A top recording industry executive on Friday said the music CD is dead and that recording labels must become more innovative if they hope to sell the discs in the future.
"The CD as it is right now is dead," Alain Levy, chairman and CEO of EMI Music said in his keynote address at the London Media Summit.
Levy acknowledged that the control over content that the industry once wielded by virtue of controlling the means of distribution is rapidly slipping from its grasp.
"Power is shifting everywhere from manufacturers, content providers and retailers to consumers. In this age of empowerment, the consumer is king," he said.
He noted that 60 per cent of people rip their music CDs on their computers to transfer the songs to digital music players such as Apple Computer's market-leading iPod.
Recording companies must make CDs more appealing to people by adding value that compels individuals to buy physical media, Levy said at the conference being held at the London Business School.
"We have to be much more innovative in the way we sell physical content," he urged the industry, adding that EMI is practicing what he was preaching. "By the beginning of next year, none of our content will come without any additional material."
700+ cds in my collection and counting so I'll be darned if I'm changing format AGAIN (remember vinyl anyone?)! MP3s are fine for portable use but I don't want to be playing them at home via a pc. I want a tangible product in my hand, a record, a compact disc. Not some data on my pc. I appreciate that the youth of today do things differently....but what do they know? ;-)
Hey, Louis XIV, long time. I am afraid that youth is corrupted, like the stupid little files in their POS ipods. WE however, shall live on. Just like Louis the XIV furniture!
I personally enjoy my lots of CDs and do not wish to switch to any other format. The film and music industries treat people like dummies in the sense that they are not interested in what people want, a bit like sheep & shepherd relationship.
Several years ago Hollywood decided to spend less money on films. The rationale was like "people got used to watching films so much...they will watch whatever we give to them...good or bad"
Then people started watching less and the film industry was having a hard time. Don't know if they changed their strategy.
When it comes to music industry they were like an ostrich while the digital revolution was coming. Not only that, but they also pushed people to rip off cds for two reasons in my view. - They sold overly priced CDs for tens of years ?? I've buying CD's since the time they came out but the price never came down. Simple monopoly. - Lack of availibility. Can you easily find a song legally ? No.
So scores of people got music from wherever they could find. Legally or not.
The future is further digital for sure but the quality difference between my cd player and ipod is so huge. So I need a CD anyway to hear to some proper music, ipod is no good to be plugged into a high end stereo.
I agree with all recent posts. The sound quality problem with iPod is mostly the result of compression. There is talk of Apple starting "lossless" iTunes, equal in resolution to CD. Even now you can import from CD in lossless and the sound is good. But CDs still have many advantages. Some of the extra value is the in the booklet and the artwork. Also, a CD is an instant, permanent back-up on optical disc.
I am yet to look at any of the DVDs that have been package with audio CDs that I have bought. Too bad they won't spend the extra time on the audio recording quality for the few that would appreciate it.