BLOG VIEW | HEADLINE VIEW

ALL

GEEK

RIP CD

FRIDAY OCTOBER 27 2006 11:00 PM

Submitted by Colin_ORegan. Edited By Rahodeb.

TAGS: EMI, Alain Levy, CD, Compact Disc, Google, WMG, BMG, Sony

Today EMI Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alain Levy made a startling announcement at the the London Business School. According to MarketWatch, Alan Levy delivered an eulogy for the Compact Disc as we know it:

The CD as it is right now is dead," Levy said.

Though CD sales accounted for more than 70% of total music sales in the first half of 2006, digital music sales grabbed 11% of the market share and is quickly climbing. In addition to that, about 60% of discs sold are loaded into consumers' computer in order to be loaded onto portable music devices.

Instead of doing away with the CD entirely EMI will focus on adding incentive for consumers purchasing physical copies of music. Why? 'Cause of your mom.

"You're not going to offer your mother-in-law iTunes downloads for Christmas," he said. "But we have to be much more innovative in the way we sell physical content."

As of the beginning of the new year, all CD sales will come with additional content including extra tracks, additional multimedia, or companion artwork.

EMI is also in talks with Google in an effort to work out a deal to share advertising-revenue in exchange for video material for their YouTube site. So far EMI isn't happy with what Google is prepared to offer.

"The terms they were offering weren't acceptable," Levy said, adding that EMI continues to be concerned about copyright issues.

Warner, Sony, and Universal are all in negotiations with Google right now for similar deals.

The original visualizer.

34 Comments

PAGE:

1 | 2 | 3

wenis

Brentwood, CA

July 2006

OCT 27, 2006 11:13 PM

ehhh cds arent dead...thier is still something reallly cool and special about owning that physical copy of music and looking at all the artwork and reading the words and thank yous from the bands..its the same reasons why people still love and cherish vinyls. digital downloads can never change that.

Josearcadio

Toa Baja, PR

July 2004

OCT 27, 2006 11:20 PM

Cd's are not dead, they are not worth 20 dollars thought. Also, today we got the Kevin Federline cd's at the store I work in. They are priced at a 19.99 suggested retail price!!! And even thought they will be sale priced at 15 dollars, it still means that record labels think crappy music, like Mr. Federline's album is worth that much money. I really do not care if major labels go bankrupt, as long as Matador, Merge, Sub Pop and others are doing well

_DictionaryGirl_

NEWSWIRE

San Diego, CA

OCT 27, 2006 11:32 PM

CDs aren't dead. Vinyl's not dead. Only cassette tapes are really dead.

McFlynnTHM

Somerville, MA

January 2006

OCT 27, 2006 11:45 PM

_DictionaryGirl_ said:
CDs aren't dead. Vinyl's not dead. Only cassette tapes are really dead.

8-Tracks are forever.

Josearcadio

Toa Baja, PR

July 2004

OCT 27, 2006 11:46 PM

yeah, tape is dead!!!! But I cannot live without buying cd's of bands I love and cd-r's to make copies of those to give to friends, and to make copies of overpriced albums I do not want to buy but still I want to listen to

_DictionaryGirl_

NEWSWIRE

San Diego, CA

OCT 27, 2006 11:52 PM

McFlynnTHM said:

_DictionaryGirl_ said:
CDs aren't dead. Vinyl's not dead. Only cassette tapes are really dead.

8-Tracks are forever.

8-Tracks are just giant cassettes tapes, really.

jaggy

Austin, TX

October 2003

OCT 28, 2006 12:08 AM

there's something to say about thumbing through vinyl and CD stacks. taking it home and putting it on the CD rack. something concrete with liner notes and pictures.
however. bleep.com rocks bebe..blah blah jib jab hibbedehibbedehooo

Jmac5000

Los Angeles, CA

June 2004

OCT 28, 2006 12:41 AM

Hey, on the flip side, it's quite beneficial for the environment if CDs fade out of the marketplace. Think of all that petroleum and paper to make them, and all that waste when they inevitably end up in our landfills...

I know it's not as sexy, but it makes more sense ecologically.

Postblank

New Brunswick, NJ

June 2004

OCT 28, 2006 12:47 AM

"Here's some more unreleased tracks that weren't good enough to make the actual album, oh please god keep buying cds. My children are so hungry!"

ilovemaynard

Export, PA

October 2006

OCT 28, 2006 02:37 AM

I suppose that if you really like the band you'll buy the cd's. I mean i'll download a few songs and if the band is kickass i'll shell out the 20 bucks for the cd.

SirPsychoSexy

Ridgewood, NJ

January 2004

OCT 28, 2006 02:43 AM

_DictionaryGirl_ said:

McFlynnTHM said:

_DictionaryGirl_ said:
CDs aren't dead. Vinyl's not dead. Only cassette tapes are really dead.

8-Tracks are forever.

8-Tracks are just giant cassettes tapes, really.

8-Blasphemy.

Max16Characters

Korea, Republic Of

March 2003

OCT 28, 2006 03:47 AM

Why don't they just lower the fucking prices?

1justin

Toronto, ON

September 2006

OCT 28, 2006 04:44 AM

Only once have I ever bought a song in a digital format, and that was because the band doesn't sell physical CDs yet and they were selling mp3s rather than DRMed mp4s. I don't steal music nearly as much as I've done in the past, but having done it, I just can't justify paying money for a download unless there's no other way. I buy a CD to have the CD. Downloads don't feel like they have any permanence.

That and the fact that even Fairplay is broken now just proves that DRM is simply not fit for purpose, and I don't see how it ever will be. It's fucking hard to steal a CD from a store. That one little sensormatic tag is so much more effective than any existing DRM tells the whole story.