tate music group...digital killed the CD star

I read an interesting post by Derek Sivers, the guy who started CD Baby and then sold it for a lot of dough. He brings up some interesting thoughts and questions about the future of CD sales, especially in-store sales. He makes the comment that he believes CDs to be on the downhill slide and, he believes, they will be all but obsolete in a few years. I must say that I agree with him, for the most part, but I don't believe it will happen as soon as he thinks it will.

Technology is a wonderful thing, unless you are the thing that technology just helped to replace. I do think that, much like the cassettes of my youth, CDs will be fully replaced by the digital files that are making a long-term home in the jean pockets of the next generation.

I don't see this as a bad thing, though, and neither does Tate Music Group. Sure, if you grew up going to the store to buy a CD you will most likely always want to go to the store to buy a CD. I get that. What I don't get is the worry and focus that is put on the 'in-store' sales. In my opinion, the focus should be on the 'sale.' Period.

A huge part of what Tate Music Group provides our artists is the nationwide distribution which includes in-store as well as online. We will continue to provide this distribution for as long as stores are carrying CDs. What I, we, want the artists we work with to realize is that it doesn't matter how or where the CD is bought/sold. It really only matters that it was, in fact, sold.

A sold album, whether physical or digital, is an album that is being listened to, talked about, and promoted by the fans who are listening. When this happens, the music and the message and meaning it carries is shared with the people who, as an artist, you want to share it with. It grows and spreads and, let's be honest, it is probably shared, too. But that is okay because every sale helps the cause and because Tate Music Group is working with our artists to benefit from this popularity through radio and live gigs. It all fits together.

I don't think CDs are waving goodbye just yet. I do think that digital music is moving in permanently but I think, at least for now, there is room for both. And as long as there is room and demand for both, Tate Music Group will offer them...and anything new that technology introduces to us.

I just hope the next idea involves holograms...