#112 - What do CDs and Jimmy Garoppolo have in common?
#112 - What do CDs and Jimmy Garoppolo have in common?
If you're a football fan, then you might have watched the NFL Conference Championship games. The 49ner's lost to the Rams and many of us were sad about that. You might have also heard the debate whether CDs will make a comeback. What do these unlikely conversations have in common?
Jimmy Garoppolo had a lot of 'haters' in the Bay Area. Sports news media in the Bay Area, especially. The national media loved Jimmy. Bay Area sports broadcasters liked to blame every loss on an interception rather than the defense's inability to stop the opposing team, or bad play calling on the sidelines, or the opposing team's defense outsmarting the run. There was a heavy push to get Trey Lance in and Jimmy out as if Trey could have done better with no NFL experience.
But the reality to me is that Jimmy was pushed out by Bay Area sports media. There was a silent campaign that must have brought listeners to their station when complained about Jimmy. Seems to me that this was bad promotion pushing Jimmy out of San Francisco. The noise got so bad that no one wanted to hear about it anymore.
If you look at the stats, Jimmy did pretty well. He won the majority of the games at SF. Got a losing team back on track to the final four teams. Yet, all signs are pointing to Jimmy being traded to another team where he will hopefully have a great year and more than likely beat the pants off the 49ners next year.
So what does this have to do with CDs?
CDs never went away. They got a bad reputation because people bought too many. They were easy and convenient and sounded pretty good. The path became divided... you either took to streaming lower quality mp3s or bought vinyl for the cover art (and sometimes the sound quality, though, knowing what goes on with manufacturing and lifetime playability, I have some doubts). The reality is the musicians lose with vinyl and mp3s. There's very little margin in making vinyl and is mostly a promotion gimmick. Sure at times and with an expensive setup, you can get great sound, but the majority of people won't experience that.
Whether you're streaming MP3 or HD audio, the amount of hassle, system updates, intermittent wifi or internet, it will have a hard time keeping up with the consistency of a download or CD. And for the musician or label, it's a losing battle. Streaming in any format doesn't pay out... and it's not because the label doesn't pay... it's because the streaming companies tell us they aren't making enough money to pay higher stream rates. Soooo ... the consumer doesn't want to pay and the company doesn't want to pay... who loses? The musicians and the labels that support them.
I'm a fan of DSD and downloads. If you want a great sound, buy DSD or an HD download. It's not the most convenient way to listen but it sounds spectacular when you get it setup. For convenience, nothing really beat the CD in my mind. And maybe that's coming to light for a lot of people.
Are CDs making a comeback?
Well, a few people seem to think so. And for good reason. Once you buy a disc you own it. It doesn't go off line if the artist pulls their music from the service or an obscure piece of music you happened to love is removed from Spotify and becomes lost forever. The platforms are controlling your music and what you hear... not you.
Vinyl is expensive to produce. You're not going to find the music you love and want to own on vinyl. CDs, on the other hand, are relatively easy to produce and can sound decent. Best news is an artist can make less than 5 at a time for consumers. CDs can be produced "on demand" as we do with our Gold CDs (MQDs that are made directly from the masters).
It seemed to be a matter of time when a new generation discovered CDs just as they discovered vinyl and now cassettes. This article seems to think CDs are having a turn around year. I hope so... for the sake of musicians more than the average consumer. The reliability, good sound (not as good as DSD, but good enough), ease of use should find them great homes with people who appreciate the work that went into the music. Here's an article about CDs sales and other things....
So maybe Jimmy G and CDs weren't the best but they were reliable and win most of the time if you look at the stats....
CDs did well for musicians and Jimmy G did well for him team. I hope they both make great comebacks and fools of those that denied them their place.
Just like there was a whole generation of kids who never experienced vinyl, there's a new generation coming that will find fascination in owning CDs. Fingers crossed.
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Enjoy your music in any fashion,
Cookie, the founder and producer, Marenco