Future of Indian Music Retail is bleek :(

Audiolab 7000A Integrated Amplifier
Thinkdifferent said:
Hello Folks,

With few that we have, even those are going out of business... I wonder how the other countries are keeping it up? any thoughts?

Grammy's 2015 Buy online Indian and International CDs, LPs, Blu-rays, DVDs and VCDs | Rhythm House
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If my hunch is right,then the current and future generation would miss the pleasure of selecting the albums from the Stores or searching of Albums in stores.

Online should be the Only source for CD's and Who knows the CD's might need a pre-orders only (Even for New Albums).Almost everybody has Android phone in Mobile and Just a click download the Music.:indifferent14:
 
Actually even the streaming business sucks for most businesses, Qobuz is in receivership and will be sold off to the highest bidder, Rdio has closed shop, Spotify is still running in losses and yet to break even, and not much is known about how Tidal is performing. The only one making any money seems to be Apple Music and that's bad news considering the low bit rate the music is transcoded in.

I know a lot of folks who are into classical music and sad about where Qobuz is headed because it is an excellent service. Tidal is the only alternative left for high-quality/lossless streaming right now and hopefully it does well.

PS: Audio CDs are not dead just yet, the sales of Adele's 25 is proof of that.
 
If you have CDs and are still buying CDs hold on to them like dear life, along with your CD player. Atleast in India, Music availability is beginning to suck ! Not sure if even Hi Res will come here :(
 
1987, a boy walks from home 3-4 miles to a music shop, as he gets near it, his excitement grows, heart beat raises. As he entered the shop, he is surrounded by hundreds of albums. There is no dearth of super stars, michael jackson,madonna, george michael, stevie wonder, cliff richard, Prince, whitney houston, Queen..you name it.
Now with this 35 Rs. this boy can buy just one, but Original Label cassette. He buys WHAM! the Final (on CBS). The shop guy unseals it and plays it (it was a ritual) on massive stack (Deck, Amp & Equalizer..all silver) massive speakers with multiple tweeters. The boy walks back home fast (its DEC and its getting cold & dark in Dehradun)..before his father is back from office.

17 Yrs Later..This boy...I mean this gentleman..walks into Bangalore's Landmark and loves to see a large array of CDs lined up alphabetically..approx. on stand for each alphabet (rep. artist first names)..Good that, now earning...he has enough money ..to buy a few CDs and compensate for what he could not do 17 years back.

2014- The man walks into the shops..there is almost no sign of music CDs..The joy of buying music..possessing it...cherishing the art work..has gone!

But this guy does not give up...he gets himself a dedicated CD player and Amp..enjoying wat ever he has...and procuring from online stores / ebay. Searching the web (if thats what it has to be..so be it)..to get access to limited Edns. and first pressings..

So dont give up...
 
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Yes it looks like CDs are going to die very soon in India. The new albums that get released in India are simply packaged in a cheap looking jewel case and put in stores. If you look at the music consumers today, they can be generally divided into two categories.

There's Consumer A that simply downloads (legally or illegally) all the new music/releases/reissues and buys NOTHING. And then there's Consumer B that completely goes in the other direction and looks for any opportunity to buy collectibles released by their favourite bands.

In India, there aren't any such (extremely rare to find) "collectible items" that attract Consumer B. A cheap looking jewel case CD is the best one can find (the rest are even more pathetic..flimsy cardboards and such). That is in no way is a collectible item. It simply doesn't have that aesthetic appeal. The music industry has not created such a market here. However if you look at EU & USA, record labels have realized the presence of a large minority of Consumer Bs. Almost every major label has started putting out new releases in collectible editions (CD box set, LP box, limited edition vinyl, colored vinyl, deluxe box, digibooks, etc.). This strategy has worked out very well in the last 2-3 years in EU & USA and the very popular and mid-popular record labels are doing pretty good. I don't know why this hasn't been tried in the Indian market. Maybe they think it's a waste of time as most of the music here is Bollywood music (where most of the money only comes from the theaters). Or maybe they assume that the number of Consumer B types are extremely few in India (which might be true as most people in India are passive music listeners).
 
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slash1814 you just took me in fleshback of my childhood days where i save for a month to buy my fev cassette. and now i do collect audio CDs.

i also subscribed for apple music, collection in big there but i'm confused with quality, it seems good. Only problem is whenever you unsubscribe you will get nothing & your fev playlist will be empty.
 
accord said:
i also subscribed for apple music, collection in big there but i'm confused with quality, it seems good. Only problem is whenever you unsubscribe you will get nothing & your fev playlist will be empty.
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Apple music is giving us a quick access and easy listening, If one has time it does not hurt at 300/- p.m.
 
I am subscribed to Apple Music Rs 120 per month. I am fine with it as it gives me quick access and easy listening. But if I really like some music, I still hunt for the original ACD. But my qualm is that, Hi Res music may not get into Indian market at all :(
 
slash1814 said:
How come 120/- per month? I think they introduced at 300 pm. I am running into a trial period till Dec, so i am not updated on this. Have they reduced monthly subs. fee?
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It is Rs. 120 and that's a steal. It's 1/4 the price of SGD and heck it costs $9.99 in the US.

I'm not sure if that's the entire catalog in India, but if so then that pricing is insane even for their AAC quality.
 
This post is not specific to Indian music industry; most of it has originated and already happened in other countries too.

Music portability came at a great cost. We are realizing the effects only recently.
1. data compression
2. dynamic compression

Data compression was achieved by the dreaded MP3 format. Actually high bit rate MP3s are not so bad for listening but bad for archival purpose. This was done even in the pre-Ipod days. Music sharing sites, such as Napster/Kazaa/Limewire thrived for quite a while.

Enter Apple and the music distribution industry took a very different turn. Apple was successful in forging relationships with major record labels. What consumers did not realize initially was that Apple was pushing low bit rate data compressed music. Now here is the kicker they were also pushing music that was compressed dynamically. Dynamic compression is a technique to fit the range of any tune between 2 arbitrary levels so that they will sound uniformly loud on headphones/earphones. Most IEMs cannot handle a even 30dB range range in music dynamics. But many consumers are turning to this medium; it is personal and convenient.

Now let's come to the Indian market. CDs are expensive to sell for the music industry. Why? It involves a physical medium and case, distribution logistics and sometimes a showroom. As an alternative, if one can push a song for Rs. 6 via telecom operators it becomes easy for the music industry. The consumer who is buying something for Rs. 6 is not really bothered about data/dynamic compression. For Rs. 6 he/she can listen to it 3 times and get paisa-vasool. Suddenly beautiful tunes from our local musicians are being treated like condoms. Instant gratification is a boon and a bane.

In India, volume sells. Businesses will always gravitate towards volume.

Cheers,
Raghu
 
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