours ago, Norton said:

It’s too big a leap from CD sales declining to an inability to own digital music.

 

Firstly, I’ve not noticed the music I’m interested in, at least, disappearing  from CD.  On the contrary, there’s been something of an explosion in the works of 19th and 20th c English composers on CD which suggests it’s a medium well suited to low volume niches (just how many copies of an Arnell symphony CD  does Dutton sell for example?).

 

So I would suggest that providing there is some market for it (which your preferences suggest there is) CD will continue.  Maybe after sales have plummeted it will arise as an artisan product, on audiophile quality polycarbonate?

 

I don’t  get though why a CD is in any way better to a download in terms of provenance, reliability, mastering?  The medium is not the music and in effect, a CD is just a download burnt to disc.  Not that the download market is that healthy though either.

You may have missed a major part of my point. The particular music I am afraid of losing access to is not available digitally, only on cd. And 

to this point, has not proven of enough interest to enough people for Tidal and Qobuz to ofer it. I'm talking about some outstanding but little known Celtic, golf, and indie performers that have never had an opportunity to offer their music on anything but cd's. 

 

For that matter, as cd sales fall like a rock, you also won't have access to the great boxed sets such as the recent Beatles anniversary editions of which cd's are a large part. And, to my knowledge, no box set, complete with the usual books, paraphernalia etc. has ever been offered with solely digital content?

 

JC

[TubeLover]

9 hours ago, Iving said:

On the stats I would reinforce what has been said about the hidden s/h market - there's a lot of trading and collecting still going on.

 

Like others I rue the cultural expiry of the Album.

 

Vinyl is and always will be sacred unless it is infected with digits. I listen to the music not the noise. It is indeed the most "natural" sounding medium. [I mean just look at the lengths we go to in order to mitigate digititis.] An expensive record deck is only needed for resolution or Hi-Fi. There's plenty of fun and goose bumps to be had even playing 45s on a mid-range player thru sympathetic amp and speakers. Wear and tear as such (cf. scratches etc) is irrelevant except for the most battered records. 

 

That said I listen to my computer-based system for both convenience and enhanced excitement. Recently I discovered Sandy Posey playing a trashed 7". Of itself that revelation was exquisite. But I just had to go buy a CD to sustain the thrill. Nowadays my main system is engineered for playback from an Optane drive.

 

All my digital music is ripped CDs. I never download or stream music.

 

I have more music from ripped CDs than I can listen to in my lifetime.

 

I agree that I can get most anything I want on CD. In the case of exceptions I'm willing to accept I must buy the 78 or the record. The only significant drawback to listening to ripped CDs is offensive, loud (re-)mastering.

 

I do fear I may end up with tons of shellac, vinyl and CDs that nobody will want when I am gone.

 

Even so I hope I never succumb to any online or subscription-based music source. CDs will continue to be vital to me and that's my main appreciation of the OP.

 

You never know. Most s/h (house clearance) shellac and vinyl is worthless. But there are gems, and the collector's market has always been there. Perhaps in time many CDs will remain appreciated if for no other reason than the commercial peddlers charging too much for online delivery or messing up the masters. Is MQA a case in point - although I have no experience and don't need to turn over those stones. Plus as has been mentioned the risk of hard drive failure etc.

 

The combined tonnage of all my 78s, records and CDs does sometimes cause me to stop for reflection.

 

In my early days, an honest Hi-Fi dealer told me I should spend more on music than equipment. Perhaps doing so is the hallmark of the true music lover.

 

Edit: I nearly forgot to mention nostalgia. Many folks regretted jettisoning their records - years after-the-fact. You don't know what you've got till it's gone.

I truly never thought it was possible that this discussion would yield a Sandy Posey reference. Well Done. 

And yes, the loss to the millennial generation of what an "album" is, and means is very sad. Perhaps a sing that they simply don't care about art, the view of the artists in creating a whole suite of music, and only want a quick hit from a single song that caught their ear. The ADD generation indeed.

 

JC

[TubeLover]

5 hours ago, firedog said:

It simply shows the contempt the recording industry has for it's customers, especially it's best ones. The cost to providing that info is next to nothing, yet it isn't done in most cases, even in expensive audiophile or deluxe versions. Few businesses treat their customers with such lack of respect. 

Well said, and disgraceful in the way we have been treated by the recording industry! 

 

JC

[TubeLover]

4 hours ago, gmgraves said:

Just my opinion, mind you. But I don’t see CDs going away. Now, they might disappear from the pop music scene, especially that section of the pop music market aimed at youngsters. But for more “serious” and/or “mature” music genres, unless some more convenient firmware format comes along, I just don’t see the little silver disc going away anytime soon. 

I sincerely hope you are correct. Thanks.

 

JC

[TubeLover]

3 hours ago, Rexp said:

You're blaming the younger generation for the sins of the record labels and audio industry. 

No, they all have their sins to account for. I am blaming the younger generation for greed, and lack of respect to artists. 

[TubeLover]

13 hours ago, Musicophile said:

I’m a bit late to this thread but it really shocks me that anybody would miss CD as a format. 
 

My extensive CD collection has been ripped years ago and I can’t even remember when I last purchased one of these horrible plastic thingies, in these awful plastic containers. 
 

My current combination of lossless streaming with purchasing high res versions of stuff I really care about, plus easy access to my large CD back catalog is really just perfect. I really don’t get this “everything was better in the past” mentality here. 

 

See how you feel if lossless streaming one day soon goes under, taking with it any favorites you had on Tidal or Quobuz, as well as your streaming access to anything else. That's my worst nightmare. They are both losing lots of money, it is, sadly, not a stretch to think they could easily both be gone. And the millennials populating the world couldn't give a hoot about sound quality, period. Not lossless, not hi rez, or even cd quality recordings. That's why Tidal and Qobuz have only a tiny fraction of the audience they deserve for providing their excellent services. 

 

Also, purchasing hi rez stuff is great, but I honestly don't know a lot of people who can afford two or even three times the price of a cd to purchase those. Then there is also the issue that simply because it's labeled hi rez may not mean anything. There is no provenance available, it could technically be a hi rez recording, but made from a garbage master. In Hi Rez, there is the good, the bad and the ugly, and it's a crap shoot every time you pay the big bucks to buy a recording. 

 

At least when everything being put out, or previously released were readily available on cd, you knew you had access to any recording. There is a potential to have no access to any new (or old)recordings if cd's disappear, and quality streaming services go away. And even if one could afford any hi rez album, they aren't even close to all being available in that format. It's a fraction of the whole music catalog. 

 

JC 

[TubeLover]

I hadn't mentioned it before , but yes, losings any availability of new SACD's would also be a severe blow.

 

JC

[TubeLover]

21 hours ago, Kal Rubinson said:

I hear that and I've heard it before but, in general, it does not agree with my experience.  I have not bought a CD in years and have no desire to.  Of course, I do prefer hi-rez and multichannel but, as with CD-level stuff, all via downloads.

Kal, don't you find that dealing only with downloads (excluding those you get directly from the record companies, (which I dont think are available to the general public?)  distinctly limits the music that is available to you? Many lesser known artists, or artists in less popular musical genre's  simply are not available via download.

 

JC