JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Industry Message Forum Future of the CD??? Worth investing in physical CDs Anymore?

I'm curious what others here think of the future of the CD. I'm finishing up a project and I will definitely make it available for Digital Download. I also will probably have some pretty decent looking duplicated discs with pretty good covers made locally. But I'm hesitant these days to invest much in a major Oasis or DiscMakers product, because you always need to order so many, and I just wonder about the future of the CD in four or five years? Any thoughts?

David,

There is still Vinyl out there. People will still have CD players. There is always a phase out of any technology but in my opinion, CD's will probably be around for another 10-15 years.

MAB

Thanks Marc. Always appreciate your input. Is it still important to have top-notch commercial covers, or are people more accepting of high-quality covers, but perhaps not the high-gloss look of commercial packaging. I have a guy that does very nice discs for me with good covers for 3$ each, which is expensive, but then I can order 50 or so at a time and get more when they sell out. I don't have to get 1000 discs from Oasis. Of course, the flip side is that I think the Oasis discs look better, though this guy here locally actually does very nice looking CDs. Is the packaging aspect still crucial, or don't people care as much anymore. My impression is that a lot of the CD goes right into people's Ipods, lol, or hard-drives.

Check out Kunaki.com. You can get any quantity for about $1.50 each. Look great. Gotta do all the work yourself though.

CD's versus Downloads.
If you are a Major Artist with lots of visability and offer downloads for sale you may be sucessful. But the average small Artist the rewards are probably slim to none. And to be sucessful you need to have a public presence, in effect playing and booking dates. There are no shortcuts to sucess.

You have to spend money to make money. How serious are you?

People were not happy when the CD came in because of the lack of space on a CD for Artwork the LP Record had.

The CD will be around for some time to come.

Cds are here for a good while yet...There will always be people who dislike computers and prefer a physical disc. Cds are great for live performers to sell at gigs....and for backing up and copying stuff. The cost of a memory stick is still more expensive than a CD and downloads still are in their infancy....that said why not do both.....a small run of Cds is not exensive and can be topped up when you sell out. Downloads for small indies are very slow.

David,

I'll tell you what I just did. I order about 100 of my CD's at a time. They last me a while since I am not going for the artist thing.Most of my stuff is in conjunction with my workshops and seminars. (Just got back from a 10 day songwriter's festival and did sell out.) So I am going to New Hampshire and Boston next week and already have 75 pre-sold.

For the most part I do the nice inserts and information, because I don't just pitch my songs but my teaching and workshop services. I think you can do all of it for fairly reasonable if you don't go with full fold out pages, etc.

I really believe we aer going to have CD's for several years.They don't really deteriorate and there are always going to be point of sale things. AND you never know where something is going to end up so having it look and sound good is essential now. Never know where one might end up getting you a radio interview or some airplay.

I feel the same way about this that I do when people say we are going to a totally cashless society. No we won't. There are always going to be people who want cash. There are even going to be coins.

So I wouldn't look for anything to totally dissapear any time soon. There are still too many uses for that to be a practicality.

MAB

Make your CD, there's still time.

Here are some broader thoughts about them and why.

I was hesitant to buy into Blu Ray DVD's or Dvd's in general at first. I remember when I got Laser Discs, they were like album size.
And they disappeared in like two years.

However DVD's were the size and shape of CD's so FORMAT is a big deal in keeping something around. What else is in the same shape & format
1- CD Players which remain on DVD players with music.
2 - Computers they hold CD' trays for installation, back up. Burn softwaredata, music movies all on CD
3- DVD's - There players play CD's so.....
4- VIDEO GAMES**** When these babies took the shape and size of CD's that guaranteed the format would be around for a while longer.

When Playstation & X BOX STOP making games on CD's then CD"s are GONE! This I promise you. That is where all the MONEY is.

The BEST reason!
Now the personal aspect is EASY, one day you'll be gone and most likely NOBODY on the planet is gonna be looking for you online. Unfortunately and including family. So NOBODY is gonna hear your/our music again. BUT.... somebody may pick up your CD with your name & picture on it and say "Let me check this out"
More importantly it could go something like this.
"Mommy I found this in the basement was this grandpas music"? Or uncle Daves songs etc..

You CAN'T download that!

Right there alone, is all the reason in the world. And I'm still picking up ALBUMS and saying who's this?

