Preferences for CDs, Downloading or Streaming

[Pulcinella]

What does 1H mean?

First half of the year, apparently (I had to look it up!):

https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/1H

[cloughie]

First half of the year, apparently (I had to look it up!):

https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/1H

Thanks Pulc. Not just me whose not into the jargon, then!

[richardfinegold]

Is your Walter box the LP sized chunky box, which has been around a while? I think it’s still available here, but no longer cheap - if it ever was. If that’s the one, and there’s maybe now little chance of a new version, then maybe I’ll just have to go for it anyway.

Looks as though this might actually be a newer version, from 2019, hopefully with the remastering you’ve mentioned.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bruno-Walte...s=music&sr=1-1

That’s the one. I hemmed and hawed over the price, but as previously stated, I’ve noticed that when the inventory on theses boxes is depleted, the recordings then disappear and are only available as mp3s

[richardfinegold]

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.

Classical purchasers also kept SACDs from total extinction

[Bryn]

Classical purchasers also kept SACDs from total extinction

Indeed, though if a multi-channel recording is available from eClassical, that is more likely to attract my interest than its equivalent SACD. For one thing, it is far easier to back-up a multi-channel FLAC than a multi-channel SACD.

[richardfinegold]

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

Physical Media are 7% of all revenue? I didn’t know it was that lopsided. I am going to spend the retirement account on every CD out there, purchase a shed to store the overflow, and line my casket with polycarbonate discs.
I wonder if Physical Media sales have leveled off, and the decline as a total percentage is due to an increase in the amount of total revenue spent on music consumption? I know several friends who had not purchased music for years who have purchased streaming services. Many play them through their television speakers, and sometimes the service is paired with a cable video streaming service. More frequently it is Apple Music offered free for a few months with a new iPhone, or Amazon with Amazon Prime. Physical Media would have trouble competing with that type of marketing.

[teamsaint]

Physical Media are 7% of all revenue? I didn’t know it was that lopsided. I am going to spend the retirement account on every CD out there, purchase a shed to store the overflow, and line my casket with polycarbonate discs.
I wonder if Physical Media sales have leveled off, and the decline as a total percentage is due to an increase in the amount of total revenue spent on music consumption? I know several friends who had not purchased music for years who have purchased streaming services. Many play them through their television speakers, and sometimes the service is paired with a cable video streaming service. More frequently it is Apple Music offered free for a few months with a new iPhone, or Amazon with Amazon Prime. Physical Media would have trouble competing with that type of marketing.

I don't know how significant it is in music, but in book publishing, quite a lot of sales don't go through the official sales report ( Nielsen) because they don't go through the tills of registered outlets. So " Non trade" sales, EG Garden centres, author sales, etc may well not show up . And of course these are all physical copies.

I suspect the same may be true in music of merch ( including CD and vinyl) sales at concerts. And this can be very important revenue for the artists and authors.

( Authors make typically make 50% of the RRP at an event, which can make an event quite lucrative.)

[richardfinegold]

Indeed, though if a multi-channel recording is available from eClassical, that is more likely to attract my interest than its equivalent SACD. For one thing, it is far easier to back-up a multi-channel FLAC than a multi-channel SACD.

I tried one multichannel purchase from e Classical, one of the BIS Suzuki Bach Cantata Recordings, and I couldn’t get it to play in MC. emails to eClassical tried to assign the blame to the Oppo 203 that I was using as a player, or alternatively to the handshake between the Oppo and the AVR that was then in the system, an Onkyo from 2005 vintage. I gave up and went back to SACD or Blu Ray for Multichannel. I’ve since upgraded the AVR to an Anthem ARC, so I will dig out the usb drive with that recording and see if it now plays in MC

[richardfinegold]

I don't know how significant it is in music, but in book publishing, quite a lot of sales don't go through the official sales report ( Nielsen) because they don't go through the tills of registered outlets. So " Non trade" sales, EG Garden centres, author sales, etc may well not show up . And of course these are all physical copies.

I suspect the same may be true in music of merch ( including CD and vinyl) sales at concerts. And this can be very important revenue for the artists and authors.

( Authors make typically make 50% of the RRP at an event, which can make an event quite lucrative.)

I’ve been reminded of that point with the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Her son James runs the Cedille label here in Chicago and he has been present at a few concerts that have attended featuring their Artists. He sits at a table and sells CDs and I had some lengthy chats with him a few years ago

[Nick Armstrong]

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

[Dave2002]

Physical Media are 7% of all revenue? I didn’t know it was that lopsided. I am going to spend the retirement account on every CD out there, purchase a shed to store the overflow, and line my casket with polycarbonate discs.

Some of my family have threatened to have speakers installed in my coffin, and to pipe music in from the spare CDs after I've gone.

Another idea is "funeral fancies" - any one who comes along gets a couple of hundred CDs - "whether they like it or not"!

[Cockney Sparrow]

Another idea is "funeral fancies" - any one who comes along gets a couple of hundred CDs - "whether they like it or not"!

I'm going to re-visit my will. That sounds like a good idea!

[HighlandDougie]

I may be about fall into the trap of "virtue signalling" (horrible expression) but the fact that the musicians who make the recordings on which we rely make a veritable pittance from streaming is a major concern for me. I use Tidal as an exploratory medium so that if I come across something which I really like (like Neil Cowley's 'Building Blocks' the other day), I'll then buy it, either as a download or a real CD. I find Bandcamp to be a treasure trove of musical creativity which I'm happy to support as I feel that the musicians involved are at least getting something in return for all their efforts. Apologies if this all sounds a bit holier-than-thou ....

P.S. And, of course, streaming is useless if one loses internet service

[Joseph K]

P.S. And, of course, streaming is useless if one loses internet service

That is precisely a thought at the back of my mind. I managed to get through uni (and graduate) without a laptop... the last place I lived didn't have internet.

[Bryn]

That is precisely a thought at the back of my mind. I managed to get through uni (and graduate) without a laptop... the last place I lived didn't have internet.

It will also be difficult to play CDs once all the others follow OPPO and stop producing CD players. There are fewer and fewer manufacturers of them already.