A small publication caused somewhat of a stir a few short weeks ago when they announced the plug would be pulled on compact disc productions at the end of 2012. Let's face it folks, we live in a down loadable, streaming cloud where you are the zen master of the mouse pad and your cultural options ( no matter how limited ) are available at the click of a mouse.
Whether it is 2012 or five years later in 2017 the fact is the compact disc is as dead in terms of long term formidable life as is an Obama economic policy. Hope and Change made most of us feel good but the reality is the government is not going to bring about Hope and Change any more than a major record label/the recording industry will stay with a format that is eventually doomed.
So what are the numbers?
This is taken from:
http://trustmeimascientist.com/2011/12/05/reports-of-the-death-of-the-cd-are-greatly-exaggerated/
Although CD album sales have continued to decline at a rate of roughly 20% each year, they have yet to be surpassed by all digital downloads combined.
Album downloads weighed in at a paltry 83 million units in the RIAA’s most recent report, representing growth of a little more than 8% and generating just $830 million in revenue, roughly a quarter of CD revenue. For their part, single-song downloads have increased by 12% in the past year, but with US revenues of $1.3 billion per year in 2010, they have yet to reach half the income generated by CD sales.
Even in an extreme scenario, assuming a continuation of the 2010 rate of growth in downloads and rate of shrinkage in Cd's, it would still take album downloads until about 2015 even to equal a newly decimated level of CD album sales. Using the RIAA’s current figures, in 2015, album downloads will have grown to nearly 127 million units, which would still amount to just half of the level of CD sales in 2010. Even at a continued growth rate of nearly 10% per year, it would still take album downloads an additional 7 or 8 years to equal even today’s relatively low level of CD sales.
If Cd's continue at the rapid rate of shrinkage they saw in 2010, it would still take them until 2015 to shrink to 80 million units sold in the US. And at that point, they’d still outsell vinyl records by a factor of 20. However CD sales have not shrunk in 2011 so far. In fact, they’ve grown.
O.K. Vinyl is dead. Nostalgia buffs have had their fun but let us face facts. With each play a "vinyl" recording loses quality no matter how great the pressing. The better the pressing, the slower the decay but the bottom line is hiss, pops, scratches and the simple passage of time are still the formats worst enemy.
Comparing disc to vinyl sales is like comparing Sonny Rollins to Boney James. The accessibility and affordability of pure digital formats are the only life lines letting compact discs stay afloat. Perhaps the disc is not doomed as of 2012, this appears to be the only source to have challenged the rumor from late this fall so never assume.
The switch to digital TV and the subsequent converter box fiasco that followed are courtesy of the United States Government. Remember the limited amount of time given the consumer to make the switch? The bottom line is money. Not corporate greed, not some cigar smoking label executive that says "Do It!" but money in the sense of remaining economically viable in a volatile marketplace.
Be prepared. The switch may come sooner then you think!
This is taken from:
http://trustmeimascientist.com/2011/12/05/reports-of-the-death-of-the-cd-are-greatly-exaggerated/
Although CD album sales have continued to decline at a rate of roughly 20% each year, they have yet to be surpassed by all digital downloads combined.
Album downloads weighed in at a paltry 83 million units in the RIAA’s most recent report, representing growth of a little more than 8% and generating just $830 million in revenue, roughly a quarter of CD revenue. For their part, single-song downloads have increased by 12% in the past year, but with US revenues of $1.3 billion per year in 2010, they have yet to reach half the income generated by CD sales.
Even in an extreme scenario, assuming a continuation of the 2010 rate of growth in downloads and rate of shrinkage in Cd's, it would still take album downloads until about 2015 even to equal a newly decimated level of CD album sales. Using the RIAA’s current figures, in 2015, album downloads will have grown to nearly 127 million units, which would still amount to just half of the level of CD sales in 2010. Even at a continued growth rate of nearly 10% per year, it would still take album downloads an additional 7 or 8 years to equal even today’s relatively low level of CD sales.
If Cd's continue at the rapid rate of shrinkage they saw in 2010, it would still take them until 2015 to shrink to 80 million units sold in the US. And at that point, they’d still outsell vinyl records by a factor of 20. However CD sales have not shrunk in 2011 so far. In fact, they’ve grown.
O.K. Vinyl is dead. Nostalgia buffs have had their fun but let us face facts. With each play a "vinyl" recording loses quality no matter how great the pressing. The better the pressing, the slower the decay but the bottom line is hiss, pops, scratches and the simple passage of time are still the formats worst enemy.
Comparing disc to vinyl sales is like comparing Sonny Rollins to Boney James. The accessibility and affordability of pure digital formats are the only life lines letting compact discs stay afloat. Perhaps the disc is not doomed as of 2012, this appears to be the only source to have challenged the rumor from late this fall so never assume.
The switch to digital TV and the subsequent converter box fiasco that followed are courtesy of the United States Government. Remember the limited amount of time given the consumer to make the switch? The bottom line is money. Not corporate greed, not some cigar smoking label executive that says "Do It!" but money in the sense of remaining economically viable in a volatile marketplace.
Be prepared. The switch may come sooner then you think!