I haven't made CD's from Discmakers etc... yet believe it or not.
When I do they wont be made to sell really, they'll be made to be held in someones hand. That's the only chance of it finding someones ears.

Make your CD as well as your downloads.

I agree with Colin's recommendation for Kunaki.com . I've used them and have absolutely no complaints!

Discmakers can do any size run including very small ones. The cost is in the packaging and the packaging including the artwork makes a HUGE difference in saleability. What else are you going to sell if not CD's at a show? If you don't perform live, then why even have an album?

Discmakers has not only the widest variety of packaging available, but also some of the best prices around. And if you tell them you're a JPF member, you get a $50 dollar discount on your first order.

Brian

I think in five years it will be on a thin card. Small enough for the wallet, big enough not to lose. Opens tunes, pics, other data. That's already here actually. But right now, the CD is the safest medium for every platform. I'm surprised it hasn't died already. However, many people will long for a tangible project. I think that's what's drivin the new issues of vinyl releases.

I think that they are still relevant - and can be used in different ways. For Justice's new cd we plan on distributing hundreds for free to promote her locally. A good quality cd does give an artist credibility. It gives the artist a foot in the door.

Tom

Well,
If I'm not mistaken the Cd first appeared in 1979. The first Cd Players were about 500 dollars. Too rich for my blood. We finally bought a Cd Player in late 1987. Players were maybe $179.00 by then. The first Cd's were not the best sounding but they got better over time. It was some time until everything that was avaliable on records were transfered and released on CD. Today you can buy practially anything that was avaliable from the past on CD.

While much music is now avaliable for download not everyone wants to download their music so the Cd will be here for a long time to come.

IMO you're focusing on the wrong thoughts Daniel.

The key is that NOW, in THIS DECADE, CDs are still important as a means of distribution. Quis sais what it will be in five or ten years? As long as your music is in a digital format, it matters little. You simply format it for another medium.

You have to look at what matters NOW, TODAY. TODAY'S CONSUMER RULES. Tomorrow's consumer, consumer's five years from now...they matter little because they don't make your cash register go cha ching TODAY.

Having said that..if you do decide to choose the CD format over on line downloads, order what you think you can move in a reasonable time and get them out there with all your energy and ingenuity.

As others here have mentioned, I think there will be a new form of CD. Technology is changing so fast it's hard to keep up with it.

Most radio stations still only accept physical CD's in NZ, although the major labels are now refusing to play ball with that here and are shifting to online download sites, that you have to sign in with industry login, with no choice the radio stations will have to accept it I think, unfortunately it doesn't change things for the independent artist at this stage.

I review music and the major labels just put all the music online, some streaming, some with downloads.

I think doing small runs of 50 -100 discs for promo is still worth doing for an independent artist.

All of the local music shows, I've run across still only accept CDs. So for at least promotion, one must have them available. My distribution for White Collar Man is digital downloads only. But I chose to do the artwork for the CD cover for advertising purposes and in case I would ever need one for hard copy sales.

How many people still have television without cable? They just made everyone have to buy a special box so that the signals could be accepted. Technology moves fast but not everyone is going to be able to go get an ipod or other technology.

Cd's are going to be here for quite some time. They are affordable and have become iconic in cars, home products, etc.

Wouldn't look for them to go away any time soon.

MAB

Well,
You would think when Cadillac (I Think) developed the Automatic Transmission the manual transmission would have been long gone. Do they still offer manual transmissions? You betcha! And there are a few LP Records still being produced. 4 Track, 8 Track and Cassettes are pretty much gone but CD'S will still be here for a long time to come.

They are diminishing in importance but they are still important. I think they are important for credibility. There are at least 10 million artists on the web vying for attention. Having a finished, high quality cd gives the artist credibility. While is is certainly possible to become commercially successful without a cd, a la Justin Beiber before his cd's came out, it is more difficult.

Tom

The artists I have spent time with all do CDs. When you go to a live venue, you have the merch table, and people like to snag physical objects. Some thought into the design (even if it's an anti-design) help. People want to buy it.

But it's only one prong of a multi-pronged strategy, and (as Marc and others have pointed out) you no longer have to commit to 1000 or even 500 disks. You just have to have a supply to take to shows (and/or to show to other folks in the business you want to take you seriously).

One artist I know was looking into a way to take credit cards at shows, to encourage the buying of more stuff (not limited to cash on hand).

