I rarely buy singles to be honest - although I have over 500 of them from over the past 15 plus years. The physical single will be well and truly over in the next 2 years as more and more record companies opt out of this rapidly dying format.

My local Woolworths stopped selling singles completely about a year ago :cry: then about two months later the Music zone across the road shut :cry: The nearest places now are HMV and Zavvi which are about 30 minutes away. Zavvi aren't to bad, but HMV seems to be regualary moving them around the store to more obscure positions - they don't even sell vinyls any more!!

 

I think the main reason for people not buying them are the price. Students aren't going to shell out £3.99 for a 2 track single. I used to buy loads but i now only buy them for the artists i really like. Otherwise i just download them (which i hate doing because i'm literally paying for nothing!) or buy the albums.

That is so right you are shelling out for nothing when you think about it!!..what have you got to show for it in years to come!!??

I think they serve a useful purpose in catapulting a song up the charts - Wow by Kylie for example.

 

Thats good for a few reasons.

 

1. It gives the single a sales boost towards the peak position (otherwise, just how long could Wow have hung around the bottom end of the top 40).

 

2. It provides promotional focus.

 

3. It brings people (albeit a few) into shops to buy the single which means teh opportunity to buy a CD album (which I would HATE to disappear).

 

What I think might happen is that singles will be issued on a limited release for one week only. That will boost the time to the peak chart performance. What happens after that with downloads is anybody's guess though - Wow is dropping like a physical single would but others stick around so there's no real pattern.

 

Take Duffy as an example, on the week of physaicl release, my local Zavvi (Reading), had a 4 shelf high rack at the front door. Multiply that by all Zavvi stores and you'll get decent sales because it's in your face and there was no ther single choice. That contributes to the success of the song, and therefore the album (where some money is made) and sell enough of those and you've got a tour (the big bucks). I think singles will soon be pushed that way for a short time, not because of the physical sales, but for the potential impact to the bigger picture.

Ahhhhh "I was born too late to a world that doesn't care".....but i don't wish I was a punkrocker with flowers in my hair :D

They had Leon Jackson- When You Believe until mid february in Sainsbury's, but there wasn't anything else :lol: :lol: :lol:

They say they aren't stocking the singles because nobody is buying them. Stop hiding the bloody things where no-one can find them then! Every trip to HMV these days involves a bloody treasure hunt to see where they have moved them to....

Won't make a difference here really.

The two shops that actually sell singles have reduced the amount they stock so much, hardly stock any of the mroe obscure releases [Jimmy Eat World for example :smoke:] and have singles lining the shelves that were released months ago [Zavvi still have 'The Way I Are' in the #2 spot].

Every time I'm in the Oxford Street HMVs or Zavvi in London, the singles department seems to be one of the busiest areas. People are still buying them.

 

Perhaps it's a strategic move to put them in the back, so people will notice and buy full length CDs. This is perhaps the same strategy for moving them throughout the store.

i still love the cd single and i hope reta;iers stick with themif retaliers losae interest now itwill be the death nail for the single,give downloads a while and it will wear of as like everything else many will get bored with it,for me the songs i genuinly like i will always buy on cd single the downbload thing doesnt aoppeal to me at all,its like you have nothing to show for your money where with the cd single you do

Zavvi still sells singles? :huh:

 

u lucky swines they stopped in dundee a few months ago

I think a small amount of retailers will always sell singles just for the fact that there will always be collectors...

I've been buying a lot of them online for at least 10 years as much of the European music I like doesn't get a UK (physical or download) release.

they are over priced and i think buyers see albums selling for £7.99 and think why bother spending £1.99 for 2 tracks or £2.99 for 3 tracks when i can get 10+ tracks for £8. i think in the future what we'll start to see is only the the bigger artists will still sell the physical cd singles along side downloads. x-factor singers like leon, shayne ward rely heavily on physicals along with charity singles like katie melua, spice girls, leona but the priority will be to get them stocked in supermarkets to get the crucial mums and nans buyers that don't go to music stores too often.

 

you could argue it seems a waste to manufacture a cd that only contains just 2 or 3 tracks, the use of plastic and paper. when downloading is a more environmently friendly way to go

Edited March 13, 200817 yr by perfecto

I can't see the physical being done away with completely just yet, let's face it there aren't many

download only singles doing well chartwise are there.

Perhaps there's an odd exception but most singles still need a physical to get a high

chart position.

Ahhhhh "I was born too late to a world that doesn't care".....but i don't wish I was a punkrocker with flowers in my hair :D

 

and talking of people who wish they were punkrockers with flowers in their hair..

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/23/Smile...It_Confuses_People_cover.jpg

 

in the big sony bmg clearout you can get this for £2 this week

the only way to revive the CD single is to make it a DVD single with a video and interview... caus' it's harder to download a video than a music file....

revolutionary idea :kink:

 

© Matt Aloud 2008 :lol:

 

Have mp3 kiosks in places like HMV and Zavvi, which have all the downloads on, where you can take your own blank CD along, to get whatever single you want burned to it, and it also prints the artwork out for you too :cheer:

 

:cheer: or :nocheer: