The End Of The CD Single

from the what-a-surprise dept

It seems that an article like this shows up every few months, where folks in the record industry complain about the impending “death” of the CD single – and then go on to blame it on music downloading. You get the feeling, these days, that the recording industry doesn’t need to try very hard to blame just about anything on downloading. First of all, who actually buys singles any more? They usually had one to four songs, and still cost almost as much as a full CD. It was a marketing problem, where the industry refused to price singles properly which is why very few people were buying them in the first place. Besides, my impression of the single was that it was solely intended as promotional material for the full album (despite the idiotic pricing). Looking at CD single sales as representative of just about anything isn’t of much value.


Rate this comment as insightful
Rate this comment as funny
You have rated this comment as insightful
You have rated this comment as funny
Flag this comment as abusive/trolling/spam
You have flagged this comment
The first word has already been claimed
The last word has already been claimed
Insightful Lightbulb icon Funny Laughing icon Abusive/trolling/spam Flag icon Insightful badge Lightbulb icon Funny badge Laughing icon Comments icon

Comments on “The End Of The CD Single”

Subscribe: RSS Leave a comment
9 Comments
Phil says:

Collectibility of CD single declined.

I buy CD singles when bands put unrelased tracks on them that I do not get on the full length CD. Without these unreleased, rare, or live tracks, there is no value in these CD singles. In the 90’s, British band Oasis, would release 2 or 3 unreleased tracks on every CD single and, as a result, I purchased every cd single. There is a market out there if they are done right.

James Buchan says:

C.D Singles and Music Industry control

Its all about control.If you could purchase a single with the music video, the sales of singles would skyrocket.The music industry supports any artist who can come up with one half decent track and forces the public to purchase a CD full of rubbish because they have no alternative.The band then believe they are good at what they do and get rich in the process.

Leave a Reply to James Buchan Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Comment Options:

Make this the or (get credits or sign in to see balance) what's this?

What's this?

Techdirt community members with Techdirt Credits can spotlight a comment as either the "First Word" or "Last Word" on a particular comment thread. Credits can be purchased at the Techdirt Insider Shop »

Follow Techdirt

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

A weekly news podcast from
Mike Masnick & Ben Whitelaw

Subscribe now to Ctrl-Alt-Speech »
Techdirt Deals
Techdirt Insider Discord
The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...
Loading...