You read it well. The major labels plan to abandon the CD-format by the end of 2012 (or even earlier) and replace it with download/stream only releases via iTunes and related music services. The only CD-formats that will be left over will be the limited edition ones, which will of course not be available for every artist. The distribution model for these remaining CD releases would be primarily Amazon which is already the biggest CD retailer worldwide anyhow.

3 weeks ago we heard it for the first time and since then we have tried getting some feedback from EMI, Universal and Sony. All declined to comment.

The news doesn't come as a surprise to those who have been working in the business. In a piece that was published in a q&a with the Alfa Matrix people back in June 2011 in the 1st issue of "Matrix Revelations", our chief editor Bernard Van Isacker said the following when asked if a CD would still exist in 5 years: "Yes, but in a different format. Normal CDs will no longer be available because they don't offer enough value, limited editions on the other hand will remain available and in demand for quite a few more years. I for one buy only limited editions because of the added value they offer: a nice design, extra bonus gadgets, etc. The album as we know it now however will be dead within 5 years, if it isn't even sooner. I predict that downloads will have replaced the CD album within the next 2 years. I don't see that as something negative, it just has run its course, let's leave the space to limited editions (including vinyl runs for bigger acts) and downloads instead."

It's a move that makes completely sense. CD's cost money, even when they don't sell because there is stock storage to be paid; a label also pays money to distributors when CDs get returned to the labels when not sold and so on. In short, abandoning the CD-format will make it possible to just focus on the release and the marketing of it and no longer focus on the distribution (since aggregators will do the work as far as dispatching the releases to services worldwide) and - expensive - stock maintenance. In the long run it will most surely mean the end for many music shops worldwide that only stock and sell CD releases. In the UK for instance HMV has problems paying the labels already and more will follow. It makes the distribution of CDs no longer worth it.

Also Amazon will benefit from this as it will surely become the one and only player when it comes to distribution of the remaining CD productions from labels. Packaged next to regular album downloads via its own Amazon MP3 service it will offer a complimentary service.

The next monument to fall? That will be printed magazines as people will want to consume their information online where they also read most of the news.

What are your feelings? is it a move that you like or not?

Update: We were approached by several people working with major labels, who indeed re-confirm that plans do exist to give up the CD. We keep on trying to get an official confirmation, but it seems that the matter is very controversial, especially after Side-Line brought out the story

I remember having a conversation down the pub about 10 years ago saying I would never download music ( I also said I would never own a mobile phone either). In the last couple of years though I have downloaded several albums just to save a few pennies. I would be disappointed though if the CD format disappeared altogether. It is nice just to own something that you can touch. I have stacks of CD's all around me and its a big part of my life.However as long as they keep the special editions its not so bad I suppose ,I could live with it.

Warthur wrote: Could this turn into a boon for smaller labels? I can foresee the circumstances going like this: Major labels abandon CDs -> Brick and mortar stores realise that devoting themselves to mainstream CD sales is a loser's game, and turn to independent labels to acquire stock, reasoning that they can survive by catering to niche/connoisseur markets instead -> Independent labels suddenly find it easier to get their CDs into stores where previously major label releases crowded them out. The upshot of this would be a market where mainstream music is sold on a song by song basis on the internet, whilst CDs/albums are the purview of particular musical scenes (the indie/hipster crowd, the metal crowd, classical fans, jazz fans, us). When you want to acquire the hit song you just heard on the radio, you hit up Google, when you want to discover new music from outside of your comfort zone you stroll down to the CD store and use the listening booths to check out artists you wouldn't normally hear on the radio. I could live with that.

This is the future, no doubts whatsoever.

Another thing which is becoming apparant now is that the top seller lists is a joke now. Vera Lynn got a top 1 album by selling 60 000 copies in a week. Susan Boyle is releasing her new album on Monday and is a sure candidate for the top 1 for a long while without selling even a fraction of what a chart topper sold 20 years ago.  

And here is the whole point.

Buyers of Vera Lynn and Susan Boyle is not likely to illegally or even legally downloading their albums. There is no hit lists on piracy, but I would guess the new Justin Bieber or even the new Metallica/Lou Reed album is illegally downloaded twenty - fifty times more than Susan Boyle's new album. That is not even a guess. That is an almost certainty. What does this tell the bean counters in the multi national companies ? That the CD/LP paying customers are middle aged and pensioneers in the age group 45 to 105 years old. Those are the ones paying your bills now. The youth market from 10 to 45 years old are thieves which you cannot trust to buy your stuff/pay your bills. 

This is going to dawn on the Warner bosses and the new owners of EMI who are taking over a sinking ship and somehow have to stop the ship from going under. Where are the labels going to invest their money again ? Take a guess.