A Dilemma for Recording Artists

[Jazzooo]

I have more than enough material to go into the studio and record with some talented young friends from Mexico City. I think after I weed through it, this will be the strongest group of songs I've recorded since 1997's Plays Well With Others.

But why should I bother? Read on before you judge that comment as whiney.

What do I do with the material? Press it on CDs that fewer and fewer people can even play today even if they wanted to? Seriously, my 2017 Kia came without a CD player option. Mercedes, BMW, Ford--they've all announced that they will not include CD players anymore, starting either asap or at the end of the year. Even though a lot of us still listen to them, the CD is a dead medium. The industry now revolves around downloaded files--forget the portable physical artifact with album artwork, liner notes. Forget song orders as well--people can download a handful of an album's tracks and listen randomly, regardless of the artist's intentions about the way it should be experienced. And sure, you can tell the artist to go stuff it, but...it's the freaking artist. If you don't care about his or her artistic vision, why are you buying the music in the first place?

Put it on an LP? Sorry, it costs a fortune and not that many people listen on turntables, although there is probably a higher percentage here than elsewhere. Still, a very small number, and the artist will likely not recoup his costs.

It's really a problem. And think about how everyone's legacies are going to be preserved for the future. Master CDs are a waste of money--in 15 years there won't be any players for them. Files? Where, on our home computers that no one will ever go through after we're gone?

[Ron Thorne]

I'm anxious for my son Justin (admin. jtx) to take this subject for a spin around the block from a musician's and producer's sensibilities.

[jtx]

I feel (perhaps incorrectly) that the production costs on CDs have come down enough in recent years that it would not be enormously cost prohibitive to produce CDs now. There are also online on-demand CD production options where you do not have to maintain inventory, but just order individual copies as orders come in. I believe that Amazon has this option in their storefront, too. There may be some delay with this approach, but no overhead. You could also just create an initial pressing of a small batch of CDs, and test the waters from there.

Or, just fully embrace digital and upload your FLACs to a place like Bandcamp, which is very straightforward. If you have the designer's instinct, you can also include hi-res JPGs and PDFs for all the physical packaging inserts that would normally be used for producing a physical CD. Or just include the cover art and call it a day. Many options there, and Bandcamp's take is just 10% - 15%. Note: Bandcamp also supports CD sales, and you could just print them out at home when/if the orders come in.

LPs do feel like they would be cost prohibitive unless you had an accurate measure of the demand in advance. They are selling at the highest volumes since the late 1980s, but it is still a fairly small sliver. You can also see that CDs are still the largest slice, but definitely on a downward trend.



A lot of things to consider, but at the very least, having digital downloads available would seem a good place to start, with an eye toward perhaps offering CDs, too.

Regarding the trend for digital content buyers to purchase individual tracks rather than purchasing whole albums, it is a truly unfortunate state of affairs (I have never once downloaded a single track from an album, and never plan to, but I may be in the minority on that), but it is probably not worth trying to limit purchasing behaviors nor listening behaviors these days. One side benefit of individual track sales is if you are interested in knowing which track on your album was the most liked, you may be able to deduce that from the track sales figures.

I also think the individual track purchasing trend is much more pronounced in the dance, hip-hop and pop genres, and practiced most frequently by those under the age of 30.

[Jazzooo]

Thanks, jtx--the thing is...when I had a new CD, I could connect with multiple people at a gig who wanted to hear more and they ccould buy a copy right there, stick it in their car on the way home and enjoy it.

Downloads are the opposite of immediate gratification when you meet someone in person: "here, take this card with a code and then, when you get home if you aren't too distracted, sit-down and download my new album and then copy it into your mp3 player, go out to your car and plug it in and enjoy! And if you forget to download it right away, don't worry--the little card will sit on your desk forever, waiting for you to rediscover it months later under piles of paper!"

