Posted July 17, 200618 yr Alan McGee has predicted that the single format will be "obsolete" by the end of a year, blaming downloads for "killing sales". In a bulletin posting on his MySpace website, the man who discovered an signed the likes of Oasis, Ride, My Bloody Valentine and now manages Dirty Pretty Things, claimed that the advent of digital music is signalling the end for major labels and their obession with CDs, and likened the popularity of downloads to "song culture like the 50s". He wrote: "By the end of the year the single in England will be obsolete. Downloads are killing the physical sales. Downloads is song culture like the 50s. The start of rock'n'roll song culture is/ was rock'n'roll. The majors have lost the means of distribution now. More here : http://www.nme.com/news/alan-mcgee/23610
July 17, 200618 yr Bollocks, there are still plenty of people who buy physical singles (including me) there will always be demand for a physical product AS WELL as downloads for the time being at least.
July 17, 200618 yr To bin the CD single would be complete stupidity, and alienate thousands of people, believe it or not, people DO still buy CDs :blink: (and in many cases, prefer them) in this digital world we now live in. To be honest I don't care much for downloads, all though I will get the odd song occasionaly, I do own an Ipod and use itunes I'm not completely anti download, there good to have when you on the move, but I don't use my Ipod at home, most songs I have on it I own on CD. Downloads are easy to get and are cheap, but thats about it, in the end, you've got to ask your self do they really exsist and do they really belong to you?!?! :huh:
July 17, 200618 yr i for one think it would be terrible to drop the phyisical cd,downloads are good yes,but as a huge music buyer myself i only download songs that i kinda like but wouldnt like enough to buy the single,downloading is also a great way for tracking down music that you want to hear before you buy,but any song i like alot i always buy the phyisiacl single, the phyisical cd is nice to have if you like collecting items from artists,for example i am a huge kylie minogue fan and i would always buy all the phyisical cd releases,i would download while i wait to get my hands on the phyiscal cd but that would be it, cd singles still have a big impact on the chart,how many singles have we seen make a very low debut on the charts on downloads and then the following week shoot into the top 10 or higher when the phyisiacl cd is released,is this not proof that the cd singles is still important. yes the sales of singles arent as high as they were years ago,but thats the way things are,and as we all know not everyone buys there downloads from legal sites and there still are plenty of places to get free songs and this would of coourse affect single sales
July 17, 200618 yr Downloads are cheap - 99p for a download compared to £3 for a CD. Download wins hands-down. And in some cases, the download is completely free. Yes, I'm talking about Limewire. THAT is more at fault for the decline of the CD single than anything else, because it's free. Most kids these days would rather get their favourite song for free off the net than go down to Woolworths and shell out half their allowance for their favourite song and a couple of crappy remixes (or none at all!). But still, sales like Gnarls Barkley got in their second and third weeks at number one, and the fact that the slim majority of Shayne Ward's 750,000 odd were CD sales, both prove the CD single still has a couple more years. I'd say they'll be gone by the time downloads become the supreme majority, e.g. 95/5, or 90/10. I'd say that'll happen sometime around the middle of the next decade.
July 17, 200618 yr I've moved on from physical singles now. Downloads have replaced them and I think that's a good thing. There's more choice in terms what tracks you can buy (downloads do not sell out or get deleted with the same rapidity) and tracks are cheaper. I was sick of having to pay up to £4 for one song I wanted. It's odd there was not such nostalgia when the cassette died.
July 17, 200618 yr I've moved on from physical singles now. Downloads have replaced them and I think that's a good thing. There's more choice in terms what tracks you can buy (downloads do not sell out or get deleted with the same rapidity) and tracks are cheaper. I was sick of having to pay up to £4 for one song I wanted. It's odd there was not such nostalgia when the cassette died. I can't see why CDs and dowloads can't work hand-in-hand together to make the charts as acurate as possible. And when cassettes died out, we were moving onto somthing better, no messing around rewinding and fast-fowarding, CDs were still somthing that you could SEE and HOLD. moving from CD's to just downloads is just wrong! :mellow:
July 17, 200618 yr What I find amusing is how our old pal vinyl continues to keep going. I can see independent labels ditch cd singles first. The majors are hanging onto them for dear life, but they must know the format's days are numbered. CD albums are a different thing altogether. They should be safe for some time as people still like to have a physical copy of something they've bought - something tangible with a nice booklet and pictures. Especially since to download an album at 99p a track can often end up much more expensive than buying the CD anwyay - but this is very rarely the case with cd singles. People only want the A side, except in the case of bands who actually put the same care into their b-sides that they do their hit sides...these are the same bands who are more likely to release a nice 7" anyway. I just think the single as we know it is on its way out. It's one of the main reasons there are so many stupid rules in the chart these days. Number of formats, number of tracks, Downloads only counting between two certain dates regardless of popularity and auto-deletion upon reaching a year in the chart. It's the most interesting the chart has ever been in terms of where it's going to go. There will always be a "Top 40" - I just think it'll be less abotu schedueld releases and more about what's truly being listened to out there. Not everyone follows the zeitgeist...if all tunes counted then we'd see bizarre re-entries for big movie soundtrack tunes every time the film is shown on TV, or if an old track found its way into an advert then, yep, into the top 40 it'd go. The only people losing out here are massive record companies who surely have to wake up and realise that they're not as essential as they once were.
