Will streaming kill CD sales?

[borneoman]

Do you think streaming sites like Spotify where you can listen to all albums you want for free... will end up killing CDs as there´s no need to buy if you can listen to any album whenever you want...

we were discussing this with a friend yesterday who was arguing that she has not bought any CD anymore since Spotify appeared. than using Spotify she can listen to everything whenever she wnats to, so why buying...

if everybody thinks/does the same... I can imagine this could eventually lead to the disappearance of CDs...

do you think it´s possible? or I´m talking bullshit??

personally I still buy CDs even if I´ve heard them thru Spotify already, but I buy them as a collector... so I only buy from artists that I really really like...

[Mic1812]

Streaming will in my opinion close all cd shops in the future.

Isnt You Tube the same. It will certainly make the singles chart look stupid also if they incorporate it into the way music is compiled and sold.

Also is downloading streaming legal?

Give me the real cd, something to hold onto any day, than an mp3 or video screen.

Spotify is no good to a blind man unless their hearing is ok.

[wonderwall]

Call me old fashioned I'd rather have the artwork the physical cd something to keep other than a file.

[Mart!n]

I prefer the physical format, but one day it will come where you have to download or stream your music, the music technology is forever changing.

[vya]

I don't see how it can not come close to killing of CD sales - turning them into something of a niche, or specialist product, much as in the same way vinyl sales have become that.

[TheThorne]

I buy CDs for bands I really like as you cant rely on streaming sites to always have the album you want all the time, they can and do get taken off. Do you think Adele sold more because she didn't put '21' on Spotify, possibly but you had no problems hearing the tracks anywhere in her case. The new OMD album isn't on Spotify and I might have bought it if it was good but I haven't heard it because its not there, so that is a lost sale the other way. I bought Frightened Rabbit after listening to it on Spotify but we are the exceptions.

Most ordinary people will buy CDs because even with their mobiles and smart TVs they are still scared of technology and wouldnt try Spotify unless it was forced on them, they are sheep and wait for mass saturation, look how long it took for Twitter to become ubiquitous. Bet you the day Apple launch their service thats when CDs should become afraid.

[o]

Obviously you need 3g 4g though to listen to spotify outside your own home?

[TheThorne]

no you dont, you can use offline mode, which means you download the playlists while you have home internet or wifi and it doesn't use any data at all when you are out and about. There is no reason to use iTunes ever on your phone, you can even add your iTunes tracks that aren't on Spotify to your playlists as well

[smokeyb]

I will continue to buy Cd's for the albums I want until they stop selling them,never used spotify, never will.

[raliverpool]

With no record store in my large town of Swindon I now do a payment subscription to Spotify as it seems a great way to listen to circa 85-90% of all music available I want to listen to.

I think it has been doing and will continue to do to album sales what illegal downloading via the internet P2P sites did to single sales a decade ago.

[Razzle Dazzle]

streaming don't kill CD sales, rappers do

[-Big Dan-]

I've recently discovered Spotify's capabilities and it suits me right down to the ground, but I do still buy CD's on occasion.

[borneoman]

I also wouldn´t be surprised if in the near future streaming counts toward the charts... I mean, people that have the Spotify premium and pay a fee, not the free one...

[greendemon]

my music listening habits aren't well served by the streaming model, especially for services you have to subscribe to like spotify.

frankly i don't buy a lot of music, although i listen to the radio or watch videos on youtube pretty much every day. i don't use spotify because i can't stand the ads, and i don't like it enough to be willing to shell out x amount per month to subscribe to the ad-free version.

i will only download songs if i think they are amazing and the album isn't coming out for a while. i only download albums if they're dirt-cheap, as i prefer the physical object, and since physical albums are more expensive, i only buy an album if i'm 80% convinced i'm going to like it.

the streaming model is part of a disturbing trend in the distribution of digital media where as buyers we no longer 'own' media but are merely renting it from the companies who distribute it - see also PC games with compulsory always-online platforms like steam, the chokehold that broadcasting companies have on the distribution of TV shows, and so on. it's not something i'm happy about, but i can't see the trend reversing any time soon.

[Razzle Dazzle]

the business model for the new playstation and xbox games consoles (coming in the next year or so) not only need an online connection but all games are one purchase only and will only play in that console so that will destroy rentals....2nd hand games sales and borrowing a game to your mates/taking a game round to have a lads night in. all part of the same trend and i think the new sim city game for pc is online only and ea have a habbit of closing their servers after 2 or 3 year which leaves your game about as much use as a brick. i dont think consoles will go down that route because the objection has been that strong but they plan on doing it if they can get away with it

[TheThorne]

Sony have said that Ps4 won't be always online and it won't be restricting 2nd hand games but by design it won't be backwards compatible. Next Xbox won't be either these were all rumours Microsift haven't said anything about this wait till May for official news.

But yeh agree on your 2nd point always online on Pc is already here and can't be trusted in the hands of companies like EA

[Doctor Blind]

The thing with streaming is that you can quite easily record anything you stream onto your computer for free (like recording off the radio), without the need to subscribe to these services.

That said- I expect it to become the dominant form of music consumption through the mid-late part of the 2010s, and downloading will gradually stabilise over the next few years before gradually falling away. CD sales have already been trending downward for the best part of a decade and will continue to slowly ebb-away. Whether streaming will speed it up or not, or whether it would be happening anyway is a difficult question to answer, but without a doubt CD's will be a very small market by the year 2020.

[Razzle Dazzle]

Apr 18, 2013 12:46:59 GMT 1 TheThorne said:

Sony have said that Ps4 won't be always online and it won't be restricting 2nd hand games but by design it won't be backwards compatible. Next Xbox won't be either these were all rumours Microsift haven't said anything about this wait till May for official news.

But yeh agree on your 2nd point always online on Pc is already here and can't be trusted in the hands of companies like EA

well thats good news but as microsoft make xbox and most pc games run on microsoft windows and they think that this is the way to go with pc gaming then they would make the new xbox restricted but if sony dont have any restrictions they would loose millions of customers. so i wouldnt be surprised if the rumors were true but they have been scared into a rethink. sadly like jade says music and pc games are already heading in that direction. i spent £40 for fifa 10. paid for the ultimate team update £5 i think. built my pro up joined a club and after not liking the last few fifa games went back to play it but they have turned the servers off so i cant play anything other than friendlies against a flawed ai. nice one EA. i think fifa 11 servers were taken down aswel. i mean they are not old games so you basically lease it for 2 year

[Razzle Dazzle]

to be honest i dont even own a cd player. when i buy a cd i rip it onto my pc and transfer the best songs onto my mp3 player and phone. so if the mp3 is cheaper or if the whole album isnt worth buying i just get the odd mp3. theres not a great variety of world class amazimg music. take 2003-2006. i probably bought 30/40 albums i love from start to finish. in the last 3 years i struggle to think of more than a handful

[borneoman]

what is true is that at least Spotify is lowering illegal downloading, most of my friends downloaded illegally every album released, now they don´t even bother, they wait until it´s up on spotify...