“Downloads will be king within the next couple of years.”
The words of Alan McGee, there – founder of Creation Records, the man credited with the discovery of Oasis, manager of Dirty Pretty Things, et cetera. McGee’s words of last month, penned as a bulletin to subscribers of his MySpace page, were picked up upon by the national media: soon after the initial sending of said words, McGee’s premonitions as to the immediate future of single releases were reprinted by the likes of The Guardian, whose online article of July 18 was topped by the headline The single is dead, says Alan McGee.
“CDs are ugly data invented by the majors, only useful for DJing or downloading to your iPod,” McGee continued. “Their game is up.” Or is it? The singles market has actually doubled in just over a year, according to the British Phonographic Institute – although said sales incorporate those of downloads – and when DiS asked its readers for their thoughts on the dwindling fortunes of the physical single format, particularly CDs, we received a mixture of responses:
“I stopped buying CD singles a long time ago,” said one message board user, and their attitude was far from unique: many others felt similarly about exchanging cash for one or two tracks housed on a cheap-to-produce on compact disc. For example: “I am another who still does buy vinyl singles but never a CD single.”
Vinyl’s popularity seems strange from a quality point of view – if the format was so perfect to begin with, surely compact discs wouldn’t have taken off half as well as they did in the Eighties. But now even record labels are realising the appeal of luscious packaging over a shitty jewel-cased CD. “The seven-inch market is thriving,” said Moshi Moshi’s Michael McCartney when launching his label’s new singles club, an endeavour that will issue music only on vinyl. So it seems that while the sales of compact disc singles are to go the way of the dodo, vinyl sales are expected to soar.
Returning to DiS’s readers, one message board user remarked: “I occasionally buy seven-inches, but never CD singles.” The post continued: “Yesterday I downloaded the b-side from the new ¡Forward Russia! single, because I listen to mp3s much more than vinyl.” Are we therefore to assume that the same people buying physical singles on seven-inch format are the same people whose downloading habits are killing off the compact disc single?
Brainlove Records’ singles club offers customers a combined vinyl-and-mp3 package – for just a couple of pounds more than the cost of the vinyl alone, subscribers get the same songs sent both physically and digitally. Which is nice.
“Vinyl is pretty, but it's not very adaptable is it?” says John Brainlove, the brains – no pun intended – behind said label’s operations. “(This way), people can stick the songs on their mp3 players. That's it really. And have it on their computer so it gets into audioscrobbler.”
So, after all this too-ing and fro-ing of ifs and buts, what do you think, now? Do you agree with Mr McGee? Are compact disc singles staring death in the digital face? Is such a change, as McGee says, “in favour of the musicians and the indies”? Or will CD singles be around for this lifetime, if not the next, a la vinyl? After all, wasn’t that supposed to be a dead medium by now, too…?
DiScuss!
singles are a strange evil
it feels to me that it's only radio1 and some tv programmers who care about the Singles Chart as some kind of guide to popularity. However, it doesn't take too many Jose Gonzalez album sales post tv adverts to show that if you let people hear the kind of music they like, they go out and buy the album.
Metric 'Monster Hospital' will probably be the last single DiS releases on CD. They're not particularly collectible and I don't know anyone who buys them. And haven't bought one myself since, er, Mansun 'Taxloss'.
Bands can put the extra tracks, covers and half ideas that form b-sides on their websites or give them to podcasts now and be more creative in using additional material to market themselves and keep fans interested and excited.
yes physical singles will die
but cd albums will continue to reign supreme
gnarls barkley is a case in point
Are you going to release hard copies of the singles
at all then Sean?
Or simply in a downloadable format? Because what I think the discussion that Diver refers to also showed is that very, very few people rely solely on downloadable singles to get access to their music, and would much prefer a hard copy.
we may not
digital is a global form of release which requires a lot of time and vision. whereas 7" need to be shipped and are usually quite limited and its more cost effective if bands sell seven inches at shows as the difference between what we recieve from stores and making a 7" is so small and if they don't all sell we lose money.
