CDs, Vinyl, or Cassettes

[mhardy6647]

I still like CDs and still buy 'em (and, occasionally, SACDs, too, truth be told).
I buy the very occasional LP rekkid -- I have a couple thousand (a - painful - estimate), so I'm not really actively in the market for more...
Here's a bit of it...


Cassettes? Ya gotta be kiddin' me...
I mean, there are a few prerecorded (commercial) cassettes here, mostly dump finds -- these, e.g., are some members of the Hall of Shame

 

[Zensō]

Cassettes? Ya gotta be kiddin' me...
I mean, there are a few prerecorded (commercial) cassettes here, mostly dump finds -- these, e.g., are some members of the Hall of Shame

Yeah, cassettes seem a little silly at this point. Here’s a small label that releases a majority of their albums on cassette. They seem to do fairly well, selling out multiple editions for many of their releases. I don’t get it, other than to think that it’s perhaps fashionable among the lo-fi/hipster crowd. It certainly can’t be about high fidelity.

Seil Records

seil records is a community of electronic musicians, who took on the seemingly impossible task of making the world a more optimistic place. therefore 10% of our label earnings go to charity.

seilrecords.bandcamp.com

 

[mhardy6647]

I do, in full disclosure, own one fine-sounding commercial cassette. It's a recoding by a harpsichoridist we knew BITD (and whose husband builds, or built harpsichords, as well). My postdoc advisor had one of his harpsichords, but I digress. At any rate, the recording is a Frescobaldi piece (not that I recall which one, offhand), on what I suspect is a real-time duplicated "chrome" (high bias) tape formulation, and it sounds great.

 

[Andretti60]

I loved audio cassette, it is what we used to create playlists and to play our music in cars. Then… I started running low on pencils …

 

[Chrispy]

CDs and other optical discs (multich sacd, dvd, bluray) are what I buy other than downloads from artists. Vinyl been 25 years or so since I added to my collection. Gave up on cassettes 30 years ago?

 

[spigot]

I buy cds, but would download 100% if I could find a site that offers what I want at about 10 euro per album for lossless quality. And let me keep those downloads any way I want, to be able to play them in any player (not locked in apple music or some other software).

Have a look at qobuz. You can download in any file format and play on whatever.

 

[Chrispy]

Have a look at qobuz. You can download in any file format and play on whatever.

But can you own those downloads? I prefer to own.

 

[HarmonicTHD]

But can you own those downloads? I prefer to own.

Yes if you pay for it then you can store it and play it even if you would cancel the subscription.

 

[HarmonicTHD]

95% streaming (Qobuz) nowadays (the CDs collecting dust these days and I currently don’t even have the CD player hooked up anymore as all the CDs are on my NAS.

 

[LTig]

Yes if you pay for it then you can store it and play it even if you would cancel the subscription.

Mostly you don't own the recording but bought a life long license which allows you to play them. You cannot sell or inherit the license and anyone except you getting the files into his hands is not allowed to play them. That's the killer criterium for me not to invest heavily in diwnloads.

 

[Mr. Widget]

Yes if you pay for it then you can store it and play it even if you would cancel the subscription.

I didn't realize that. Thanks for the info. I have been streaming Qobuz for some time now and it is great. The only reason I could see for purchasing an album would be to better support the artists.

Does anyone know how that breaks down? Does the artist get the same royalty from a downloaded purchase as they would from a CD purchase?

 

[HarmonicTHD]

Mostly you don't own the recording but bought a life long license which allows you to play them. You cannot sell or inherit the license and anyone except you getting the files into his hands is not allowed to play them. That's the killer criterium for me not to invest heavily in diwnloads.

Good point. Thx.

 

[Prana Ferox]

I didn't realize that. Thanks for the info. I have been streaming Qobuz for some time now and it is great. The only reason I could see for purchasing an album would be to better support the artists.

Does anyone know how that breaks down? Does the artist get the same royalty from a downloaded purchase as they would from a CD purchase?

It is complicated and hard to generalize.

