04/21/2009
Music News: Who's Really Buying CDs Anymore?
Robbie Daw presents a weekly pop music update here on Towleroad. Robbie runs his own site called Chart Rigger.
This morning I headed out to Target to pick up cat food and paper towels. And might as well grab a Mother's Day card. And one for grandma. And vinegar. And chewing gum.
I also could use new headphones. And there's the new Depeche Mode CD, for only $9.98. What's one more impulse buy at this point?
Is buying music on CD completely passe now? Granted, I'll still pick up older stuff or imports not available here in the States on disc occasionally. Perhaps the real question should be whether actually driving to the store to buy music on CD is an outmoded concept.
The three remaining U.S. Virgin Megastores (Los Angeles, Orlando, Denver) will shut their doors for good this year, joining defunct chains such as National Record Mart and Tower. And while those out there actually paying for music are still, percentage-wise, opting for CDs over MP3s, they're doing so online, at places like Amazon.
Hence retailers like Austin's Waterloo Records and San Francisco and L.A.'s Amoeba Records getting involved in the brick-and-mortar-supporting Record Store Day this past Saturday.
It sort of all comes full circle to the dilemma I had when I was a teenager—whether or not to buy an album on cassette or CD. My beat up '87 Dodge Shadow I used to tool around my hometown in during the early '90s had a tape player, so often cassettes won out, even though my parents invested in a CD player for their stereo system pretty early on.
Maybe it all just comes down to practicality.
Anyway, my friend—a big Depeche Mode fan—texted me later and said that I could have gotten their Sounds Of The Universe off Amazon's MP3 store for only $3.99 today. Just my luck.
I would have argued that I did it all for the artwork, but I've listened to the album three times now, and haven't even thought about opening the booklet inside.
STANDOUT TRACKS: "Peace," "Perfect" and the current single "Wrong."
TODAY'S NEW RELEASES:
Yes, the 10th studio album from the Pet Shop Boys. (Check out my track-by-track review.) Also available (though only as a physical CD) is a limited edition two-disc version called Yes, etc., containing the extra song "This Used To Be The Future" (which features both Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe singing, as well as Human League's Phil Oakey) and six dub mixes of Yes album tracks.
The Breeders' "Fate To Fatal" EP.
Walking On A Dream, the first album from Australian electronic duo Empire Of The Sun.
Let's Stay Here, an album of secular music from Oleta Adams.
New singles from Green Day ("Know Your Enemy"), Jarvis Cocker ("Angela"), Nick Lachey ("All In My Head") and Paolo Nutini ("Candy").
Posted 5:56 PM EST by Robbie in Music, Music Recommendations, Pet Shop Boys, Robbie Daw | Permalink
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I agree, Robbie.
I always bought albums (for 45 years) & the songs were meant to be played in that order. The Artists planned for you to listen in a certain order. Can you imagine downloading Sgt.Pepper's? I loved liner notes when I was growing up & I knew the names of all the session players. I loved reading the lyric sheet along with the songs. I know that the downloads come with electronic booklets, but it is not the same thing. That being said...I stoppped at Boarders for the new Pet Shop Boys this morning (I have everything by them on CD, including imports) & I ended up opting to go home & download it. What has happened to me?!?
Posted by: Stephen | Apr 21, 2009 6:29:01 PM
Uh, no. No one buys actual CDs anymore except for old people. I haven't bought a physical CD in close to 3 years.
The real question is whether anyone pays for music for anymore.
I downloaded the Depeche Mode from Amazon for $3.99 this morning. That was about $3 too much. It is god-awful. I should have saved that money for lube and chicken wings.
Posted by: crispy | Apr 21, 2009 6:45:31 PM
it's gotten to the point where i'll only buy the CD if it's not available anywhere for download-yes such things still exist. my preference, however, is for downloading for a number of reasons:
instant gratification because within minutes the album is there and ready to listen to and i haven't left my home;
sometimes there are some truly crapola songs on an album that i don't want and i can cherry pick the tracks i want (i can't tell you how many times in my life i've bought an album in vinyl, cassette or CD media just for the song i heard on the radio and ended up hating the rest of it;
space issues. i live in a pretty small house and all that vinyl & plastic starts to accumulate after awhile. downloads help me to live in a clutter free environment.
yeah, there are some advantages to having the physical media-album art and sound quality being the most pervasive (although there are sites that allow one to download WAV files which are of higher bitrate but take up much more space on the hard drive)but i have to say that i'm finding the download method much more to my liking.