As you'll see on the boards here, the business model is changing, rapidly, and there's no one-size-fits-all revenue stream. You have to work them all, including CDs.

I think cdbaby has a credit card method.

Tom

There is an iPhone app that allows you to process a credit card on the spot and deposit into an account I think. I've seen at least one that does PayPal. You can even get set up pretty cheap I think and its a great way to sell them. I know a lot of people don't always take cash out with them since you can pay for pretty much anything with a credit/debit card.

CD's are good for promo and for keeping a hard copy - I guess you can sell them at gigs, but CD's are dead except for high volume artists. That's my view, anyway!

Dan

It is true that high volume artists rely more on downloads and live appearances nowadays. It is almost impossible to buy a CD single nowadays...shops do not stock them. That said albums are still popular on CD.
CDs will be here for a long time yet especially when used for demos/promos and the all important sales opportunity for small artists who sell them at gigs. People still like a physical copy rather than a download and nothing works as well as a CD both in cost and practicality.

Big Jim

I don't think it's an either/or, at least not now. The "downloadable single" is part of the overall marketing strategy for all sorts of artists. But so is the physical CD.

For the "small fan base" artist, CDs are not going to be available in stores. CDs will be available at gigs, on the artist's website (and/or a merchant site they choose to list their CDs on -- CDBaby, perhaps, or their own Bandbox site). But the expense of printing and distributing CDs is not always doable -- or the artist doesn't want to make the fans wait for the next physical CD.

While physical CDs may not ever go away entirely, I think it's clear they're in transition. Older audiences (like me) like them and expect them; while younger audiences are more used to downloads. I think it's something that will shift over time.

One of my friends is an indie artist, based in Nashville, but more indie-pop oriented. She put out a CD a couple of years ago, and will release one later this year. But, over the last year, she has written a few songs and put them up as singles in her Bandbox account so her fans could download them right away. They may not even find their way to a collected CD -- they might exist only as downloadable singles. It gives her some income in between larger projects, and her fans are happy to get new music from her.

Another example I've seen was Susan Werner's "My Strange Nation." She was doing it at shows and people asked for it, but it didn't fit into her cabaret project or her contemporary gospel project. So she first put it up as a free download on her site, and later on she put it up as a paid single. You can also buy the single CD at her shows.

Everyone is trying to figure it out -- the CD is part of the mosaic, but the stand-alone single is becoming a good sales tool as well.

Certainly is true that a lot of people, particularly kids, are more inclined to use the digital distribution services. Given that, I still think having a cd is important for credibility for a young artist to get attention, get gigs and open doors. We have certainly found that to be true.

Tom

If you want to know when the CD is really close to the end, watch Luxury and Low End new cars. When those stop putting CD players in at all (most accomodate mp3 players too) then you know it's a matter of short time. I just checked several high end and low end (and in between for that matter) and ALL of them had CD players as standard equipment and 6 disc changers as upgrades. We've still got a while. Artists NEED CD's to have something to sell at shows... giving them stuff that might lead to later sales on line etc. is bad business.. you gotta get the money in person. That's your best shot.

Brian

They were still putting cassette players in cars long after tape (very suddenly) disappeared from view...

The change from CD to MP3 often seems to be made analogous to the change from something like vinyl to CD - but really, it's more like the shift from sheet music to recorded music, since it fundamenally alters the way the music is distributed and controlled, and opens up the very closed world of copyright and publishing to a much needed re-assessment

Of course music publishing never went away, at least in some form - perhaps the physical media will not either.

The biggest difference between CDs and Mp3s is the sound quality. It is very easy to hear the difference on a lot of songs, particularly if you listen to the CD and the Mp3 back to back. Now combine that with people offering higher and higher quality stereo systems in cars and you'll find they won't loose the CD player for a while because there is no way to replace a high quality source with a file yet (at least not on a wide scale).

There is also no practical way to sync things between your car and your computer/home/mp3 player. Plug-in cars are coming and its only a short step before they begin connecting to the home network while they're charging. That could sync music, movies and games (obviously for the passengers, not the drivers :-P) with what you have stored at home, but until that technology becomes widespread, CDs will still be around.

I believe P Diddy (or whatever he calls himself these days) recently started offering higher bit-rate downloads for a little more money to allow people to hear higher quality versions of his tracks. The files are bigger though, and they're impractical to download over a mobile network (at least around here), simply because it takes to long. I'm of the generation that expects to have access to what I want whenever and wherever I want it.

