Continuing with CDs?

my impression is that quite a few new vinyl pressing plants have opened in recent years, many of which don't use lacquer blanks

yes but there are numerous problems with DMM as per that article, it also sucks for low frequencies (i.e. all dance music, etc.)

A year or two of no new vinyl pressings (and a deluge of existing albums repressed on colored vinyl) seems like a pretty big threat to the vinyl market.

Not exactly the right thread but there are SO MANY films and TV shows unavailable on streaming services which are also not easily available in good quality in the “usual places” that I have taken to actually stumping up for the DVD version. And what I’ve found is that Amazon dominates search rankings to such an extent - either directly, or secondarily via affiliate links in high-ranking review pages and aggregator sites - that simply finding a way to watch Larry Sanders without paying Jeff Bezos for the privilege takes what almost amounts to insider knowledge. It can’t really be searched for. I have to go to specific retailers’ sites individually and carry out separate searches etc. Doing without Amazon is... like the old Internet and I kind of love it

^^^

DeepDiscount.com (formerly DeepDiscountDVD.com) is your friend.

Although, honestly, it's getting even more frustrating to get physical media in general. We live in a really dumb time for physical music distribution. There were two albums I was looking forward to that came out on Friday, the new Elkhorn and the Makaya McCraven Gil Scott-Heron re-imagining thing.

For the Elkhorn, it was my own fault. I completely blanked on the Beyond Beyond is Beyond pre-order, which I normally do. But I saw it was on Amazon so I pre-ordered it from them on Thursday. Friday comes and an email comes that my copy will be arriving March 26th. So, y'know, only a 2-month wait.

For the McCraven/Scott-Heron thing, I stopped by first thing this morning to, hopefully, pick up a copy (unfortunately I was dealing with a sick kid all weekend and couldn't make it until today). Reckless, here in Chicago, is already completely sold out of all formats at all three branches with no idea when they will see more. Amazon doesn't have any, or at least if they do, from third-party sellers only with 8-12 week wait times. Looks like it's still available direct from XL, so I'll go that route, but still kinda frustrating that a brand new, buzzed about record is already hard to find. Admittedly, it's probably that very buzz that caused it to sell out quickly, but this is hardly the sole example of this lately.

I certainly don't blame Reckless here, I know they are dealing with a nightmare of a distribution system due to that Direct Shot debacle, but it's increasingly feeling like you gotta show up at the brick and mortar stores within an hour or two of opening on Fridays to have a shot at new releases. I know it's completely out of the shops hands at this point, but it sucks always hearing, "yeah, we sold out of the four copies we got and we have absolutely no clue when, or if, we might see more". I want to support local shops like this, but I'm walking out of the store empty-handed more and more often these days.

Here's another piece of the puzzle: https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2019/11/can-music-stores-indie-labels-survive-the-big-distribution-debacle.html

I know they are dealing with a nightmare of a distribution system due to that Direct Shot debacle

oops, sorry.

For my own personal anecdote -- I've ordered CDs from a major label a few times over the past year or so (b/c for an artist I love, I won't settle for digital if a CD is available), and had to deal with absurdly long wait times.... months & months.

(Though the same thing happened with a 7", so the fulfillment issue must affect all physical product, not solely CDs.)

it's definitely a brutal 1-2 punch w/r/t simultaneous distro & supply issues

j/v/c, there are a bunch of sellers on discogs selling the gil scott-heron thing in the us. cheapest is $13 + shipping for the cd:

https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?sort=price%2Casc&master_id=1679121&ev=mb

ebay is pretty good for finding distributors of new releases. I came across importcds and Rarewaves that way, just looking at the seller account name. Two examples that have their own sites.

New Gil Scott is there. That's a really nice album!

and yeah Discogs, especially in the US. I'd be all about it if I could get "media mail" shipping rates. For the rest of us, shops in Germany can typically ship pretty cheap.

Thanks for the tips, I guess I never really considered discogs for CDs. Always kinda figured that was more of a vinyl leaning marketplace.

it's a bit of everything. I'd be selling a lot more on it if I could ship anything anywhere with tracking for less than $15 Canadian. This means most of my inventory is more valuable things, which is typically vinyl.

Best view for you would be go to the master page of an album, press Shop, then filter by medium on the listings.

I mostly buy rare or out of print CDs on Discogs.

For new/current stuff, ImportCDs.com offers cheaper prices than their Discogs or eBay pages, for the same items. I buy from them all the time.

