Why Don't They Make CD Singles Like This Anymore?

[Diablo Cody™]

Beware, These Pictures Are Huge! People with Dial-up (Like Me ) are warned not to click.

Like This, This, And Like that!.

I took those pics with my digital camera because I was bored.

[WhySoSerious?]

Because people don't buy them. People buy digital downloads now, not CD singles.

[Diablo Cody™]

Damned those people. CD Singles had such pretty covers.

[Radical347]

What they need to do with CD singles is give you what you pay for, then people would buy them. I bought the CD single for "Stolen Car" beacause it had the radio edit, the Twista and Will.i.am remixes, and the video, all for 2.99.

[WhySoSerious?]

It's a ridiculous circle.  The labels say people won't buy singles and therefore they don't release singles.  Part of the reason people don't buy singles is because the selection is so poor and nothing gets released.  There is virtually no hope of them being revived with the success of iTunes though.

[Pink Champagne Ricochet]

I don't remember the "Nobody Wants to be Lonely" single released, except as an addition bundled in with Ricky Martin's album.

The American Idol singles, which are basically the only ones ever released any more, have crappy covers. Kelly Clarkson looks like she's selling you Girl Scout cookies, Clay Aiken looks like he has brocolli in his teeth, Fantasia seems to have been airbrushed out of any uniqueness in her look, and Diana DeGarmo's just blows.

[msanoja]

Are the iTunes single downloads gonna be factored into the Hot 100 anytime soon?

[Love Plastic Love]

I would buy singles :(
Every time I go to a store I look in the singles section hoping to find something good...but the selection is crappy and its mainly import singles for random artists for like, 8 dollars.
Where are the 1.99 and 2.99 singles with popular artists or good new artists, featuring at least 2-3 songs. :(

[jaxxalude]

TCorey said:

It's a ridiculous circle.  The labels say people won't buy singles and therefore they don't release singles.  Part of the reason people don't buy singles is because the selection is so poor and nothing gets released.  There is virtually no hope of them being revived with the success of iTunes though.

Well, what services like iTunes and Napster are bringing is something people were craving for a looooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnngggggg time: the possibility of buying only what they are really interested in. What I mean is (and I know I'm not saying anything new to you here ;)): people won't have to buy the whole album or single if they are not interested in it. They just buy what really clicks their ears.
As a person who actually works in the music business, don't you think everyone (buyers, artists, labels, even radio and TV people) will have it a lot more easier than now? Because this sounds way more honest than throwing the whole album through people's throats, just because it has that song.
Besides, the fact that those services allow streaming the songs before downloading them, I don't see a better way for people to get to know new music without it being imposed.

[WhySoSerious?]

Oh I have no problem with iTunes, I think it's awesome and will actually grow to be huge. I'm just pointing out that because of its success you're not going to see CD singles anymore.

Believe me, if the labels hadn't been suffering so badly, they probably would have held out offering legal downloads for a long time, using the same argument that they canabalize album sales. However, since everyone was downloading for free, they had to do something to get a piece of the digital pie.

[Slinky]

jaxxalude said:

Besides, the fact that those services allow streaming the songs before downloading them, I don't see a better way for people to get to know new music without it being imposed.

Unfortunately, this isn't true.  With iTunes, you only get to stream a 30-second clip.  This isn't really innovative, as Amazon and other online CD sites have been doing this for a long time.  Napster offers streaming, but only if you're a $10 a month subscriber.  Otherwise, you just get the 30-second clips like iTunes.

Now, what I think is really cool is what OD2 does in England.  You can stream any full song you want for 1 pence, which is something like a penny and a half in US dollars.  I think this "online jukebox" would be great for previewing a song and also in other situations.  Say you're holding a party, but your CD collection is low on party tunes.  Just fire up your Internet connection and pick 100 party songs to listen to and only pay a dollar.  Labels benefit from this because that's a dollar they're not losing to filesharing, and because there's a good chance that you'll choose to purchase some of the music you've previewed. 

Rhapsody or Napster would be great candidates to pick up a service like this since they already offer unlimited streaming subscriptions.  They just need to expand into a business model that also gives you the option of paying per stream.  It would certainly help them compete with iTunes.

[Pink Champagne Ricochet]

Why hasn't Billboard began counting digital downloads for all songs in the Hot 100 yet? As it is, they only count towards songs that already have commercial singles out. Surely any legal purchase should qualify.

[strong4PMB!]

ComputerFreak said:

Like that!

:o :o

[BlahBlahBlah]

I still don't like the fact that the formats you download through those services are "secured" which makes it real annoying because you have to use their players and they hog up so much memory.  Plus, I hate how some songs only allow you to burn it 3 times even though you purchased it.  What's up with that?

I'd rather pay a bit more and buy a physical CD single.

However, I do applaud iTunes for listing quality Internet Radio streams.

[mst3k]

Nice sheets.

[Diablo Cody™]

geoguy said:

:o :o

Yeah I know. That Angela Via CD single isn't in good condition. I have the "Picture Perfect" single too but that cover looks even worse than that one.

[George Tropicana]

I think the Maxi "I Don't Care" single came with the "Picture Perfect" video!

[chebingeo]

Labels need to release more singles, and not that garbage that Sony does when they release multiple songs in 1 week, but the songs are over a year old.

[Pink Champagne Ricochet]

Yeah, I absolutely hate that. Labels will release a bunch of old songs on single, and when they don't sell, they point to them as proof that the commercial CD single is dead. No, you idiots, it's because you're releasing them a year (or more!) too late. If they released actual hits while they were popular, they'd probably do better.

[KikiMets]

splitchick59 said:

Yeah, I absolutely hate that. Labels will release a bunch of old songs on single, and when they don't sell, they point to them as proof that the commercial CD single is dead. No, you idiots, it's because you're releasing them a year (or more!) too late. If they released actual hits while they were popular, they'd probably do better.

WORD. The concept of striking while the iron is hot seems foreign to the labels. Don't get me wrong, I love iTunes, but sometimes I want a single with a jewel case and a little piece of paper with a picture of the artist on one side and the lyrics/production credits on the other.

[BookJones]

I only cd singles I can find are import singles that cost around $10-11.99 each. Why in the hell do import cd cost so much in the US?

Not everbody want to buy hold cds for one or two songs on it. Then most of the time the radio versions are better than the lp versions.

I buy a lot of Compilations cds like "Now That What I Call Music" "Totally Hits" "The Source" etc.

People out side the US don't know how good thev have it.