Today's Observer ran a story with the headline 'High Street woes signal the final demise of the CD'. Reporting on the collapse of independent music distributor Pinnacle, and the fact that much-loved High Street retailer Woolworths has gone into administration, it accurately reports that the days of CD sales in the high street have hit that tipping point which will now speed their decline in sales.
Whilst I'm sad that people have lost their jobs and it will mean many more independent shops fall out of business, I am also excited by this change. It fantastic to be able to watch life move on as you live - it's like watching a snake shed its skin - you see the old version slipping away as a new, brighter, leaner creature emerges. You don't always get to see this. Sometimes you'll wake up and just realise things are different, and you didn't notice how it got there. Sometimes it's a universal event. I remember when the fourth TV channel launched in the UK - Channel 4. It was a BIG event. I sat in front of the TV for an hour or so looking at black nothingness waiting for Channel 4 to start. That was twenty years ago. Nowadays I have no idea how many TV channels there are, and they probably come and go every day without anyone really caring. I miss the time when we had just three or four channels, but I love the choice I have too. Something has to give.
In the world of music, or at least in the areas of music I am passionate about, we're experiencing that kind of huge change. This week was another big step. In a few years the music industry - recorded and retail - will be unrecognisable from the industry of five or six years ago. Month after month there's some of that skin being shed, and it's totally absorbing to watch because it's happening at a strange pace - not almost overnight, like CD sales took to ignite when they first arrived, nor stupidly slow, like the slow slow slow decline of vinyl. It's big, it's noisy and it keeps hitting the news because, ultimately, the outcome is so uncertain. It makes fascinating viewing.
Comments