Posted by: alguien | Apr 21, 2009 6:49:52 PM
I haven't bought a physical CD in four years. And to be honest, I rarely download entire albums. I'll buy a single every now and then (off itunes), but most albums consist of unlistenable filler anyway; so, what's the point? Eventually, I think we'll see artists stop releasing albums altogether and concentrate on the singles market. After a handful of releases, they'll put out the digital equivalent of an EP.
Posted by: Denis | Apr 21, 2009 6:54:29 PM
hey crispy!
i'm an "old people" and i think i made my case pretty well for downloads vs. physical media.
and another thing, when you've got downloads, you can just load all your favorite stuff onto the old ipod and listen in your car without having a pile of CDs lying all over the floor on the passenger side.
Posted by: alguien | Apr 21, 2009 7:25:28 PM
Here's another reason to buy the CD:
Amoeba Hollywood gave anyone who bought DM's new CD today a free ticket to the DM show on Hollywood Boulevard Thursday. If you bought the box set, you got two.
Posted by: Brian Stroup | Apr 21, 2009 7:50:24 PM
I was still buying CDs very actively until a year ago, when I moved to a smaller place and realized that 1,000+ CDs were only slightly easier to store than the 2,000+ LPs I've been lugging around for 15 years despite not having a working turntable in recent years. Now I would only buy a CD from a particularly favorite band (Of Montreal, Saint Etienne, Siouxsie). Discovering torrents has only exacerbated this habit.
I felt very old the other day when I went to buy a new CD player and Best Buy had three, all made by Sony. I've had awful luck with Sony players, so I went to Amazon. Its selection was crap too. At this point it's easier to find a variety of turntables than CD players---who'd ever have thought?
Now I want to sell most of my CDs and LPs...better hurry while Amoeba is still in business!
Posted by: Paul R | Apr 21, 2009 7:59:20 PM
Also, album art and liner notes basically died once CDs came along. With digital files they're a corpse, which I find a major loss even though I'm no longer a depressed teenager holed up in my bedroom.
Posted by: Paul R | Apr 21, 2009 8:01:52 PM
Hello!!! Andy Towle are you editing and discussing with Robbie?? Is he NOT even reading your blog? Why would he consider buying anything from Amazon.
Hello commentators, the ones buying from Amazon?? Have you not been reading Andy's posts or did we just give up on the boycott because of laziness and non caring? Did I miss something. I'm not buying into Amazon's "error" excuse!!
Posted by: LA*SURFPUNK | Apr 21, 2009 8:14:27 PM
I haven't bought a new CD like 2 years. The only CD's I buy are at garage sales.
The Depechekmode album is so so. There are few good tracks, but nothing new sounding. I feel that way about the Pet Shop Boys too. Yes is a nice album, but like the above nothing exciting and new. If your looking to reminisce back to the Early PSB you will love it. I would rather have something profound coming from one of the Godfathers of Electropop.
EOTS is a good album. Good throwback to the 80's.
Posted by: Dairyqueen | Apr 21, 2009 8:26:28 PM
LA*SURFPUNK, to clarify, I *didn't* buy from Amazon, nor did I say that I considered it :)
Posted by: Robbie Daw | Apr 21, 2009 8:40:14 PM
LA*SURFPUNK, what are you babbling about? That Amazon boycott was like 8 billion years ago. This week we hate Miss California. Catch up.
Posted by: crispy | Apr 21, 2009 8:53:21 PM
I always buy the CD - and this is why:
1. CDs are the best quality available and are a permanent backup - they don't degrade like CDs you would burn yourself.
2. The cost is pretty reasonable when compared to downloading the whole album.
3. You can rip the CD on your computer into a lossless FLAC format (which is the exact same quality as the source CD). You can then use that FLAC copy to create your own lossy copies (mp3 or ogg) which can be used on your portable music player or car.
4. MP3 or OGG files are a lossy format - which means there is some quality loss from the CD. The reason lossy files are smaller is that the algorithm which creates them "guesses" what the human ear can hear and then throws away the rest. The part that is thrown away diminishes the sound quality. Also, if you take a lossy file and create a CD from it, you are making a copy of a copy - each time it is processed, something more is lost. Think of it as making a xerox of a xerox. The more times you do it, the more is lost.
