A condensed history
It’s easy to forget that recorded sound has only been with us for about 150 years. Before Edison came along with his flashy new phonograph in 1877 the only way to hear music was to listen to someone playing or singing it live, So in the context of the history of recorded music it’s still early days. The longest lasting mass distribution record format so far is the vinyl record which came along in1948, replacing the similar but far more breakable shellac discs invented by Emile Berliner as far back as 1895.
When the digital age dawned, and ABBA released the first commercially available compact disk (CD) in 1982 the new digital format took off like a rocket and vinyl sales declined throughout the 80s as everyone opted for the clear clean sound of the CD and by the early 90s the vinyl record was almost completely extinct.
But the CD started to decline in popularity in 2000 when a pair of teenagers founded Napster. This was a peer-to-peer file sharing application which upset the industry by sharing Mp3 files for free. Why buy a CD when you can stream for free? – that’s a discussion for another time. But the key point is that the advent of streaming forced wholesale change within the music Industry, not least of which was the decline and near demise of the CD.
Vinyl has been enjoying a slow and steady resurgence among music lovers, with good reason. A lot of Millennials and Gen Z music fans are discovering the very different experience of owning and listening to a full album end to end with the analogue warmth of a true “long Player” or with the pristine digital quality of a CD.
This is what we tend to do with vinyl particularly, placing the disk on the turntable and listening to the whole of one side and then if we like it, flipping the disc over and listening to the other. It’s a reassuring ritual which encourages you to listen to the whole collection of songs, or “album” as a complete work, and many people believe it makes you appreciate the music and the artist a lot more. A CD can offer a similar experience without having to flip the disk halfway through. However, the ease with which a track can be “skipped” or the songs “Shuffled” inevitably dilutes the end to end experience.
Recently major artists started releasing their new albums on CD again, as well as Vinyl and streaming platforms, sparking a renewed interest in the CD format. In 2021 sales jumped by 50% to around 48 million in the US. The resurgence of the CD is on, but its slow.
There are many reasons why Vinyl records and CDs can, and arguably should, compete with streaming,
Own It
There’s a lot to be said for owning a physical CD or vinyl with music on it. You have the artwork and sleeve notes to check out, and you can listen to the whole thing ad free. A lot of people, myself included, like to have a physical music collection, maybe as well as a digital / virtual one. It’s even more meaningful if you bought it at a merch stand at your favourite band’s gig or direct from the band’s web site. That is the best way to support the people who make the music you want to hear, as a much greater proportion of the price you pay will end up paying the bands and artists.
A few years ago, the trouble ridden “My Space” accidently erased all of its music (and other) content at the touch of a button during a server migration gone wrong. if it can happen at My Space? That’s not going to happen to your vinyl or CD copy of Frampton Comes Alive of course.
Quality
For anyone who likes to listen to music at its best, then there really isn’t any argument. A well cared for Vinyl record will sound great through a good audio system and the argument has always been that it has “Analogue warmth” which can’t be reproduced by a digital format. In reality most old vinyl will acquire scratches and suffer from ingrained dust or signal loss due to wear and tear, which can often outweigh the advantage of its inherent “Analogue warmth”.
It is now totally possible to replicate this mystical warmth in digital formats (Streaming and CDs). CDs have clean high-quality audio which doesn’t degrade. It has taken them a long time to shake off the image of a “cold, clinical and unmusical sound” which was the criticism levelled at the format when it first appeared. Modern production tools and techniques have seen to that.
Streaming services such as Spotify use “lossy” digital formats such as MP3 files. This meaning that they don’t contain as much data and they loose some audio quality, particularly in the high frequency detail. Spotify’s “Very high-quality” audio is 320kbps bit depth which is only available to premium subscribers. Streaming platforms are gradually improving to lossless formats but this is not a given. This compares to 1411kbps for CDs which has all sorts of benefits in improved clarity and dynamic range. At the other end of the scale Tidal offer “CD quality” streaming which is great but will cost about £11 a month and of course, you won’t own it. Not only will you be paying over and over again to rent the right to listen to it, the artists and bands don’t benefit financially from the streaming platforms to any meaningful extent. The streaming companies and record companies are the main beneficiaries of your monthly subscription.
Accessibility
CDs and the equipment to play them on can be bought easily. It’s a practical and financially viable proposition for musicians and bands to make CDs or get them made. These can be in small or large quantities to sell at gigs and to promote themselves. CDs can be used to create a permanent physical record of not only music but photos, documents or any other digital materials. If There’s a “sales” bit in this blog – here it is. Tangled Air Music can make CDs for you, and unlike most other CD duplication companies, we are happy to do “short runs” of CDs, so if you need 1, 5 or 50 CDs we can help. That’s it!
So which is best?
In summary, vinyl records can sound great but are often scratchy and can easily wear out creating a noisy listening experience. Streaming can sound great, but normally doesn’t, and will cost you on an on-going basis if you want quality and no ads. Most streaming platform services don’t really benefit the artists.
CDs on the other hand, will sound as good in 30 years as they do the day you buy them if looked after. They can be damaged by scratches but are less likely to suffer. Vinyl albums can cost many times the cost of a CD Album. CDs have extremely good sound quality and are a lot more affordable to buy than Vinyl or streaming services, and in general if you are able to buy direct from the band or artist you will be supporting them to make more music for you to enjoy.