Records Outsell CD !

[Beershaun]

I read the article as record sales are steady (4% growth) cd sales are plummeting (48% drop). As others have said people are moving from cd to streaming. Those who have been buying records are continuing to buy records.

What I am really interested to know is what is driving the growth of streaming revenue. Is it everyone stuck at home due to covid and streaming more hours, or is there a growth in the number of people listening to streaming services for the first time in a free or paid tier. Are people moving to paid tiers from free? If so what is the reason they want to move to paid tiers. And most personally for me and for us as a group, are people paying for quality and moving to paid tiers that promise higher quality streaming?

Time to Google search...

 

[Jimbob54]

3D Printed LPs:

https://www.instructables.com/id/3D-Printed-Record/

What will they think of next- may as well 3d print the band to play it for you.

 

[AnalogSteph]

Does the streaming number include digital downloads then?

With classical music, which presents situations that are better dealt with in digital media, there is motivation to get these seriously cheap cd boxes before they disappear, subsequently becoming collector's items. Many times the streamable versions have sonic compromises not found on the CDs.

Good point, actually. A lot of recordings from the times when classical music labels invested heavily in equipment and recording techniques (like the '90s) would be considered old hat these days, even though standards would have been very high already. I was never too heavy on classical, but do like this and that, so maybe should look around for a bit.

I have seen some odd stuff on CD (and also LP) when thrifting, though a lot of the time it feels like a '90s or early 2000s time capsule. Haven't found that much I would consider great so far. Guess I should turn up some better sources. Not that easy if you don't really know what you're doing.

I have actually been one of these hipsters who buys an LP just for its cover, but given that my record player has been a project for the last decade and I can't actually play them (very well), this has remained the exception and I only have about... 3, I think (ever since my parents got all of theirs back).

Topical:

 

[watchnerd]

What will they think of next- may as well 3d print the band to play it for you.

Plastic Ono Band for real.

 

[watchnerd]

Good point, actually. A lot of recordings from the times when classical music labels invested heavily in equipment and recording techniques (like the '90s) would be considered old hat these days, even though standards would have been very high already. I was never too heavy on classical, but do like this and that, so maybe should look around for a bit.

Waaay before the 90s...

There are a quite a few "golden age" recordings from the mid 1950s to late 1960s that are still considered essential recordings in the classical genre, both for the performance and the quality of the recording.

Many mid century Decca, Mercury Living Presence, RCA Living Stereo, and DG recordings are very well recorded and engineered, for any era.

 

[Jimbob54]

I read the article as record sales are steady (4% growth) cd sales are plummeting (48% drop). As others have said people are moving from cd to streaming. Those who have been buying records are continuing to buy records.

What I am really interested to know is what is driving the growth of streaming revenue. Is it everyone stuck at home due to covid and streaming more hours, or is there a growth in the number of people listening to streaming services for the first time in a free or paid tier. Are people moving to paid tiers from free? If so what is the reason they want to move to paid tiers. And most personally for me and for us as a group, are people paying for quality and moving to paid tiers that promise higher quality streaming?

Time to Google search...

Good questions

My gut feel is that a Spotify (other services are available, but I would bet Spotify is the big winner) subscription in a household is becoming as ubiquitous as a Netflix sub. Maybe partly Covid, smart speakers etc

I wonder what part of the growth is the one per household subs growing into 2 or more as people realise shared libraries dont really work.

 

[zelig]

Nothing really surprising here. The majority of people have moved from CDs to streaming for all their music desires. A few stalwarts who refused to switch to CDs in the first place are still stubbornly clinging to their vinyl. (Hopefully there's no vinyl clinging to them; that would be a most disturbing sight.) Then there are the wannabe hipster millenials buying vinyl mostly to display next to their "vintage" (made in China, distressed to look old by equally distressed workers) trinkets. Many of them don't even own a turntable, so I'm told. Most people don't own a CD player either. The only thing the CD format has going for it is inconvenience, and vinyl has more of that plus nostalgia too. Of course it wins.

From what I can see there are a lot of millennials that are not necessarily wannabe hipsters that are buying vinyl because they think it gives them better sound quality than digital sources including CD. Try persuading one of these millennials that for them CD is probably a better choice and they won't believe you. Doesn't matter that many of us (non audiophiles) came up through the ranks with the pops and scratches of vinyl and greeted the advent of the CD format with a sigh of relief. Somewhere there's a marketing machine at work which is driving the sales of the same old music across different formats. The music industry likely sees vinyl as a way to beat the digital revolution and take back control of their profits. Good luck to them but count me out. Been there, done that, not going back!

 

[LTig]

Waaay before the 90s...

There are a quite a few "golden age" recordings from the mid 1950s to late 1960s that are still considered essential recordings in the classical genre, both for the performance and the quality of the recording.

Yeah, like Soltis Ring (Wagner), 1955-1964. However the remaster from 1997 on CD sounds much better (cleaner) than my vinyl reprint from 1983.

 

[watchnerd]

Yeah, like Soltis Ring (Wagner), 1955-1964. However the remaster from 1997 on CD sounds much better (cleaner) than my vinyl reprint from 1983.

