Are compact disc becoming the new cassette tapes? What will happn to music artist?

More and more people are using ipods,iphones and the advanced technology and getting rid of cds. How long could cds last? Could the companys who make cd players be going out of business soon? People are also downloading free illegal music causing music artist to lose money and the people are putting the songs on the jail broken ipod or other similar advanced technological devices. I believe in the future music singers will not be rich, in fact it will just be another job like working for minimum wage. What do you think will happen?

Nothing. It has been happening for the last 10 years, artists still make money from selling merchandise and touring, many artists do not mind selling their music dirt cheap. Remember Radioheads album where they let the customer choose the price they pay? Still made a lot of money.

This question has already been addressed in this www.abovetopsecret.com... thread.

Vynil records are still being sold and in high demand :p


CD"S won't die they will continue to live on .


No artists won't starve from ipods use and what not , because many people purchase from itunes.


Only problem is they get 5 mercedes and 4 homes .

Instead of the usualy 12 mercedes and 10 homes in 10 differnt countries :p

reply to post by demonologist842012


What what? People still use CD's?!

I think you're wrong about artists and the industry however. Sure, people are downloading illegally. But there are also a ton more people who are purchasing digital copies of their favorite music legitimately.

There's always been pirates. The digital age isn't going to change that. It was just as easy to borrow a copy of my favorite music in CD or cassette format and make a copy 15 years ago as it is for me to download something illegally. Hell, for some computer illiterate people out there, they still look to make hard copies.

It's never been a better time to be the small artist and get your work out there and listened to; one example is the mighty soundcloud soundcloud.com... + there's last FM and many others if you poke around a bit.

Speaking as a professional musician, I believe the digital age has ruined the music industry. Thousands of people have lost their jobs due to legitimate downloads and online piracy.

Next to go will be the bookstores.

What jobs are going to be left?

Artists make very little in physical album sales. If they go through a label, they have to repay the label the cost of marketing, production, et cetera. The majority of money is made by touring. Furthermore, illegal downloading has far less of an effect than they want you to believe. There are a million articles on the interwebs that outline and explain away all of your concerns. Google is your friend in these regards.

Nothing stays the same, and technology moves forward. I don't see many people playing 8 track tapes, or VHS tapes and I'm going to guess that no one on here takes their shoes to a cobbler. Musicians and Movie Makers should be ecstatic about the new digital age. Artists no longer need to beg, grovel and prostitute themselves in order to make and sell their artwork. Production and worldwide distribution are at your fingertips.

reply to post by demonologist842012


The music and data/images/videos of the artists will shift to USB thumbdrives that plug into USB ports, vian the micro USB port, on every appliance that you could think of. CDs are toast! Better buy your Blue Ray before they start smoking.

Eventually, you won's see any of those "tools" for bring music into your lives. Nor will they have even the micro-USB ports. It will all come from the "cloud" form one way or another. Just like the radio.

Originally posted by HallamFoe
Speaking as a professional musician, I believe the digital age has ruined the music industry. Thousands of people have lost their jobs due to legitimate downloads and online piracy.

Next to go will be the bookstores.

What jobs are going to be left?

I'm only an amateur and have been for over a decade (but wanna take it into the pro leagues as it were) and I agree completely.

I was fully supportive of Metallica and others in the Napster argument back in the day. I prefer buying CDs even if I now immediately copy the disc onto itunes and listen as I browse the net or write because I prefer being able to look through a booklet or watch a bonus DVD that comes with the album.

Digital sales just seem too distant and clinical and heartless, not like the love I got as a kid in the mid-late 80s opening my mother's vinyl records and looking at the sleeves or recreating the Sham 69 "Hersham Boys" cover for fun with pencil and paper after staring at the record for hours to get my sketch looking perfect.

Originally posted by memoir
Artists make very little in physical album sales. If they go through a label, they have to repay the label the cost of marketing, production, et cetera. The majority of money is made by touring. Furthermore, illegal downloading has far less of an effect than they want you to believe. There are a million articles on the interwebs that outline and explain away all of your concerns. Google is your friend in these regards.

Agreed. Besides that, it is also the principal of the thing. Musicians are supposed to be ARTISTS, not just "talent" who get paid royalties for the use of their voice by corporations (record labels, in this instance). Performance is everything. CDs should be promotional to get people to concerts.

I am in a differant industry, but I get paid by what I do, not residual for a one time performance. I get paid well because I am very good at what I do (through a lot of hard work and practice and some natural talent). The best way to support musicians is to go see their performances at live venues.

reply to post by curious7


Hey curious7,
I have been professional for about two years now. I was very fortunate and had a lot of luck on my side! But as long as you're doing it for the love then nothing else matters (see what I did there?)

I remember the whole Napster thing as well as well. At that point I knew the music industry would never be the same again. Not only would music artists be losing out, but thousands of people would lose there jobs: The CD manufacturers, the people who make the cases, the printers that make the booklets, the people who package them, the distributors, the local record shops and the massive high street retailers e.g Virgin.

Also, speaking from my own personal experience, the internet has made it more difficult for musicians to get noticed. With the likes of YouTube, quality is unfiltered and many great artists get unnoticed. In terms of promotion it's so easy to just create a Facebook event or a Myspace page to promote gigs...but there's no real creativity involved...meaning even more rubbish. I found that word of mouth was the best promotion for my band, it created a "mystery" about us, people were confused as to why we never promoted ourselves online...it was new to them...as if it wasn't normal, as if they thought everything had always been done over the internet digitally.

Anyway I'm digressing from the original Topic.

I would absolutely love it if digital music was made illegal and everything went back to CDs or vinyl. There would be a massive boom in the industry and I would guarantee that record sales would be the highest they've ever been.