July 17, 200618 yr Not everybody has access to the internet and is comfortable buying music online etc. Its true I only download nowadays myself but if an artist I'm a huge fan of has a single out I will go and buy it so I have the CD - its like collecting - you have something of material value. As for albums I download one or two to decide whether I should buy it.
July 17, 200618 yr And when cassettes died out, we were moving onto somthing better I think we're moving onto something better here too. Downloads are cheaper and don't require storage CD albums are a different thing altogether. They should be safe for some time as people still like to have a physical copy of something they've bought - something tangible with a nice booklet and pictures. True - but with singles you end up with a huge pile and you never listen to them. Though it's nice to have something to show for your money - many people don't want the clutter. Not everybody has access to the internet and is comfortable buying music online etc. Give it time though. It might take a decade but everyone in this country will have the internet.
July 17, 200618 yr What happens if your computer crashes (like mine did in January) - you lose everything. I am not against it, but just prefer having a hard copy of stuff (call me old-fashioned). I have 3,000-odd items and it looks bloody impressive with a room-full of CD's. There is no way you could keep all that on computer......... Edited July 17, 200618 yr by Mark Leech
July 17, 200618 yr True - but with singles you end up with a huge pile and you never listen to them. Though it's nice to have something to show for your money - many people don't want the clutter. Too true! I have my albums stored (well, most of them - I need a new rack) But my old singles are mainly in old shoe boxes or stacked up in the corner. I don't want to throw them away and they're not too likely to fare so well on e-bay. My 7" and 12" singles, on the other hand, are a lot thinner and can sit nicely in my bookshelf. Yessir...the cd single is a pain in the arse.
July 17, 200618 yr What happens if your computer crashes (like mine did in January) - you lose everything. I am not against it, but just prefer having a hard copy of stuff (call me old-fashioned). I have 3,000-odd items and it looks bloody impressive with a room-full of CD's. There is no way you could keep all that on computer......... I agree, i now have all my cds (well most of them) on shelves behind me in my room, and they do indeed look very impressive...makes the room look tidier too as they're not cluttered. I must have over 2000 of them now.
July 17, 200618 yr Alan McGee has predicted that the single format will be "obsolete" by the end of a year, blaming downloads for "killing sales". In a bulletin posting on his MySpace website, the man who discovered an signed the likes of Oasis, Ride, My Bloody Valentine and now manages Dirty Pretty Things, claimed that the advent of digital music is signalling the end for major labels and their obession with CDs, and likened the popularity of downloads to "song culture like the 50s". He wrote: "By the end of the year the single in England will be obsolete. Downloads are killing the physical sales. Downloads is song culture like the 50s. The start of rock'n'roll song culture is/ was rock'n'roll. The majors have lost the means of distribution now. More here : http://www.nme.com/news/alan-mcgee/23610 Oh yes, Alam McGee the dude that Q Magazine fooled with their fake band on MySpace :lol:
July 17, 200618 yr What happens if your computer crashes (like mine did in January) - you lose everything. I am not against it, but just prefer having a hard copy of stuff (call me old-fashioned). I have 3,000-odd items and it looks bloody impressive with a room-full of CD's. There is no way you could keep all that on computer......... When I have a CD's worth of new digital tracks I burn them to CD = problem solved.
July 17, 200618 yr He wrote: "By the end of the year the single in England will be obsolete. Oh well! No need for those of us in Scotland, Wales and N Ireland to worry then!
July 17, 200618 yr What I find amusing is how our old pal vinyl continues to keep going. If anything there seems to be an increase in what is being stocked. I was in the singles section in Virgin recently and was amazed at the selection of 7" singles were available
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