Whereas a smaller label can sell direct to Rough Trade or direct to the consumer and due to us requiring an exclusive distribution deal (and distro has always been key and one of the things which force a lot of indies to compromise inorder to be competitive) to get our cd albums stocked across the country in all the major store it puts us at a slight disadvantage in trying to release singles against a small diy operation.
Wouldn't most people rather buy a Jeniferever single direct from the band at the show to contribute towards their cost of touring and have a little natter with them, than walk into some faceless record store and pull it from between two razorlight singles and pay some clueless minimum wage student slavo £2.99?
Maybe
But not everyone can get to shows, especially outside of London. But most people will have access to a record shop at some point within the next month or so, whether staffed by a student or otherwise.
"And haven't bought one myself since, er, Mansun 'Taxloss'."
Is that a joke? I hope so. Weren't you 12 when that came out or something? :D
sean
doesn't need to buy singles. he gets sent them. ;-)
Singles dead eh?
No wonder I can't sell any - I should learn really...
:-(
The 99p two-track cd
killed the single. A fucking stupid idea.
!
The great thing about the CD single is though that if you only like that one track then thats all you have to buy. Obviously with the whole ipod thing you can download single tracks but not everyone owns an ipod. Personally I like having the tangible item.
Would I have bought the whole Amerie or Deep Dish album for just 'One Thing' or 'Flashdance'? Hell no
some of McGees points are riduculous
When he talks about the CD as a format in itself - single, album, or otherwise - he says they're only useful for downloading to your ipod? So what if you're listening on your hi-fi at home? No, I won't just put the CD in, I'll put it on my ipod, and then connect that up to my hifi. Great.
I'm bored of the constant 'download! ipod!' obsession within the media (referring more to newspaper coverage here). Downloads are growing to take their place within the market, but won't ever replace physical formats, whatever format that may be. Why own something just as a download of shitty quality, when you could buy it physically, actually own it, and still be able to transfer to your computer if you want?
CD's are 'ugly data'. So what does that make downloads?
But he got us talking about singles, and on that subject - CD singles may well be dead - the vinyl / download combination is best I think. You get to own something that looks lovely and sounds great, and have it as mp3 too. The challenge is how to make that work across widescale distribution, rather than just a singles club where you've know everyone who's bought a vinyl and can give them a code.
I still love the format of the single, not when they're just used to promote an album, but rather releases in their own right. Like the way New Order used to seperate albums and singles.
My mate...
Has a vinyl turntable that comes with software to convert his 7" single collection to mp3. Methinks this currently unknown piece of technology will take off, in a big way.
Sales of CD singles at Woolies
are on a big decline in line with the market. I think we should be dropping them soon. (Don't quote me on that)
Then don't
post it on one of the most widely read music forums in the country then :D
It's okay
I'm an unreliable source..
7" singles and releases of single tracks digitally will continue.
CD singles will die. Along with the rest of CD sales, ultimately.
vinyl
is sadly a dying format too. i have boxes and boxes of the fuckers, unsold... :-(
Apparently sales increased 20 percent last year alone...
Vinyl is coming back, for a while at least...
I reckon.
But ultimately, yes, it's doomed.
to correct myself a bit
when I said downloads won't ever replace physicals, I meant more in terms of albums.
The thought just occured to me - if the CD single is dying away, then mr.general public man isn't going to switch to vinyl. Vinyl will indeed continue as a single format, but not in a widespread way. So I guess that will mean downloads will replace physicals as far as singles go.
As for the CD at large, it will die eventually. But will it be replaced with a new digial physical format, like DVD-audio?
The public seems obsessed with getting the best quality possible from pictures - HD TV, Blu Ray disks, etc. Strange that things are going in the opposite direction quality wise with music.
nah...cd singles are pointless- ie the mainstream chart stuff, cos I don't think anyone buys them apart from ten year old girls anymore.
However, in the indie and dance scenes, there is still a market for the old seven inch/twelve. It goes with the style of music- they are a cheap investment, you can discover new bands without wasting your money on a shit album.
When I do a label, it will be seven inch that comes with a code allowing you a free download of the tracks.
