i like the idea of a CD revival until i remember they will just get more expensive (which is already happening)
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Yes the weird thing is that CDs got down to under Ā£10 - in some instances theyāre back up to Ā£12/Ā£13 which I donāt think is manufacturing costs but similar to vinyl the labels fleecing the customer with this resurgence of physical media in the streaming era.
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Iām ok with CDs becoming more expensive but only if they have the care and attention paid to packaging that old deluxe and special editions once did. Look at the old special editions of Radiohead albums and so on. All too often now I buy a CD and itās in a cardboard wallet as barebones as physically possible and Iām like, ok, 10/10 for environmental awareness but the media Iām buying is still made out of plastic and I donāt think a lyric book or some artwork would be amiss.
Vinyl style gatefolds are brilliant, more CDs should come like that - Clay Pipe have the right idea - since vinyl pressing has become near impossible in any reasonable timeframe Frances is now releasing CDs as miniature facsimiles of the vinyl versions, and I am A-OK with that.
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Majors need to collab with a tech company to push some kind of quirky/beautiful/retro CD player people would love to buy, similar to how the Crossley players being stocked in shops like Urban Outfitters galvanized a lot of the vinyl resurgance amongst younger people. Having āthe full packageā of a) a really nice thing to play it on and b) really beautiful packaging (maybe the standard becoming oversized packaging) would make more people switch to CDs, I think.
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I dunno if they still do but about ten years ago Sub Pop seemed to switch almost exclusively to these - i have CDs from Male Bonding, Dum Dum Girls, bunch of others in them. I really liked them BUT they were square so every so slightly taller than a jewel case or digipack, which irritated me no end for reasons I imagine only people in this thread will understand.
Edit: ah here we go, thanks eBay
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There was a very short-lived label offshoot of Popjustice about 10 years ago, and I remember it launched with a couple of CD singles that came in 7" artwork. Canāt find pics anywhere though.
Iām fairly late to the vinyl party: Iāve had a record player for over 20 years but it sat broken and unused under my bed until Christmas last year when I restored it.
For me, itās partly the aesthetically pleasing aspect, but itās also because Iād lost discipline when it came to discovering music. I find myself almost paralysed with choice when it comes to streaming services. With vinyl, I buy maybe a couple of records a month* and digest them properly. I feel like Iāve started getting to know new albums and bands more than I have for a good decade or so.
And Iāve managed to get the record player nicely tuned, sounds lovely 
* maybe a more than a couple a monthā¦
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With streaming broken and vinyl delaysā¦ It seems like the whole model is broken.
The environmental impact of vinyl is not as clear cut as cost to make, statistically they are very unlikely to end up in landfill and a thriving second hand market and limited production means that saying itās more harmful than CD production does not tell the whole story.
Is it time for a streaming plus model? Signing up and playing a sub for a artist/label and getting their releases and then having the ability to order physical stuff when itās available? The current pre-order thing is not great, paying money 6/7 months in advance for something you often can not hear unless you have Spotify or order via Bandcamp.
The castles in space (guy from the statesman article) do an amazing sub service with digital and physical stuff, you get the digital album sometimes a few months before the delivery, which works really well (the label is awesome anyway)
The vinyl lag on new releases is definitely becoming frustrating to me just on the level of being forced to listen initially on streaming.
Bandcamp download on release date becomes an advantage in these cases as does buying from stores that automatically provide a download, Boomkat do this and has in the past been a deciding factor for me in buying from them. Not sure where else does this and what it costs them but if this could become standard rather than a download card I think that would be great.
I think my music tastes are too scattered to make signing up to subscription services worthwhile.
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I am in the castles in space, jazz in Britain and rough trade subs, for me it works and I get surprise albums but I get the point that itās not for everyone and is expensive. If streaming is broken and vinyl is broken, itās obvious a rethink is needed and more bespoke āfan clubā type model is appealing to me, whether itās label or artist.
Vinyl buyers are still niche, the casual fan does not listen via vinyl, though with Spotify itās probably the case they just do not buy at all but stream.
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Given that vinyl is hella pricy, I just donāt buy anything unless Iāve put it through the ringer on Spotify first. So actually a delayed availability window is probably resulting in me buying more vinyl??
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