CDs also allow you to leave something tangible with someone who wants (or you force!) to listen to your music. I'm not leaving them an iPod because they're relatively expensive, but a CD is a pretty cheap way to get your stuff heard and it also has space for you to write your name, address and phone number so they stay with the songs. I have my songs on my iPhone (which I carry everywhere) but if I were seriously shopping them I would have them on CDs as well.

Just a few random thoughts on where things are going.

NPR story on the demise of the CD: "The Innovation that Ate Itself"

That has more to do with the economy and people buying CD's in stores that don't even exist anymore than it does with the importance of an artist playing in a small club having something to generate income for them.

Are they making less CDs now 10+ years into digital music files? Sure. Is the CD done for yet? Nope. It was just a couple months ago that Sony stopped making the casette tape walkman that came out in something like the early 80's or earlier. Last time I was at an electronics store, you could still buy casette players and blank tapes. I still have 6000 albums on Casette tapes that I am not going to re-purchase or transfer to digitial. I just play them back in the dozens of cassette players around the house including on every boombox we own (several due to previous years of the music awards). Heck, I got 3 cassette tapes of music from members in the last 6 months, though it violates our policy of CD only submissions (except when we partner with CD Baby for digital files). We still got 10K albums via CD last time.

Brian

Brian

I think it is important to consider that the demise of physical media is a good thing for independent musicians in terms of cost - promoting and distributing CDs is expensive and time-consuming compared to digital distrubution.

On the other hand, you can't easily sell an MP3 at a gig...but you can advertise the fact that your music is there to download.

You still need to shift a lot of CDs to make it worthwhile.

Dan

There are still quite a few cd's out there. It will be a while, in my estimation, before they go away. For now, I think they are very important - as least for our purposes.

Tom

I have purchased mp3 download cards from several artists in the last few years. It was pretty easy.

I'd forgotten about download cards - well, there you go, that's it for CDs!!

My iPhone can actually do quite a bit via the built in Safari browser...meaning you can go on line to transact if you want to...just payment though. For example, in Canada, we can use an interac email transfer.

Iphones have to sync via your computer though to actually get the music. That is done via an iTunes interface you download to your Win or Apple and use to move things back and forth.

John -

With an iPhone you can download anything from iTunes via the build in shop. I've never tried any of the other download services (Amazon, etc.) with the phone. Most of what I want I can find on iTunes. The songs are immidiately available on the phone. They will sync back to your computer when you next plug it in.

I believe there are apps for most of the other download services, although as I said, I've never tried them. Anything you buy through your phone on iTunes can also be synced with your iPad or iPod as long as it is authorized on the same computer.

Dan,

I strongly disagree with your statement. How much do you make off the download of an album on iTunes? CD's can regularly be found on sale for 999 for 1000. So at a buck a piece, you can make 9-14 dollars in profit depending on what you sell if for at a live show. That's WAY better margin than iTunes.

Brian

Brian

Certainly it's a much bigger margin for each sale...if you order a lot of them and sell them at those prices. I guess if you tour constantly and sell CDs at every gig, then it is a worthwhile venture. I know plenty of bands and artists who have plenty of old stock from CDs they ordered in bulk...

All I do know is that 5 years ago I sold CDs and the odd download, now I make way more from digital sources. I don't get CDs in any quantity any more. I get a few for promo and sell cheaply at gigs - perhaps you guys in the US are all shifting big units, but that just doesn't happen here! Certainly the only mail order CDs I ever sell are in the US!

Dan

Apart from the profit margin being bigger on Cds...more money made from less unit sales.....the HUGE advantage of selling CDs at gigs is the impulse effect.....when people see the artist there signing Cds and chatting with the punters they often join that queue as an impulse to get a personalised CD......you do not get that with downloads. These extra sales are ones you would never get any other way. It is also a good way of promoting as these Cds will get heard by family and friends of the people who bought and they would normally never hear your music any other way.

Yes, that queue of fans looking for signed CDs...

I think both artist and fan get something out of the interaction of selling/buying a CD - I just think CDs are a waste of time. Obviously all you Big Shots disagree, but that's my experience of my own venture into independent musicianship.

Possibly the few people who enjoy what I do are all tech-savvy and have iPods!