Well, regardless of the medium, you're also comparing 2 different masterings.

Besides, if "cleaner" sound is the goal, vinyl always loses to digital, as a medium.

 

[Robin L]

Yeah, like Soltis Ring (Wagner), 1955-1964. However the remaster from 1997 on CD sounds much better (cleaner) than my vinyl reprint from 1983.

Did you know the whole megillah fits on a single Blu-Ray disc?

 

[Jimbob54]

Well, regardless of the medium, you're also comparing 2 different masterings.

Besides, if "cleaner" sound is the goal, vinyl always loses to digital, as a medium.

STERILE!!!! GLARE!!!!

 

[watchnerd]

Did you know the whole megillah fits on a single Blu-Ray disc?


View attachment 83231

Ewww.

Who wants to listen to the whole thing in one sitting?

That's like Bayreuth for meth addicts.

 

[watchnerd]

STERILE!!!! GLARE!!!!

Versus...

Fertile and hairy.

 

[LTig]

Did you know the whole megillah fits on a single Blu-Ray disc?


View attachment 83231

Yes, seen it, but I'm not going to buy it one more time. And they are already ripped to be played wherever I want on my smartphone.

 

[Soniclife]

From what I can see there are a lot of millennials that are not necessarily wannabe hipsters that are buying vinyl because they think it gives them better sound quality than digital sources including CD. Try persuading one of these millennials that for them CD is probably a better choice and they won't believe you.

The sales figures for vinyl don't really support the idea that lots of sales are being made to these people though. These people exist, and they do buy vinyl, but only in small quantities, because they all have Spotify as well, and do almost all their listening via it. If you have a steaming service their is no value in CDs, it's the same sound in a less convenient package, where vinyl does offer something different, in sound and packaging, if you want a physical format as a complementary version to the streaming service vinyl actually makes more sense in many ways.

 

[watchnerd]

Yes, seen it, but I'm not going to buy it one more time. And they are already ripped to be played wherever I want on my smartphone.

Searching in Roon for "wagner solti" I get 28 albums, some local, some streamed.

The full torture fest from 1958-1966 is all local FLAC.

Who needs Blu Ray?

 

[Robin L]

Versus...

Fertile and hairy.

Grungy and spitty.

 

[Robin L]

Yes, seen it, but I'm not going to buy it one more time. And they are already ripped to be played wherever I want on my smartphone.

I'm not not either, and I'm not going to play it one more time, there's just too much good music in this world for that kind of nonsense.

 

[Beershaun]

Good questions

My gut feel is that a Spotify (other services are available, but I would bet Spotify is the big winner) subscription in a household is becoming as ubiquitous as a Netflix sub. Maybe partly Covid, smart speakers etc

I wonder what part of the growth is the one per household subs growing into 2 or more as people realise shared libraries dont really work.

Gotta check. results I found below.

Spotify is biggest by subscribers and revenue followed by Apple music (It's good to have your own phone that 50% of the world has in their pocket).
https://www.statista.com/statistics/653926/music-streaming-service-subscriber-share/
https://www.counterpointresearch.com/music-subscriptions-394-million-q1-2020/

Look at Soundcloud's growth!
https://www.statista.com/statistics...-music-streaming-services-ranked-by-audience/

Paid subscribers for Spotify is accelerating in Q2'19-Q2'20 compared to previous 2 years from ~20MM/year to ~30MM/year.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/244995/number-of-paying-spotify-subscribers/

RE Youtube: Youtube used to be the largest music streaming service by hours streamed. I think once they moved to the dedicate youtube music app and service it's much smaller than Spotify. Don't know if Youtube itself is still the largest by hours streamed

Notably absent are Tidal and Qobuz, services that primarily differentiate by marketing a high quality music tier.

I infer from this:
1) Spotify is king thanks to their first mover strategy and their growth is accelerating. So they are fending off OEM hardware provider services like Apple Music and Amazon music who have a convenience advantage. So I suspect their free tier, user experience, and popularity are their main advantages over their competitors so far.
2) Apple and Amazon are benefiting from having their own hardware and making it convenient for their hardware customers to sign up for their service. So their growth is going to be with people who buy their hardware and haven't yet signed up for Spotify.
3)Covid has driven up streaming subscriptions for everyone because of the growth of WFH is enabling those people who can work from home to listen to music while they work.
3.5)Holy Cow Soundcloud! I wonder what they did to drive that growth. Have to go check them out...
4)There is nothing that tells me that streaming audio quality is moving the high level subscription or revenue growth metrics. I am personally disappointed but not surprised

 

[Jimbob54]

Gotta check. IIRC Youtube is the largest, Spotify is #2 and Apple Music is fastest growing and closing in on Spotify. Apple is killing it with pushing all their iphone users to subscribe to apple music every time you unlock the friggin thing. "It's good to be the king."

Im surprised youtube (even after absorbing now shuttered Google Play music) is largest, unless that includes video YT playback as music streaming- but hey, what do I know.