The CD is Dead!.....Long Live CD!

[Volks]

Just found this on another site

CD-format to be abandoned by major labels by the end of 2012


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CD-format to be abandoned by major labels by the end of 2012

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.

[TommyC]

I do feel most audiophile labels will continue to offer Cds.

[Dude111]

Originally Posted by TommyC

I do feel most audiophile labels will continue to offer Cds.

No they should offer VINYL again (And the way it was done in the 80s and earlier)

Best sound possible!

[Rilands]

One of my favorite things to do is go to Barnes & Noble, dig thru all their cd's & put a pair of headsets on and listen to old & new music. I can easily blow an hour doing that. I knew the end was coming as the stock keeps getting lower and lower each visit.
It's been very dissapointing to see it coming to an end. Oh well, such is life.

There will always be a store somewhere. The stores just keep getting further & further away from home as they diminish.

[Volks]

Yup ....oh well....there always will be TONS of used CD's for sale .....kinda like what happened to LP's......

[cmalak]

There will always be Amazon linking us to all the small shops as they sell off their remaining inventory of CDs and there will always be used CDs as well.

The question will be if the recording companies will issue digital releases not only in mp3 and CD resolution file formats but also hi-rez for all new issues. That will hopefully be the way the industry evolves. Here's hopin'...

[Volks]

Hi Rez downloads/music servers/thumb drive players.....they may sound great,but so impersonal to me and makes me miss the "Feel" of the CD........i proably sound like a guy in the 80's when CD was killing the LP

[metaphacts]

Originally Posted by Volks

Hi Rez downloads/music servers/thumb drive players.....they may sound great,but so impersonal to me and makes me miss the "Feel" of the CD........i proably sound like a guy in the 80's when CD was killing the LP

Wait. The LP is dead? Who knew?

[JJinID]

I like having physical media - both for music and movies - so I don't like hearing this news at all. I do rip my CDs to the computer via EAC into FLAC format for convenience and non-critical day to day listening, but I like having my CDs around and I don't see that changing.

Long live CDs and LPs, and it sounds like this will be another reason I will be glad to have my Amazon Prime account!

[cmalak]

Mike...I am with you. I have yet to make the transition to PC audio. I still primarily play with CDs and LPs. The good news is you can build your library of the physical media for some years to come from the likes of Amazon and local shops and probably for reduced prices as shops shut down and look to liquidate inventory.