Dan

When you are stranded two hundred miles (Kilometers) from home and need just enough money to get back home CD's start looking very attractive to you. No Tech savy person is going to pay you for something he/she can get free on his/her I pod.

Has nothing to do with Big Shots.has to do with common sense. CD's are mostly impulse at the point of sale. Selling them and signing them gives fans something to take home after the show and creates a face to face bond with the audience. Tech stuff doesn't do that. Which is why most recorded music has lost it's value. If people feel it is no more than a random signal to a computer, they feel no desire to pay for it.

MAB

MAB

Selling Cds at gigs is a neat little earner. As Mark says "Big Shots" does not enter the equation it is common sense to maximise every sales and exposure opportunity. It is easy and cheap to produce your own CDs at home.......I burn my own and print direct onto the disc using software that is cheap and easy to use. My HP printer that I use for this has paid for itself many times over.

CDs as emergency collateral?

Random signals, Marc - I think you underestimate the everyday music fan. If the music is good, the format is irrelevant, n'est-ce pas?

This is becoming a very strange discussion.

CDRs are a fine thing - I have made much use of the home-produced CD, and will continue to do so - but it seems to me that high volume CD runs are a waste of money and time unless you can be certain of shifting them.

Dan,

I don't underestimate anyone. Just have 37 years of experience doing this. The overall point is that today's musician is no more just a musician or a writer. He or she is a marketing person, a manager, a booking agent, and a merchandiser. Every little bit helps because that is what the music business is, a LOT of little bits.

The days of making huge fortunes are pretty much gone so having CD's are just one more part of a merchandising thing that makes the audience become fans. And make them a part of a singer or band's career. Something physical to leave with. Same as t-shirts and hats. SWAG. Stuff we all get.

And yes, picking up $50 or $100 that you were not anticipating does come in handy to buy that going home meal, an extra couple of beers or gas (petrol) money.

I am not decrying the use of electronic media, it is very important, going to one of the most important parts we have. But again as to the title of this thread, CD's (In Short runs ALWAYS)the "death of the CD" is still a ways off. Every little bit helps.

MAB

Well said Marc.......some musicians can make more from Cd sales at gigs than appearance money. I know many folk who do....I have done it myself......often. I agree that we are fast becoming an electronic transfer society......but physical copies are here for a very long time yet. That said there is a big difference between amateurs or semi pros who attend open mics and play small venues occasionally to full time pros who perform live gigs for a living.

I thought I had made that point, but if I didn't, CD's are souvenirs of their experience.. like buying a hat or shirt. MP3 download cards etc. are largely forgotten or tossed.

Brian

People like to hold and touch something.

Tom

A CD collection is impressive, as is a record collection but you just can't get excited about a million Mp3 files on a computer, it's just not the same somehow!!

I'll concede the CD is dead when mine stop selling at my gigs.
Hasn't happened yet.

THEE bottom line is like i said, you and your music are LOST COMPLETELY to the world including your family, grand kids, kids kids... unless you have something laying around in a box somewhere for them to physically PICK UP and check out.

That's it! period.

The actual original questions were -

'Future of the CD???' and 'Worth investing in physical CDs Anymore?'

- and no matter what else anyone may feel on the matter, they will soon or later become very much a secondary music format. The quality isn't even that great (an issue which gets bandied about still, for some reason) as can be attested by anyone who ever hears the final 16 bit mixdown compared to the original higher quality recordings that even I can manage on my recording set up!

In the meantime, if you can sell them, then they are worth the investment.

Two very different questions really.

The best way to approach music, however, is to do it because you love doing it, then become better at it, and then get better again. It is for this reason that we should all encourage the culture of independent digital distribution amongst listeners and musicians because it frees people to be better artists. Or so it seems to me.

Anyway, it's always interesting to hear different opinions!

Dan

Hi

Actually the answer is the same no matter how you put the question.
Is it worth investing in? Well doesn't that depend on what your goals for you and you music are?

If the simplest goal you can have is just to have your music in the hands of another human being any human being,after your gone
then it's worth putting in on CD.

Now should you make a thousand copies? well if your gigging and trying to sell yourself, ah yes of course.
Should you go fancy or inexpensive and simple? Again it all depends on you and what your doing and how much your music is worth to YOU.

