The standard of living in Europe is at pare or greater than the US, which should give them more disposable income. So I can’t see that. Dominance in physical sales in vinyl may just be a reflection of population.
I thought you said it was because we’re more gullible, I’d like to say that you’re getting warmer… but you’re really not
I don't think it makes sense to assume that business will fall over themselves to take whatever consumer's money is offered to them. The recording industry has been waging war on the CD format from the beginning. They'd do anything - including pass up a few bucks now - to keep the physical goods out of consumers' hands if there was a way to do that. Remember CDs that (IMF-like) self-destructed after X number of plays? Or CD players that had to be connected to a phone line to work, so that every time someone played a CD it would be reported and tallied back at headquarters? Amazon has long tried to deep-six the CD format (as well as books, DVDs, etc.) For years, many new releases haven't been in stock on the release date - but a prominent alert is posted on the product page telling you how you could download or stream the title right now and not have to wait! Does anyone not think this is deliberate policy? I believe these kinds of things have an effect on changing buying habits. But, really, isn't it most likely that the penchant for streaming comes mostly from the period when people discovered internet piracy? That they could get a good-enough musical "hit" by downloading free mpegs? Once people have gotten used to the process, it's not hard to switch them to a sanctioned distribution system.
That's not true. They never made more money than during the CD boom. Even with the bounceback due to paid streaming, the industry is still 40% or so down from its peak in 1999. When internet piracy became a challenge they did everything they did to try to protect the CD -- carrots and sticks, DRM, enhances CDs, lawsuits against file sharers and file sharing tech. The CD and the CD era was the best think that ever happened to the record business. They'd gladly go back to selling 940 million CDs in the US alone and inflation adjusted revenue of $25.6 billion. They don't do anything close to that anymore, even after 7 years of growth. In 2022 they only did $15.9 billion. We'll see when the RIAA realses the 2023 numbers and inflation adjustments, but the industry is not getting back to 1999-like numbers any time soon.
" Or CD players that had to be connected to a phone line to work, so that every time someone played a CD it would be reported and tallied back at headquarters?" Yer pullin' ma leg!
I will say that the CD era was the best thing that ever happened to me as a music fan. But you don't remember all the schemes they were coming up with to limit the usability or lifetime of CDs? It provoked a good bit of outrage.
Believe it or not. (It's pretty Orwellian, isn't it? I can't believe any RIAA lawyer ever thought something like that would fly.)
Does anyone think that the US having more disposable income contributes to the dominance of vinyl in physical sales There is more money to be made by reissuing vinyl than CDs especially for titles that are fairly esoteric. At least I would think so.
This was a poor attempt at humour regarding other things going on in American life. I didn't realize that statement would be taken seriously.
Weren't those DIVX discs (video)? I also kinda remember self-destructing discs in the back of my mind but weren't those also some type of video format, which also rightfully failed? I think it was an attempt at a single-use rental format. Or is my memory screwing with me on this one? I don't recall this type of thing happening with CDs, with the exception of the stealth Sony rootkit fiasco. I'm not saying I don't believe the music industry resorts to shenanigans. Just that maybe this wasn't one of them.
I find it very hard to believe, unless you can provide some evidence. Not just because it is crazy, but also because I haven’t ever heard of it before. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, but you should be able to provide something? ‘Cause I’m not gonna search for something that I don’t think exists.
Honestly, no. But I was a late adopter of CD. Didn't get a CD player until the early '90s when it was getting hard to hear the new music I wanted to hear without one because it wasn't being released on vinyl. Also, you know, at my age there are a lot of things I don't remember anymore!
Sure, because the reissues are low volume. Not that many people buy them, and expecially not the people who are buying CDs in the US. Did you look at the list of the top selling CDs in the US and how many copies they sold? Something like an AAA vinyl reissue is a low volume specialty product for a niche buyer. They still put out the reissues on CD in Japan because there people buy them. Here demand is very low.