For people who are actually music fans, rather than the 'ooh I like that one by Charlene off neighbours, you know -doo doo doo do dood odod oo doo' brigade, downloads will never replace a hard copy. (cue some contrary music lover to disagree with me...don't bother, you're in the minority, you gimpsters pasty!)
the hardware
required to listen to a download is more expensive than that required to listen to a cd or any other hard-copy medium.
vinyl is a faffy indulgence for fanboys, scene-kids and djs (most of those i've seen recently have just been laptop wielding anyway). As a format vinyl is cumbersome and hard to look after.
singles are for kids - who can be arsed with making playlists and all that faff just to listen to singles without hovering over the stereo/pooter/whatever?
a great single
that isnt on any album, and has two great b-sides, so the whole thing plays as a mini-record in itself - why should that be for kids?
You could argue that that kind of release is heading towards EP territory, but they're a bugger to promote.
Do people trust b-sides to be good? Or are they just seen as being extra tracks and half ideas? I always want b-sides to be just as good, if not better in their own way, than the a-side.
if a b-side is good
it'll be on the album, surely...
nah
many of suede's best songs were bsides, thus making sci-fi lullabies better than their first album.
same goes for mansun, smashing pumpkins, pulp...all have bsides that are far better than a lot of their album tracks. the babies EP by pulp is probably song for song their best release.
brainlove has it right,
vinyl & mp3 is a pretty perfect combination. cd singles feel completely pointless unless the artwork or packaging justifies the cost - i can't remember the last time i bought one. it's just too easy to have a quick scout around itunes and have it in a couple of seconds.
i recon its...
not just singles, most physical media full stop is dead or dying. CD's and dvd's included. Once the desktop moves online and the telecommunications industry catches up they'll be no reason to own any of them. Access is the new ownership.
yes
I HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS THAT THE ABOVE ARTICLE IS LOOKING FOR. ALL WILL BE REVEALED IN THE AUTUMN.
BOOKMARK WWW.INDEX7.CO.UK
I think that there will
always have to be a physical format, be it CD, DVD or Vinyl. Paying £10 for some mp3s doesnt feel good, it doesn't feel like you're buying anything worthwhile. One of the best bits about buying an album is owning it phsically, having it to add to your collection, gradually filling up the spaces in your CD rack.
It doesnt really feel the same for CD singles, they just seem flimsy and pointless. I don't think i've ever bought a single on CD and likely never will, though I still buy 7"s, if only for how satisfying they are to play
Um...
Didn't Alan McGee also say that Mr. Beast was the best thing he'd heard since Loveless? And that Three Colours Red were the new Sex Pistols?
It's clear this man talks out of his arse most of the time.
Yeah, cd singles may be dying, who honestly gives a crap? I haven't bought one for at least 12 years (not counting EPs), cos they're kinda naff, and I'd rather have the album.
As for physical media dying, hmm, maybe, I've downloaded my fair share of movies, but it can take ages, and there's always the chance you'll accidentally delete it, or the medium on which it's stored (hard drive probably) could fail and you'd lose everything, then where would you be? The new generation of physical media (video anyway) far surpass the quality of currently available downloadable video.
I still buy dvds, although that may be because they're getting cheaper, and collector's edition boxsets are getting more and more ridiculous in terms of completist fantasies. Did I really need a disc devoted to the original version of clerks shown at Sundance in 1993? Hell, no, but if I'd downloaded the movie I wouldn't have the option.
Dunno what I was getting at there, just ranting for the hell of it.
Abandon rant...
Agree completely...
...that's why my label, KIDS, does vinyl and free mp3s. Buy the vinyl, get the mp3s free - you get the quality artwork and 'physicalness' of a record, along with the ease of use of mp3s.
Singles are fantastic though - great introduction to new bands without paying a fortune. They'll always be around
NEWSFLASH!!
McGee talks shite
Apple - A Major
McGee makes a lot of the company Apple and it’s ipod. Radiohead maybe having an option on Apple as their "product" distributor as opposed to renewing with EMI. I'm paraphrasing what was on his myspace page yesterday which has now disappeared from the site. His sentiments are well meaning and have started a good discussion but I would suggest they he’s not looking or maybe expressing his opinions far enough.
Apple is a major electronics corporation just as EMI is a major record company. Different product same idea. A major is a major.