CD royalties are part of a contract signed usually before the music is recorded. For an artist / group's first three or four albums it is/was quite common that they'd get paid an advance and then get nothing at all from album sales. By the time an artist has three or four successful albums under their belt they generally have enough clout to negotiate a better deal, but there's a long tail of groups that never got there.

Streaming royalties you can Google but again there's a structure where the top streamers, biggest names, can negotiate special contracts and those outside a fairly limited top list get a pittance.

The traditional revenue stream for musicians was performance related - cuts of tickets and door, merch sold at the show etc and the bottom has fallen out of that market.

I buy CDs primarily, albums if I can't find it on CD, and downloads on Bandcamp for a lot of newer stuff that was never pressed. Bandcamp right now has the most revenue per sale to the artist of any (streamer), but it's unclear how long that will last. (I can't comprehend who is buying cassettes except as some hipster joke.)

 

[Jim Shaw]

For those who still buy physical media, do you predominantly purchase CDs, vinyl records, or cassette tapes?

I shouldn't have voted. I haven't spent money on anything but streaming services and equipment since they invented lossless. I sorta called that 'other.'
However, I do have hundreds of LPs and CDs from a bygone era -- and I maintain players for them and r2r tape, just in case I can't find a track on streaming.

 

[Chrispy]

Yes if you pay for it then you can store it and play it even if you would cancel the subscription.

I was more referring the the "downloads" provided by most of the streaming services aside from outright purchases like Qobuz offers, in that they are generally only valid while you rent the service with your monthly fees.

 

[Mean & Green]

I still buy CDs new and used. The used CD market is absolutely tremendous right now as it’s not fashionable anymore, real bargains can be had. Albums for around £2 and perfect playback what’s not to like? Play them and/or rip them.

I don’t buy vinyl often, when I do it’s mostly used for early masters/pressings. I only tend to buy new vinyl if it‘s not available on CD and I want a physical copy. I have to say I find a lot of the new vinyl I’ve bought to be very poor quality. I also find the current prices ridiculous for most of it.

I do sometimes buy Blu-Rays and DVDs if there is something I’m particularly fond of watching. New or used, just like CDs used DVDs are very cheap.

I keep a digital library and still download the occasional track. Still rip CDs and sometimes rip vinyl.

I don’t stream music unless it’s a music video on YouTube. I do stream films and series,but anything I particularly like I will buy the disc to keep.

I stopped using cassettes when CD-R came along, now instead of CD-R I make my own playlists from my digital library and stream locally on my home network.

 

[oceansize]

I still buy CDs new and used. The used CD market is absolutely tremendous right now as it’s not fashionable anymore, real bargains can be had. Albums for around £2 and perfect playback what’s not to like? Play them and/or rip them.

Approx 5 years ago, used CDs were often available on Amazon for literally a penny (plus postage). Crazy! Maybe there's a bit more scarcity now, prices do seem to be creeping up a bit - but used CDs are still often a major bargain!

 

[LTig]

Does anyone know how that breaks down? Does the artist get the same royalty from a downloaded purchase as they would from a CD purchase?

Don't know about this except that bandcamp royalties are low and the major part of the amount goes to the artist. Streaming is probably the worst case for lesser known artists.

 

[Chrispy]

I didn't realize that. Thanks for the info. I have been streaming Qobuz for some time now and it is great. The only reason I could see for purchasing an album would be to better support the artists.

Does anyone know how that breaks down? Does the artist get the same royalty from a downloaded purchase as they would from a CD purchase?

Hard to know the deal behind the scenes are particularly, I've just seen mostly the revenue to the content licensee and not even how much the artist particularly gets from that. I'd suspect if I find the download from the artist's site that's a better way of making sure they're maxing out the financial aspect rather than go thru other parties. I'd say finding more direct purchasing than the monthly rental would be more beneficial to the artist, altho sometimes its only by attending live performances these days.

 

[Steven Holt]

Mostly vinyl, and mostly used. A few CD's on occasion, mostly when I can't find the vinyl.