If they do the used market will benefit immensely! I'm ready for those 25 cent CDs! been coming across a lot of them...
It's been a long time, but I'm thinking there may have been efforts along similar lines in BOTH formats? Edit: I'm pretty sure this was before I was on the Internet, so it had to be before DVDs were commercially available. I may have read it in one of the CD print journals, or it may have been through my job at a record store in the '80s... one of the newsletters the company printed for our edification. But I do think you're right about a limited use DVD rental system coming up for discussion at some point as well.
Both schemes were discussed well before I was on the Internet, so pre-1996? It may have been covered in one of the CD journals of the time (CD Review or ICE?) Or it may have been in an employee newsletter (I was working at Camelot Music when CDs were introduced). Or it may be a fake memory implanted by aliens. I've told the story frequently in subsequent years, though, so I'm pretty sure how it went. Not having any idea how much of that stuff I'm likely to find archived on the Internet, and not really caring how much others believe me, I'm going to let it roll over me like another bad memory. Surely someone else out there remembers...
Fair enough, if you don’t remember specifics. Appreciate that you explained a bit. I had never ever heard of it. I did find something about CD-I. Seems it might be similar to what you mentioned. CD-i - Wikipedia .
I'd forgotten about CD Interactive (CD-I)! Wasn't that some sort of gaming system on a CD and you needed to connect the CD player to a television to view the graphics? Or was it a PC (I think minor Internet access was part of this as well)? I don't think it ever amounted to much. At first I thought CD-I was the same as CD+G, which was yet another system that needed a special player and a display for the graphics (+G). I believe I have the first CD+G title released, Eat or Be Eaten, a gaming parody by the Firesign Theatre. Never got to see what the graphics were about, though. Man, there was some weird evolutionary stuff going on in those days. Talk about it being bad now! I'm just starting to wonder if everything I know is wrong!
For the second time in two weeks I think I need to retract something I posted here in all good faith and belief in its verity. The SHF needs to be a place where good information is maintained and protected. Regarding the proposed plan of connecting players to a phone line in order to report another use of the disc and log it in a database... I seem to have a faint memory that the call was to be made to Hollywood. And that suggests that this was a DVD scheme, not a CD one (as some have suggested). Since there definitely was a plan to manufacture DVDs that would self-destruct after a certain number of plays, it looks like I've gotten this wrong on both counts. My apologies. I still suspect that the powers that be would have liked to retain more control and ownership over CDs, but no practical scheme suggested itself at first. By the time DVDs arrived, they'd had some more time to think about it and the schemes started to unfold.
Thanks for the link. I kinda, sorta remembered something about this but absolutely no details such as the red disc turning to black. So it was nice to read. I think you were on the right track. It can unfortunately be dicey when trying to remember things from before the internet if one doesn't happen to have a hard copy of their information source. It's frustrating not being able to prove to a naysayer something you know you've read about in, say, the '80s. Or not being able to fine tune the recollection. At the very least, the Sony rootkit thing definitely happened. It was a digital management system embedded onto CDs which prevented buyers from making any copies. I think the motivation for this was more to combat digital piracy than an attempt to sabotage CDs as a format. But because it caused major problems for the user other than merely stopping them from making copies, I think the result was in effect sabotage nonetheless, sowing seeds of unreliability and of distrust. Here's a Wikipedia article with more details: Sony BMG copy protection rootkit scandal - Wikipedia I think online piracy and streaming are what ultimately caused the downfall of CDs. But I don't doubt for a second that the music industry has welcomed the format's downfall, since a pay to play scheme (which is what streaming is) is certainly ideal for them. And finally, since some obsolete and unsuccessful formats have been touched upon here, a Youtuber called Technomoan has a great channel, where he hunts down these technologies and demonstrates them. And believe me, he gets even more obscure than DIVX video discs and CD+G CDs!! https://www.youtube.com/@Techmoan/featured