The truly independent music make will release music digitally, probably without any charge via the internet. All that is important is the music and any interesting musicians out there have day jobs. Yes people need to pay for recording equipment but that’s never been cheaper. So why get into bed with any major company? I so enjoy the poor deluded fools that believe they will get signed by a major who will make them rich & famous. More of these idiots please, they so funny. But, I hear you wimper, majors bring artist development, distribution & funding! Development lasts for any band up until the first album hits the bargain bin and the major starts to recoup costs. Distribution is freely, yes freely, available on the internet. Funding, well what exactly is being funded? The recording of some rehashed third division indie? The latest pop sensation doing a rehash of the last pop sensation? A video so it can be played on one of the 20 odd music tv channels in this country that play all the same videos anyway? Here’s a guitar, here’s three chords now form a band. Here’s a pc, here’s the internet, here’s an mp3, now form a record company. All the majors want is compromise for dividends. Let them play about with games consoles and leave art alone.
The music industry supports I don’t know how many jobs in this country. Lots of people with careers earning money paying rent. The change in how music is available will shake up a lot of companies and jobs will change/disappear. That’s just a hard fact of commerce and any snorting, dashing, young music exec needs to accept it.
The death of the single is a slightly bogus headline. The proper shake up of music availability we’ve been waiting for 10 years for is just not as catchy.
That Alan Mcgee..
He so crazy and does talk to much. He should be busy signing better bands rather than all that Poptones rubbish. But anyhoo I can't see CD singles lasting for much longer. What ever everyone else has said...well..I agree.
the
only reason that cd singles are dieing is because the singles that get widely distributed is saturated with crap like the latest x factor release or the latest release of the x factor person who came 2nd,3rd,4th,5th and 6th.
oh
and also because albums are so cheap compared, although im sure that that debate has been going for some time.
whos going to spend 2.99 on 3 singles and a few crappy b sides when you can get the 3 singles and 9 or 10 other songs for the same or less price.
1.99 or 2.99
for each single that is.
Ditto
Alan McGee is a washed up has-been. He thinks he's back on top (not that he ever was). When will he realise that NO ONE GIVES A FUCK ABOUT HIM. Diver, did you actually ring him for a quote?
mp3`s/4`s are the future
i think mp3`s are a lot easyer for bands to sell there singles if your spending forever burning cd`s to sell off your site it would be alot more easyer to sell downloads where you don`t have to create a pyscal product and it seeems a few bands are entering the charts on pure downloads alone (even geting to number 1)but there is still a place from cd`s as alot of people have found out who like records
HAIL TO THE iPOD!!!!!!! NUMBER 1 IN SOUND QUALITY!!!! RAWK!!!
I can't speak for the UK, but the CD single has been all but dead in America for quite a while now. I still think downloading sucks though, as its escalating popularity has the potential to hurt CD sales of albums. This in turn could hurt the album itself as an art form, and fuck that.
Music....
....is the art not the format.
Thanks Einstein!
I know that music is the art. But the album is an art form, as I said. Painting is an art too. But there are different FORMS that that art can take. I'll have my wife write you a list when she gets home if you need further explanation. But anyway, there are reasons why people still go to museums and buy art (besides the fact that it may be an investment) even though many artists's paintings are viewable on-line. The same holds true for music. I want to connect with another human being on a personal level. Receiving the album in tangible form is part of this. Also, speaking of the album in musical terms (which was part of what I meant by "album" to begin with), I believe that we will start to see fewer works that are cohesive from start to finish. Artists will begin to think less in terms of a package, both in the tangible sense and the musical. "Albums" will begin to be more a collection of singles. With the death of the packaged album, the musical package, the idea of 40 minutes within a person or a certain train of thought, will suffer. To me, and to a lot of other people who really care about music, most great albums have been executed in that way.
absolutely
also, the art is degraded by the download format when you lose the sound quality, and flipping itunes decides to insert silence between tracks that are mean to run together.
Also, when you've spent all day in front of a computer, you want to play music on a hi-fi in the evening.
i disagree
yes ...music is important...but people also put a lot of thought and consideration into the art work and the order of tracks ect. having the sleeve as a jpeg on my itunes doesn't cut it for me. I like having some tangable.
the problem with having all your music on HD or ipod (apart from the less good sound quality) is that one magnet near said device or a hacker or something...and boom! all your music is gone. even those precious "paid for" mp3s.
