THIS TIME DIGBY NAILS IT: $1 CDs A BAD IDEA, STREAMING “CLOUD” SERVICES A GREAT IDEA
As much crap as I’ve given Earache head honcho Digby Pearson in the past for topics such as signing generic re-thrash bands and poo-pooing the effect of Facebook and the Internet on local metal scenes, I really do appreciate that he’s letting it all hang out on his Ask Earache blog in an honest fashion even if I don’t always agree with the guy. I seriously doubt the founder of one of the most well-known metal labels in the world gives a shit what some Jewish blogger in Brooklyn thinks, but for what it’s worth I actually agree with Dig’s latest rant.
A reader question posed to Pearson asks Earache’s founder what he thinks of the idea of heavily discounting CDs to £l each [remember Earache is based in the U.K.] to boost lagging sales, and positions that idea against investing in trying to get customers to embace streaming services like Spotify. Since Spotify isn’t available in the States yet, a quick synopsis: any music you could ever want streaming from your computer or mobile device without any file ownership for a low monthly fee. I’ve tested a preview of it and it is AMAZING; it works flawlessly. Where does Pearson stand in the streaming service vs. ownership debate?
Pearson is surprisingly unattached to physical music formats — a rare thing for ANY label executive to admit — and goes on record as saying CDs and even vinyls are outdated:
People who use Spotify, like yourself, have made the culturally significant transition from the old download & ownership model to listening to music streaming from the “Cloud”. This is an important distinction. Many of my friends still insist on owning something, be it the Vinyl LP, CD or even Mp3 files on a hard drive. If its not firmly in their possession, showed off in their collection, then they don’t really feel like a proper music fan. Personally, my Cd & LP collection just collects dust now.
“Collects dust”!! What about all 679 of your At the Gates and Cathedral reissues? (I kid, I kid!) I think it’s commendable that a label head actually admits to physical product being outdated instead of trying to extend their relevant lifespans for as long as possible. Furthermore, he embraces the cloud/streaming model over ownership — even download ownership via iTunes, Amazon, etc — which is a big and important to distinction to make. Digby goes on to praise the merits of Spotify, which he uses himself and loves. But it’s important to note that in many ways his hands are tied; the RIAA and major record label heads in the U.S. [and rest of the world] haven’t signed on for Spotify yet and unless they do the idea of a streaming music service in the “cloud” is useless. Any such service has got to have everything in order to be viable, and those cats don’t give a shit what the owner of some relatively small potatoes metal label (in their eyes) thinks.
As for the £1 Cds- I understand what Rob Dickens is saying, and in theory he is right, if you lower the price of something enough then sales should soar as fans lose the inhibition to buy. But the costs involved with the manufacture, wherehousing, transportation and retail distribution of physical formats are so high, and with CD being a petroleum product, plus factoring in the fuel for transport, it seems to me that selling at £1 is simply is too low to make financial sense. Earache experimented this year with several new releases like BONDED BY BLOOD selling for around £4.99 at retail price in the shops, and while they have been good sellers, it wasn’t a runaway success either. The Fopp chain always has a selection of CDs at £3 and £5 but its mostly deep, old back catalogue which have already recouped their costs years beforehand, very rarely the new releases from superstar acts.
Thinking about it, I reckon CDs will become more of bespoke format, kind of like Vinyl LPs are now, with lavish packaging and designed with the collector in mind, fetching high prices, not low price. If you want a physical format to show off in your collection, you’ll have to pay a lot more for it.
A sound opinion indeed; more and more people are letting go of CDs as their preferred musical format, but I do believe some folks will hang on as collectors.
At least now we know where Earache stands with regards to the future of recorded music sales, and it’s definitely on the right side of the fence. I’ve heard some metal label owners both go on record in public and say to me in private that they refuse to let go of the CD and that they “don’t believe” in streaming services. Those labels are destined to fail.
-VN
