DUB POLICE - DO PEOPLE STILL BUY CD's? or IS IT JUST MP3's?

[seckle]

Cassettes are dope

but they break or get fucked, and you have to wind them back with a pencil and try and save the tape. i do miss 44min mixing though, with the fade out at 44mins30secs...flipover....fade back in. lol.

in seriousness, it totally depends on the release. i choose the real product over digital. my weekly redeye order is vinyl mostly, but some cds too.

[wolf89]

Cassette tapes. Next it will be VHS instead of DVD.

I buy cassettes still

and I buy old horror VHS tapes and VHS tapes of old metal bands picked up from a local second store from time to time.

[Biscuit]

I tend to go digital when it comes to dubstep, but mainly only because I live in the hinterlands of southern California and there aren't any good record shops near me that I know about and driving 75 miles into L.A. to hunt for records at places is a pain. Also import stuff can get really pricey.

Generally speaking though I do like to have a physical product in my hands and will go out of my way to get it for some stuff.

[dj klaim]

Still buy a lot of CDs, as I like having a physical product.

[rick_slater]

I never buy mp3s of albums. I go for the cds,

I only buy mp3s of odd tracks mainly that I can't get on vinyl.

This. I only buy singles on MP3 really.

This

[J-R]

Good to see people still care about a physical product. If we could have it all on vinyl I would be a happy person.. What was the last CD you bought then? Is it worth having digital artwork available for MP3 release also?

Last cd : Skream - Outside The Box with the Bonus Disc. Now if I'm gonna be completely honest, the bonus disc was the deciding factor in me buying the album on cd rather than just hoping on a website and buying n downloading the tunes online. And I'm really glad I did because some of the tunes I wasn't really feeling when I first bought the album I am really feeling now so its nice having a physical copy of the album even though its not vinyl (vinyl is so expensive and my pockets are very shallow so I am very very selective over the vinyl I buy, but thats another story)

With mix cd's as someone above me said a bonus disc with unmixed tracks would be a good thing (although realising one might not be able to do that with all the tunes on a mixed cd), I havn't bought a mixed album for about 4-5 years. I have bought a mixed album that came with a bonus disc with unmixed versions of the tracks though.

I think having a bonus disc or even say a couple of bonus tracks on the main cd itself that are only available on the physical copy of the cd would probably help sway people towards buying the cd. Artwork can also be a huge help, with a few people I know the artwork (or booklet that comes with a cd album) is a huge part of the package they are buying.

Digital Artwork, I reckon keep artwork to the physical product. Its part of the package innit

[joeki]

But, if you are going to do a digital release, why slack off with the artwork? It's almost no effort isn't it?
I for one hate half-assed artwork with digital downloads. It's one reason not even to consider a download (which is cheap in the end). Some labels put no effort at all in their digital artwork. Some of us have fancy computers and software that actually displays the artwork when a track is played (in a playlist or something) and nothing sucks more than to have to look at a silly picture or bad artwork.

Bad artwork is a problem that is not limited to just digital releases of course. Even more so with physical releases, a special artwork or treatment of the vinyl (colour for example, which does not degrade the quality of the wax if you use 180 gram vinyl for which I'm an advocate) can be a real incentive towards buying more physical releases. At least for me this is the case. But before I go further off-topic :

Of course I'm all for physical releases! As I said before, vinyl preferably. Just not so much the case for mix cd's personally.

[polho]

I buy lots of CD's. Although recently it's been downloads + vinyl.

[rogue star]

betamax or 8-track

[dubpolice]

Vinyl is the new Mp3's. As a label we have to move with the times. Which involves the digital age. However I must say we will continue to release vinyl as long as there is a Market for it.

[skitz_0]

vinyl+digital

[Widowmaker]

Vinyl + Digital + mix Cd's

always goes down a treat.

[Sirius]

fuck all the CD cack!! start selling ya albums on flashdrives!
why degrade the quality?

stop selling MP3s & sell everything as Waves!
hahhahhahhah

Have yall noticed a huge decrease in the amount of sales of CDs lately?

!!chea

[+3]

100% mp3 here. If its not on iTunes or Beatport it doesn’t exist, and this goes for non-EDM.

However, I still make mix CD’s and prefer to give people CDs of my own material… because they get a booklet and presentation is everything. Mp3’s don’t create a sense of “wow” with people, but hand them a CD with full artwork and they’ll keep your album around their car/bedroom for years.

[Blerim]

never ever buy CDs

only old rap, soul and jazz cds. never not one dubstep CD

its strictly digital download, it always fascinated me why someone would buy a dubstep CD when you can usually get the same tracks INSTANTLY for cheaper...? plus arent CDs usually 192kbps?

[prism]

kinda feel sorry for the compact disc

[thierry_le_dj]

i occasionaly buy vinyl but soon will be buying more mp3's as i be using serato soon!

[JK_Tunes]

For artist albums i like vinyl or cd. It's so nice to have a physical item, not just some random mp3 on one of my harddrives.

[dirt]

I'm with joeki;

Its all about the packaging now for CDs to draw people in. Although the Outside the Box w/Bonus Disc packaging was simple, it was well considered and well put together, making the CD purchase feel more worthwhile for its content as well as the physical product.

If you offer a high quality of product/packaging like Clubroot and VIVEK with the free bonus CD or DMZ with heavy weight acetate and card sleeve LPs, it makes you happy to fork out the extra wonga.

At nearly £8 for some 12s these days, and this going up with VAT soon, something needs to be added to make those two songs feel worth the money! D-Styles/Hench do a free 320 download for whatever vinyl you order so its a nod in the right direction for offering more for your money. People who still buy vinyl need some support from the manufactures in order to keep it going strong...

[joeki]

Exactly Dirt!

The clubroot package was perfect. It was a limited edition as well, so it feels like you've got something in your hands that not everyone has. It's things like these : special packaging with booklet, mp3 codes or bonus cd's; special edition sleeves or colour vinyl; making limited editions of something etc. that can be a real incentive towards more appreciation for the physical product.

I'm not saying ban the download/mp3 thing though. I'd say right now I'm at 70% physical, 30% digital.