'Five years from now you'll see virtually no CD stores'

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Big articel from Sunday's Boston Globe

THE MUSIC BUSINESS: WHAT'S NEXT?

On the eve of the Grammy Awards, the recording industry is under siege: As the Internet drives a file-sharing revolution, it's the end of the (music) world as we know it

By Joan Anderman, Globe Staff, 2/23/2003

It's 2008 and you want the new Coldplay album. You walk into a record store where there are no records, enter a kiosk, and download the collection directly onto your portable digital audio device.

Or maybe you're an old-schooler with a soft spot for quaint technology. You sit down at the computer, whip out the $30 prepaid card you got for Christmas, log on to Amazon.com, and burn a few of the 50 tracks you've got coming onto a compact disc. Voila: instant artifact.

Perhaps you'll click over to your music subscription service. Depending on your plan, you download tracks No. 2, 7, and 11 for a dollar each into your Internet-wired home stereo or, as a monthly subscriber, load an iPod to your heart's content... [much more]

... ''As the Scottish artist Momus says, everyone will be famous for 15 people.''

There was a similar article in the New York Times that stated CDs will are headed for the format "dustbin" like vinyl...

― david day (winslow), Monday, 24 February 2003 15:37 (twenty-two years ago)

It's 2008 and you want the new Coldplay album.

See, the article has a problem right there.

I am taking advantage of the looming collapse by scrounging the DVD bins at the local Wherehouse that is officially going under, everything's been marked down for clearance.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 24 February 2003 15:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Despite myself I just laughed at a Ned post. Darn.

― Kim (Kim), Monday, 24 February 2003 15:42 (twenty-two years ago)

;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 24 February 2003 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

'Five years from now you'll see virtually no CD stores'

Good, more room for used record stores.

― die9o (dhadis), Monday, 24 February 2003 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Quite right. :-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 24 February 2003 15:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Alter the word order in thread title and you'll be closer to the truth than the original statement, which I've heard every week since the Reagan presidency

― dave q, Monday, 24 February 2003 16:11 (twenty-two years ago)

CD stores you'll see virtually five years from now, no!

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 24 February 2003 16:17 (twenty-two years ago)

While I am a huge fan of the digital music kiosk business in comcept, unfortunately it already failed. Former Forrester analyst Mark Hardie's ETC Music did the prototype for this and even had units in a couple Boston stores and took one on the road to trade shows. But no one bought into the idea. Which is too bad. Nothing would be better than being able to dock my MP3 player at a kiosk at the airport for a couple new records before hopping on a plane. Oh well. May the retailers' new Echo Consortium will revive the idea. They certainly need to do something.Personally I haven't bought anything not previously used at a retail store in ages...

― j breitling (BlastsofStatic), Monday, 24 February 2003 16:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Or maybe you're an old-schooler with a soft spot for quaint technology.

The notion of storage is just as quaint. There will be no MP3, no memory. Music (& movies & books) will be on demand - no storage except for the buffer required to spool cleanly. Fixed-fee pricing will be distributed equitably (prorated) among artists based on demand. Wireless broadband radio on demand.

(Perhaps) advertisements are optional.

― dave225 (Dave225), Monday, 24 February 2003 16:58 (twenty-two years ago)

okay, this brings up something off topic...
commercials at movie theatres, like for cars and shampoo, not for other movies. they keep jacking up the prices, but then they've got this extra revenue, so, like, shouldn't prices go down when they show ads at movies?

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 24 February 2003 17:00 (twenty-two years ago)

production costs are on the rise, though.

― jq higgins, Monday, 24 February 2003 17:04 (twenty-two years ago)

They are?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 24 February 2003 17:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Five years from now you'll see virtually no articles abt the demise of the record industry.

Back catalogue is the way forward for new rec shops.

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Monday, 24 February 2003 17:12 (twenty-two years ago)

the article mentions larger chains struggling financially, but there is little mention of indie shops. How are they doing? One of the reasons I still buy CDs is because I don't want my favorite indie shops to fold. Are alla tha mp3-as-communist-wonderland advocate-types excited by the prospect of barnes and noble being the only business to expand due to filesharing because they, and not smaller stores, are the only onw who can afford MP3 kiosks (assuming that this technology takes off). (some mp3 sites are offering more obscure records so any arguments like "indie shops stock stuff that i cant find online" has been or will be undermined)

Also, raise your hand if you will miss liner notes and album art! (*raises hand*)

― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Monday, 24 February 2003 18:31 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.horizongate.org/acts%20hands%20up%201.gif

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 24 February 2003 18:43 (twenty-two years ago)

You'll see HDCD stores! Record companies might have to live with less, but people have a habit of obtaining things they can hold onto. They even enjoy it.

― dleone (dleone), Monday, 24 February 2003 18:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Billboard has been rife lately with indie-music success stories. That part of the business, if you read the papers, is doing quite well thanks to people like Aaron.

― david day (winslow), Monday, 24 February 2003 20:29 (twenty-two years ago)

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