The Debut Album Studio Recording Experience, Part IV: CD Manufacturing and Sales

In the LP age, the record companies controlled the market for all recorded music. It wasn't until the dramatic price drop of manufacturing compact discs, that the amount of independent record labels and indie musicians started its hawkish trend which is still continuing. By cutting the record label as a middleman, a musician earned ten times the major label royalty rate for the same amount of sales. Conversely, the liberated musician could sell just one tenth compared to previous sales figures and receive the same income from his own label, now with no external commitments.

As the trend of self-production continues to soar, the major labels have shrunk to four, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, EMI Group and Universal Music Group. The size of independent labels currently varies from studio apartment closets to fairly large corporations. The smaller ones struggle with master tape production and manufacturing expenses, and the larger ones more or less resemble the structure of the major labels but in a smaller scale. In order for the smaller producers and labels to receive any position in the vast sea of supply, financially prudent decisions are of the essence.

In the age of eCommerce, Apple iTunes has become the music store with the largest catalog in history. Not surprisingly, traditional record stores, such as Tower Records, Virgin and HMV, have faced challenges resulting in a worldwide trend of declining or disappearing CD stores. CDs are now sold via gazillion websites, and sent individually by postal mail across the world, sometimes multiple times before reaching the listener. Not only does it increase the price of the CD due to postage, it also contributes to carbon emissions which our nation is fighting hard to reduce.

The internet provides a direct, easy, affordable and environmentally friendly solution to buy music. This is for the benefit of all parties involved. Since the multi-use portable devices have become a standard in every pocket, most listeners choose MP3s and other file formats to traditional CDs. While the sentiment of the tangible CD occasionally demonstrates its residual power, the behavior of many listeners suggests a permanent change.

CD manufacturers worldwide are more than aware of the declining trend and eventually the altogether disappearing format. Several manufacturers have closed their doors, others moved into providing marketing services, and some expanded to distribution and online sales. But the CDs will be entirely replaced by new and versatile download products.

This is good news for the smallest producers, for whom closet space and the wallet is tight. But even for the larger companies, this presents a preferable option as personnel cost is high and the human work in the service sector is difficult to automate.

Going all "digital", as internet download sales is conveniently called, will dramatically increase in the years ahead. Printing, marketing and selling traditional CDs will slow down chances to develop and compete in the marketplace of future music formats. Those who choose to stay nostalgic will face inevitable challenges when new download formats will require the undivided attention.

Blue Music Group sells MP3s starting at $ 7.99, and CD downloads at $ 14.73 being the first label to fully adopt the CD download format directly available from its website.