Is the music industry killing physical copies?

SteveG wrote: The very idea of music devoid of a physical medium was absolutely laughable to anyone in the music industry, from record manufacturers to retailers. There had always been LPs, tapes and CDs. Who could possibly be happy with just owning a  music file?   They found out the hard way.

I mean, there was a time before recordings existed and people were content with listening to music performed live, or performing it themselves.

Go back 100 years, and people would have been complaining about the death of live performances due to the availability of recordings. Of course, live performances and recordings are very different experiences, so that has helped the two work together instead of simply competing. I don't think the differences between a physical copy and a digital copy are as big (in terms of a CD vs a lossless music file, you're getting literally the same music file), but I think if vinyl can survive the CD era, I think vinyl and CDs can survive the digital era, even if that does mean they'll be more for collectors than the average listener.

ForestFriend wrote: SteveG wrote: The very idea of music devoid of a physical medium was absolutely laughable to anyone in the music industry, from record manufacturers to retailers. There had always been LPs, tapes and CDs. Who could possibly be happy with just owning a  music file?   They found out the hard way. I mean, there was a time before recordings existed and people were content with listening to music performed live, or performing it themselves.

Atavachron wrote: ForestFriend wrote: SteveG wrote: The very idea of music devoid of a physical medium was absolutely laughable to anyone in the music industry, from record manufacturers to retailers. There had always been LPs, tapes and CDs. Who could possibly be happy with just owning a  music file?   They found out the hard way. I mean, there was a time before recordings existed and people were content with listening to music performed live, or performing it themselves. Neat point.   Physically stored music is like a talisman: old and defunct but eternally substantive.   It exists outside the cybernetic realm even though it may require it.   It is the external, the existential and durable, the material that we can hold on to forever instead of relying on signals, numbers and light for storage.

Let me put this into a better context. Imagine if someone said that social media would become defunct because people used to communicate by written letters in the post. It's not the same analogy, but that's how the record industry and retailers viewed physical copies  of music prior to the age of Napster.

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: It's a good question. If downloading is killing physical copies then it's a slow death. Vinyl has actually increased in sales quite a bit over the past ten years or so. I admit cds are on the decline but I think it will be a while before they are phased out entirely(if that does even happen). I think there's always going to be some kind of demand for a physical copy of something. I think it's the collector mentality in many of us. For example books are still around also. Sure you now have kindle but people still like to read physical books. With music people like to see the artwork and hold it in their hands. Cds do have some advantages over vinyl and vice versa but both have advantages(and I suppose disadvantages too)over downloads. If physical copies were eradicated completely I think too many people would rebel and demand for their return.

I have to have physical copies although I do see more postings of "vinyls" on Facebook.  BTW I hate that term. When I was growing up they were LPs, singles (really they always had two sides, doesn't that make them a double?) I haven't had a functioning turntable in a few years now.  I wish I did because there are some albums I still need to copy to CD.  Larry Coryell in particular. I also have my newest 100 on my "phone" and am making a chronological pass through my collection.  Currently on 1978.  Back in what I consider the LP era, I'd always copy to cassette to preserve the record and for portability.

Edited by Slartibartfast - October 07 2017 at 15:42