I would never, ever buy music in a lossy format. You are getting a compromise. Smaller size for less quality. I don't think many people realize this - bottom line, as in everything in life, you get what you pay for... there is no free lunch.
Posted by: Mike | Apr 21, 2009 8:55:51 PM
Thanks Robbie :)
Thanks Crispy :) I forgot about news items in internet years!!
Love all of you esp. Andy ;)
Posted by: LA*SURFPUNK | Apr 21, 2009 9:03:37 PM
I hadn't bought a CD in a couple of years but did buy the new PET SHOP BOYS "Yes" CD and love it.
Posted by: SAM | Apr 21, 2009 9:48:50 PM
I buy CDs - but then I usually buy only classical - and buying that is a problem these days when all people want it Pop. I need something with a little more meaning.
Posted by: Jim | Apr 21, 2009 10:05:30 PM
When I was working and had the $$ I bought CDs; now I borrow CDs from the library and rip them onto the computer.
Posted by: John Bisceglia | Apr 21, 2009 10:25:40 PM
I buy CDs because I'm too lazy to make backups of my music downloads.
Posted by: TonyRz | Apr 21, 2009 10:38:50 PM
I buy CDs because I'm too lazy to make backups of my downloads.
Posted by: TonyRz | Apr 21, 2009 10:40:56 PM
LA*SurfPunk, I didn't buy into the Amazon boycott because it was never clearly intentional. A major corporate entity doesn't have much reason to intentionally reduce sales, and Amazon has no history of antigay policies.
Though, for the record, when I said I was looking at Amazon's CD players "the other day"? Actually it was at least a month ago. And I didn't buy one. Some friends are giving me theirs because they don't use it.
Posted by: Paul R | Apr 21, 2009 10:49:50 PM
I don't think the vast majority of listeners will notice any difference between CD and MP3. Physical media is on it's way out. Movies are only going to survive because of size. Once the Internet access will enable people to download massive files quickly, say bye bye to the DVD/Blu-ray etc format too. That may be awhile, but CD's won't last much longer.
Posted by: hal | Apr 21, 2009 11:20:47 PM
Catch up
-music
-movies
-tv shows
-books
-news
all via the intertubes
carrying around anything besides a bottle of water and a thin lap top is like a dinosaur walking around in the modern world.
The japanese have already moved into Jackets / wind breakers that have some of the computer parts actually made out of plastic fabric = won't even be carrying around lap tops, ipods, cell phones, etc
Just your windbreaker plugged into the www and a bottle of water.
Though such doesn't guarentee users utilizing editing or spell check functions like me
:-)
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Apr 21, 2009 11:23:23 PM
I still buy CD's, aside from the occasional odd single (I needed Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" and "I Sing the Body Electric" from "Fame" for a unit I was teaching). I do like having the lyric sheet and album notes; the new Springsteen package was a work of art, as is Matt Alber's. Yeah, I can rip the singles I like the best onto my I-Pod, but it's a helluvva lot easier carrying a CD from room to room and stereo to stero (and the car) than thinking, "Crap! I only have that track loaded on my computer!" And God help you if the computer takes a dump, as has happened to two of my friends.
Do the labels need our money? Hell no--I read somewhere that the music industry is the most corrupt of any entertainment field. During the 5+ years I worked for Wherehouse records, I watched CD's jump almost a dollar a year to $19.99, a pittance of which went to the artists. However, I was at a concert with Julian Lennon and Rufus Wainwright and Fine Frenzy last year, during which Lennon made the snide remark about "Oh, who buys music anymore? Just download it for free." (Thank you, boy-living-on-daddy's-money.) But someone like Matt Alber or Pansy Division, I want to support by giving my money--they'll still get a royalty, even if the label is getting stiffed. Call me a neanderthal, but that's where my head's at. (I have, however, ditched most of the plastic cases to the library, and loaded the CD's into flip books; much more compact.)
Posted by: Dback | Apr 22, 2009 12:43:24 AM
I have about 750+ CDs in storage because I moved and had nowhere to put them. I used to be a music critic so I'd get a lot of albums as well as buying them. But I don't have the money or the space anymore, which is a shame. I love having an album in its physical form. Alas, not so much anymore.
Posted by: Glenn | Apr 22, 2009 2:24:33 AM
I used to buy CD's but sometimes, we need to be practical at times and take advantage of what technology can offer us.
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