On Ebay, ImportCDs doesn't charge for US shipping, where they do on their website. Sometimes they will offer additional discounts on Ebay that brings prices below those on their website, shipping included, but often the difference is negligible. DeepDiscount and ImportCDs I believe are also the same company, which explains why they tend to have the same things in stock.

i think they've bought Pop Market as well. Yeesh..

They also have Collector's Choice, and iirc they also handle pressing & distro for Warner Archive.

all of these are just ways for majors to undercut their own distributors

so lame

I'm down to the last 250, with about 60-70 that I'm going to keep permanently until the media dies. Of these, I've steadily been selling them on Discogs. Doing pretty well at it too, but the market for marginal unreissued DIY psychedelia of the 80s-90s is pretty strong.

I took three shopping bags of CDs to my local library. They were thankful for the donation and I think I improved their holdings!

DeepDiscount and ImportCDs I believe are also the same company, which explains why they tend to have the same things in stock.

― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Tuesday, February 11, 2020 2:50 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

i think they've bought Pop Market as well. Yeesh..

― maffew12, Tuesday, February 11, 2020 4:59 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

They also have Collector's Choice, and iirc they also handle pressing & distro for Warner Archive.

― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, February 11, 2020 5:20 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

what about chalkys, rarewaves, and moviemars? Are these basically just fronts for major labels to eliminate the record store middle man?

yes afaik

Update on Apollo Masters -- total loss, click through for video:

Was out at Apollo Masters today to see the damage. Roof’s gone, building’s basically a shell. Total loss. Whole block is closed off, and the site will require remediation because of chemical explosions. pic.twitter.com/P3jV1ssb4L

— Randall 🕳 Roberts (@LilEdit) February 12, 2020

Sound of the Universe has Scott-Heron/McCraven, CD and LP, w audio samples here:
https://soundsoftheuniverse.com/product/were-new-again-a-reimagining-by-makaya-mccraven

Forgive the spam but if anyone feels like continuing with these CDs, feel free to buy them:

https://www.discogs.com/seller/akmonday/profile

mostly post-rock, post-punk, indie shiz.

https://variety.com/2020/music/news/cd-baby-retail-store-closing-1203506690/

they had a retail store?? Wow. Where was it? Cuz that article and their own website do not say. Maybe the issue was that no one knew where it was.

oh its online retail store. "Retail store" still makes me think of a place. Nevermind.

cd baby should have pivoted to where bandcamp is; probably should have changed their name too.

mp3baby

could've changed to hiddenencryptedfilebaby and gone up against spotify

streambabystream

should just be called "baby".

CD, Baby!

imo this thread should be retitled "CDs, C or D?"

No word yet on the current status of early-2000s phenomenon “SeanBaby”

Anything is better than LadBaby

Bandcamp should get a ton of credit for their integration of previewing/listening to music and being able to buy it... I bought a fair amount of stuff from CD baby but their web site used to be weirdly sterile and fussy.

I honestly haven't noticed a difference in CD prices. I love book hunting at Oxfam but I rarely bother for CDs as I seldom see anything of interest. Maybe should go back to Monorail because they had a bunch of old shoegaze stuff.

Somebody tell japan that CDs are supposed to be cheap now. Digital never taken off there, was that the story?

It’s got to the point now where my Discogs CD sales have clearly overtaken my vinyl sales, even though I’ve got more vinyl listed. They’re flying off the shelves. At these prices, it makes total sense.

It's happened a third time now: my copy of Lal Waterson & Oliver Knight - Once In A Blue Moon is flickering on the last two tracks on the fourth time I played it. This sucks. I doubt this is the last CD I'll encounter this with. Surprised I don't hear more stories about this.

that sucks... that is a fantastic album

Long time lurker very infrequent poster.

Does anyone have a good place to get new and catalogue mainstream/major label CDs online? I usually order from amoeba but am not finding things there lately. I don't want to patronize Amazon. I would be happiest buying from an indie but I'd like a place with a deep selection. Hip-hop is particularly hard to find but I realize a lot of things are not even release in physical formats.

Discogs is pretty reliable I'd say, if you're happy to buy from private sellers.

Yeah good point. I got no problem with discogs and should consider it for these kinds of searches although new mainstream titles are not always added right away. I was also hoping to find a place where I could get a handful of things from one vendor to save on shipping, but there are lots of shops on there now too.

Try importcds. They're on eBay but also have a site. I order from them pretty frequently. No hassles and free shipping.

Yeah, importcds is great. Buying from their actual site is cheaper than buying from them on eBay. I also use grooves-inc.com sometimes.

I have a fear that Amazon will be the last bastion of CD purchases.