CD's are 25 years old this month. Sony sold the first ever CD player in Japan in October 1982 along with a copy of Billy Joel's album '52nd Street'. By 1988 they were the best selling music format and the death knell for vinyl was clear. But now the bell is tolling for the CD with the advent of digital downloads. So just how long can the format last ?
To date an incredible 20 billion CD's have been sold. The golden year for CD's was in 2000. That year almost 2.5 billion of the shiny things were sold Worldwide. However by 2006 that figure was already down to just over 1.7 billion.
Digital downloads are already taking their toll. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry predicts that at least 25% of the market will be downloads by 2010. And beyond that ? Well at that rate of growth there will inevitably be a tipping point in the next 5 years or so which could leave CD's as redundant as the vinyl it originally killed off. What goes around comes around I guess ...
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A Manchester lad in Tokyo. Singing karaoke in the place it was invented. Wonderwall. By Oasis. A true Manc band, if ever there was one. Talk about 'Lost in Translation' - I absolutely crucified it (you should have heard my version of Smokin' in the Boys Room though... it was epic). Anyway, I digress. There is plenty going on in the land of the rising sun when it comes to channel stuff ...
Had various meetings with contractors whilst I was out in Japan. Asahi TV for instance. They have been around for 50 years and are currently celebrating their anniversary. With the advent of digital TV and the spectre of IPTV on the horizon, were they concerned about diminishing market share ? Nope. Far from it. Rather than being a broadcaster, they consider themselves as being content makers and providers. Actually the delivery method is sort of irrelevant.
Whether the content is delivered via a traditional TV screen, a computer monitor, a handheld games unit, a mobile phone or any other method you care to think of they remain unconcerned. What matters is the content. And actually that's precisely what consumers think too in a world that is becoming increasingly digitised. Just give me the content when I want, where I want it and in a format I want. Selfish little buggers those consumers aren't they ?
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Steve Blakeman
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