In a sense, the technological tail is wagging the artistic dog here. It has always been that way to a degree--the limitations of the format instructed the artist, which was why you didn't have 15 minute 45s or 2 hour single lps or CDs longer than 1:16. But now, you can't even create a physical artifact to help tell your story. Remember, the major car mfrs have announced "no more CD players."

[jtx]

The good news is that car makers do tend to listen to market trends, which had led to the current trend of doing away with CD players, in favor of touch screen systems with access to Bluetooth audio and streaming services. But as a counter to this notion is this article, published exactly one year ago today, that states "75 percent [of car shoppers] think a CD player should be standard in a car." Perhaps the end of the CD player in cars is not quite as imminent as feared?

https://www.cars.com/articles/car-cd-pl ... 695800638/

Mind you, cassette decks finally met their demise only in the last few years in Lexus vehicles, so print up your CDs and make sure you cater to Lexus drivers, and problem solved!

In addition, though, get cheap USB thumb drives which can be plugged directly into many newer cars, and offer your music stored on them. Then you've got both bases covered: music on CD for compatible cars, music on USB for the other cars.

You can even add your own custom logo to the thumb drives, which can be had in bulk for as cheap as $1.89 each, and include album artwork, liner notes, bio/PR sheet, and whatever else is useful.

https://www.logotech.com/?lokwd=customi ... gLo5fD_BwE

[Jazzooo]

Thanks, Justin--I get it that the end might be next year and not this year. It isn't that encouraging, having personally shopped for a new car recently and witnessed the absence of CD players in several higher-end Fords, Kias and Subarus. I don't remember the public ever saying "Stop making vinyl, we only want CD players" either, honestly--the mfrs and music distributors change when it suits them. We follow them, not the other way around.

I tried the thumb drive system. At first, it was merely annoying to have to scroll through the menus on my car's system. But then it got ridiculous--right now, I have four or five thumb drives sitting in the area below my USB slot in the car. I have no idea which is which, or what is on them. It's just trash and clutter in my car. If I sit at home and do a bunch of prep work, I can compile a drive's worth of music to listen to but it's the opposite of mood-driven, spontaneous fun with your music collection. I used to grab a handful of CDs I felt like hearing literally on my way out to the car--no longer.

[jtx]

Yes, it is definitely the case the way things are going makes the entire process and experience quite different, and in some ways less satisfying. The good news is that you should be able get by regarding your offerings to listeners by having both CDs and audio burned to thumb drives, with the thumb drives being for those people whose cars only support them now. Not perfect, but at least it helps ensure that people can listen to your music on the way home, even if on a different medium.

And of course, there is nothing yet forcing you to go that way in your own car, unless you buy a new car and find yourself having to deal with a situation where you don't have a CD option. What I've found annoying over the last 10 years or so is the trend for cars to have dashboard designs which do not permit you to add on a nicer (or different) stereo system, period. You are stuck with whatever shipped from the car factory. Fortunately, my car is old enough that I have an in-dash CD player, with a connector to my old iPod, loaded with around 10,000 tracks of music. The key for organizing your multiple thumb drives would be to get a gigantic one and combine all of them. At least that way, you aren't having to remember what is stored on each. I upgraded my iPod to store 128GB of audio, so I am set for some time.

I simulate the enjoyment of popping a CD into the dashboard (to be honest, I enjoy the sensation of putting on a CD much more at home - I do deeply miss my Minidisc collection for use in the car, though) by selecting the album, artist or track that I want from the selection panel on the stereo, or (gasp) shuffling. Since the iPod is a permanent feature of the setup, and uses flash memory to avoid skipping hard drive issues, I only remove it to occasionally add new albums. Otherwise, it is just always there, and restarts as soon as I turn the car on, so it's become second nature. (Now the iPod is old tech, too.)

Still, I agree it is very lamentable for manufacturers to steer toward not having CDs in their cars anymore. For the time being, get a Lexus.

Or a Subaru. The 2018 Subaru Impreza Sport, at least, includes a CD player, as well as supporting replacement with aftermarket stereos, as their center console supports DIN spec stereos.