Besides all the obvious there is usually always a bottom line. Something that makes you finally make a decision on things.
That's what I'm getting at, Forget the music business and making money for a second, if it depended on that I would'nt spend a dime on CD's or anything else.
If your not sure to invest in some CD's think about whether you care that your kids and there kids know that you made music.
That CD is the only way there gonna about it..

Now back to technical, when the format of EVERYTHING stops being round shaped, silver and the exact same size as a CD then worry about it. When Playstation games aren't on CD/ CD/shapes when Blu Ray aren't and DVD's aren't and blanks of both aren't. When the computers we ALL have to not take the discs, then we'll know too change. Until then if you make music your alright making it to a CD. Nothing we can do about changing formats that haven't changed yet. So how we feel about is all that does matter.

Nothing else to think about - The End!

Quality? Most kids listen to crappy MP3 downloads through earplugs....and the chart music even heard as a 64 bit wav is not worth listening to anyway....
Yes the future of the Cd is limited......but there are a good few years left in them yet....Surely it is horses for courses and we all should use the best medium to suit our own needs. So we use downloads and Cds till it all changes and THEN we use the next invention they come up with.

Invest in the physical product. Don`t be fooled by todays wonderful technology of digital downloads; people still want something in their hands that can be autographed. Even if the CD is not autographed your fans will appreciate having a CD with graphics, and liner note information. I am not saying ignore digital downloads; no - of-couses not, but I am saying CDs are going to be with us for awhile.

Good luck with your project; I wish you the best, and continue doing what you are doing; asking questions.

I'd say go for Cd's if you play out and have the means to sell them that way. If you don't play out and your doing it just for the novelty of having your own cd go for it but understand at some point you'll probably have 872 cd's sitting in your closet collecting dust and if your ok being out the investment go for it.

Forget CD's. I can't keep up with all of this new-fangled technology. A while back, I found a cassette by a band that became popular back in the 80's called Maxell. I didn't remember hearing any of their music, so I thought I would give it a listen. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to play in my 8-track player. A friend told me I needed a special player called a "cassette player." Evidently these cassette players are in pretty high demand because I couldn't find one anywhere. Eventually, after months of searching I found one at a pawn shop a few cities away. Excited that I could finally see what all the fuss was about this Maxell band, I put the tape in and pressed "play". Guess what. Evidently either the player doesn't work or there is some problem with the tape. I couldn't hear a thing except a very low-level hiss. I'm giving up. Like I said, I can't keep up with this new technology.

You are dead right Kevin.........you cannot go wrong with the increasingly popular Mr Edison's tin foil cylinder with the needle scraping across it...BUT remember not to crank the handle too fast or hard as you will bust the spring.....OH and for the larger gigs get a bigger horn.

What in the world is tape?

Me with Keith--partly, anyway. For those who perform live (like me), audiences are going to want something tangible to take away as a memento of the event. The CD will be "merch," like Madonna said--just like the T-shirts, buttons or (in my case) thongs. It has the additional advantage of being able to be given to friends (which probably will not happen with the thongs). Downloads--digital anything, really--won't cut it. We're not selling a sound, we're selling a *memory*.

That said, I think CDs will go by the board--maybe not immediately, but after a while. They are, as one Far East music publisher told me, outdated technology (they have been around since 1985), and the New Thing Over There is to have your album on flash drive, not CD. (And flash drive makes sense, because of all that increased capacity. You can have every song be a music video.)

The lesson for the performing band or musician, therefore, is: yes, get CDs. Don't spend a lot of money, and order short runs. So I have ordered the Deathgrass album on CDs. But the album for Southern Pigfish (The Band That Doesn't Exist), when it comes out, will be on flash drive as an experiment, to see how it goes. And every song will be a music video. Again, to see how it goes.

Joe

I printed 1,000 CDs of "Antigravity" (http://www.cdbaby.com/zircon7) my third album of seven, and my most popular in my discography. It has since done very well in terms of sales and licensing, but I've only sold 400-500 physicals since it was released. On the other hand, digital sales have been going way, WAY up. I won't print 1k physicals again, maybe only 200-300.

Andrew do you play live gigs regularly?.....It is a diff scenario for live bands than for studio or non performing songwriters. I would not sell many hard copies if I did not play regular live gigs. I think that is why people have mixed feelings on CD V downloads

Nope, I don't perform live. I agree that if I did, I would print up more CDs.