Preferences for CDs, Downloading or Streaming

[Goon525]

Thanks for that Bryn. And although vinyl is outselling CDs, both income streams are tiny compared with streaming. Downloads, incidentally, has virtually disappeared.

[gurnemanz]

At home all day, most days due to Covid and retirement, I am listening more than ever. I stream a lot but streaming does not make me feel that I "have" the recording. The ones I have as CDs (thousands) and mp3 are catalogued in a database so that I know what's there, can append notes, recording dates, comments etc. I have a wall of CDs, as mentioned above, and play at least one every day, sometimes just picking one at random that I might not have played for years.

I now avoid buying CDs where possible - for space reasons, but I still sometimes favour acquiring the physical album as something attractive to have on the shelf. Some song recitals are just very nicely produced and of course contain lyrics, eg I like the photos on the new Winterreise from Ian Bostridge and Thomas Ades on Pentatone and a couple of recent discs from the aplha label, eg Barbara Hannigan - Vienna, Fin de siècle, Jos van Immerseel/Anima Eterna Brugge Schubertiade box. Harmonia mundi tend to bring out beautifully prepared discs that are just pleasing to hold in your hand while listening, eg Dvorak Zigeunerlieder with a lovely Mucha cover picture. Marlies Petersen, Goethelieder - Das Ewig-Weibliche. Sometimes you get a kind of book as with Phillipe Jaroussky's stylish Erato twofer of Verlaine settings.

I don't buy much rock but with a favourite artist like Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits or Lucinda Williams, when I have many previous albums as CDs, I will certainly get the new one in that format to go with others as a set.

I have never bought many operas as DVDs and have recently found streaming via YouTube and Met site etc very useful for watching opera, especially now that live opera is off the schedule for the foreseeable. On the desk in front of me are two unused Amphitheatre tickets for ROH Tristan May 3.

I try to buy both downloads and CDs from an independent label's site where feasible, eg Hyperion, Chandos, Somm (Massenet mélodies, Parry songs). And Hyperion doesn't licence its recordings to streamers, so you don't have that option.

[Bryn]

I should qualify #30 by noting that, according to a Telegraph item behind a paywall, 'Classical' music appears to be bucking the overall trend. Its CD and download sales, along with streaming, are said to be more than holding their own.

[Nick Armstrong]

Perhaps the crucial point about streaming..... you can be as adventurous as you like without the bigger financial commitment (with all the potentially distorting decision-based psychological implications of purchase and ownership...)...

Exactly! This very much corresponds to my listening in recent years. Much more interested in new performances of familiar works, and discovering pieces and composers new to me. Plus zero interest in accumulating “owned” things...

[teamsaint]

Thanks for that Bryn. And although vinyl is outselling CDs, both income streams are tiny compared with streaming. Downloads, incidentally, has virtually disappeared.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/mar/21/streaming-accounts-for-more-than-half-uk-record-label-income

Streaming income was at somewhere over 50 % last year. I doubt than many record companies want to reduce their income streams by 40% by abandoning physical media at this point.

The fact that streaming is the dominant income stream is irrelevant , because most recordings will need ALL the income to wash their face, and one of the channels will always be dominant. And of course, there is income, and there is profit margin.
And if the music industry is anything like publishing the official figures ( Nielsen for books) don’t by a long way represent all physical sales, just as an example private and event sales by performers and authors, which for many are a vital income stream, and often produce more income than royalties.

[Bryn]

Exactly! This very much corresponds to my listening in recent years. Much more interested in new performances of familiar works, and discovering pieces and composers new to me. Plus zero interest in accumulating “owned” things...

As John Cage put it, "We are getting rid of ownership, substituting use.".

[teamsaint]

As John Cage put it, "We are getting rid of ownership, substituting use.".

There is definitely a strong trend in this direction. But trends are not for ever, and they don’t hold true for all of us all the time of course.
Lots for folks leasing cars, lots buying them.

[Goon525]

https://www.theguardian.com/business...d-label-income

Streaming income was at somewhere over 50 % last year. I doubt than many record companies want to reduce their income streams by 40% by abandoning physical media at this point.

The fact that streaming is the dominant income stream is irrelevant , because most recordings will need ALL the income to wash their face, and one of the channels will always be dominant. And of course, there is income, and there is profit margin.
And if the music industry is anything like publishing the official figures ( Nielsen for books) don’t by a long way represent all physical sales, just as an example private and event sales by performers and authors, which for many are a vital income stream, and often produce more income than royalties.

I saw a figure more like 85% for non-physical media somewhere recently. I’ll have to try and find it.

[teamsaint]

I saw a figure more like 85% for non-physical media somewhere recently. I’ll have to try and find it.

i think we need to take those figures in the context that I provided. And they are trends.

E books were going to take over the world, but seem to be under 20% of revenue for US publishers.

Just to make my point more clear, as a publisher, we simply need ALL of our revenue streams. Ebooks are approx 15 % of our sales. Can’t live on them, can’t live without them.

Oh, and reviewers tend to like a nice CD or hardback book for their shelves .........

So , short runs, premium editions, whatever, physical media are still a vital part of the sales and marketing mix.

[Dave2002]

The earlier version was not as complete!

Bur sometimes it was available more cheaply. That might not happen with the newer one.

[cloughie]

As John Cage put it, "We are getting rid of ownership, substituting use.".

Or renting?

[Goon525]

If this copies ok, it makes the point. OK, these are US figures, but I don’t think Europe is very different https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.c...-1296x1306.jpg

[LHC]

Thanks for that Bryn. And although vinyl is outselling CDs, both income streams are tiny compared with streaming. Downloads, incidentally, has virtually disappeared.

Although vinyl sales have increased significantly in recent years, vinyl is still outsold by CD.

According to the UK record industry in 2019 CD album sales in the UK fell by 24.7% to £217m. That was not only down by £71m on the prior year, but it was also less than half the size of the £468m generated by the CD format as recently as 2015.

However, while vinyl sales increased by 6.4%, total sales were still only £97.1m, less than half that of CDs.

Both are dwarfed by the amount spent on streaming and downloads: In total, UK consumers spent £1.41bn on recorded music across all formats in 2019, up 7.1% on the previous year (£1.32bn), with streaming services accounting for just over £1bn of that revenue.

[teamsaint]

If this copies ok, it makes the point. OK, these are US figures, but I don’t think Europe is very different https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.c...-1296x1306.jpg

Trouble is,as I keep pointing out , that is only one part of the story. If record companies and publishers could thrive with zero inventory, then they would. But it turns out that they can’t right now, as a general rule, because it can be and usually is the difference between profit and loss, and it is still vital in the other ways I have mentioned.

Physical media still make a statement.

[cloughie]

If this copies ok, it makes the point. OK, these are US figures, but I don’t think Europe is very different https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.c...-1296x1306.jpg

What does 1H mean?