Mp3's are handy - but for me they will never replace cds and vinyl - something I can hold in my hand and appreciate, unlike little 1s and 0s.
(and this is coming from someone who studied computer science at uni! hehe)
I forgot to mention
that Alan McGee is a pathetic dumbass. He still walks around lying about how much Loveless cost (he says 500,000 pounds, but it was really 250,000) to cover up the fact that his raging coke habit was what almost destroyed his label.
Adding a putdown
to your post really gives it the credability it deserves. Jolly well done, you're doing really well. And it is spelt arse not ass.
Yeah, well
misspelling credibility when you're from the country that invented the word really gives your post the credibility it deserves.
lolz.
unless the poster is american
or something...
I am.
See my first post in this thread.
Check your facts
ED. Who actually spells dumbass with an arse? Its origins lie in the united states and I'm sure the oxford dictionary haven't bothered to change it, if its even in there, if they even give a shit. Gotta go, I'm watching Jackarse: The Movie.
For what it's worth,
I think that guy was just kidding around about "arse."
One never kids...
...around with arse. That would be tantamount to prick teasing which is a sin worse than feltching. (F7)
Damn good point...
...but I've never had reason to say "Gotta go, I'm watching Jack*ass*: the movie". Why would I or anyone else for that matter ever say that?
It seems i'm in a minority here
but i still buy CD singles. It might be nostalgia, a short attention span or being too skint to spend so much on full albums, but i still like it as a format. Even though vinyl is much nicer to look at and play and so on.
i suppose i'm a bit of a fetishist when it comes to collecting music, and i hope there are enough people still into buying physical singles, and all types of format, to keep the production and sale of hard copies going. i have never bought a download.
Then again, i'm still upset that cassettes are dying...
Brainlove love
I think the Brainlove Records' singles club is really the best way of doing it. If I could get mp3s of every piece of vinyl I bought, I wouldn't even bother buying albums anymore (and would end up living off pot noodles).
hum..
You won't download, you'll stream. You won't store, you'll access. It wont cost £12 for the mp3's. Itunes is swapping an oligopoly for a monopoly in my opinion. It offers very little and charges you alot for the privilege. I think the Napster to go model is more likely to be where things are heading, although it still needs some work. This all depends on the telecoms getting their act together and delivering some serious bandwidth though.
what happens if / when
your point of access / streaming is down or out of business? And you can only listen to music when you're online? I don't want to have to spend all day with a computer, and do everything through a computer.
But thats just me! It is about individual choice, which is why physicals will continue alongside downloads. People will want both choices for different needs, situations.
I LIKE CDs
I really do.
they're shiny and compact and they fit on my shelves really well.
Vinyl's cool. I enjoy it. But really, it's not that useful.
All three formats will survive (including digital there, obviously).
x
I like CDs as well
In part because I don't have a functioning turntable at the moment, and want to get a decent one which will cost money that I could be spending on music.
In part because of what GarethD said about fitting on shelves etc.
In part because they're digital, but they don't disappear when your hard-drive melts down. (Of course, burning all of your downloaded singles to a back-up CD is a good idea, but it's also a pain in the arse to keep track of if you're buying 'em a lot).
hang on
"“I stopped buying CD singles a long time ago,� said one message board user"
that was me! swine.
If one day
all physical music formats are phased out and new music is stored as MP3s what would happen if a millenium bug-style virus wiped every hardrive in the world. Would all music released after a certain date then be gone forever? That would be fucking weird.
I wonder...
How long before we start getting the first viruses for MP3 players?
If/when that happens I think people will be glad they have a hard copy.
I'm perfectly happy to buy a CD single as long as it's not in the plastic case. I love the hardpaper/cardboard sleves. If more B-sides occured on singles than I'd be willing to pay for them.
The Monster Hospital single is a joke. Dead Disco is a brilliant track, but it's by no means a B-side track. It was on an album already!
You guys should start putting the really old Metric stuff out if you can get access to it.