Lorde’s brilliant idea

[manicm]

Lorde’s new album won’t be available on CD, but there will be an eco-friendly ‘music box’ with album art, postcards and other goodies with a voucher for a high-res download of the album

I think this is a brilliant idea that I hope other artists adopt. After all in most special edition CDs the packaging is so bad the CDs can be easily scratched.

 

[Florestander]

This may well be a method of marketing that reflects the current mood, but I wonder whether it will be followed at some point by a further CD or vinyl launch to satisfy those of us who like to touch, own tangible assets and reproduce them , via our equipment that we have so carefully curated for largely this purpose.

 

[nopiano]

That’s interesting. I wonder if it generates the same revenue for the artist as a traditional CD or LP would. That seems to be the rub with streaming, though it’s probably also the big labels seizing the opportunity for ever greater revenues from reselling stuff we’ve already bought multiple times on records, cassettes, CDs and special editions.

 

[Vincent Kars]

You mean some cardboard box with printed matter delivered by a diesel truck to a store?

 

[Al ears]

You mean some cardboard box with printed matter delivered by a diesel truck to a store?

that's the normal method of delivering physical media.....
and food and such like....

 

[Florestander]

...much the same as speakers and hi-fi components (including streamers) that are largely produced using industrial processes on a similar scale...

 

[Florestander]

But that is more of a political discussion, I think, and probably not one that should grace forums dedicated to the promotion, use and understanding of hi-fi technologies.

 

[nopiano]

But that is more of a political discussion, I think, and probably not one that should grace forums dedicated to the promotion, use and understanding of hi-fi technologies.

With all due respect it doesn’t infringe any Community Rules that I can see, and it’s not for you to tell us what’s suitable or otherwise.

 

[Florestander]

Fair enough - however, it seems that most of us on this forum are here to celebrate hi-fi and music technologies, to help each other and exchange experiences on matters connected to hi-fi. In my experience, political discussions tend to arouse different passions. and did not join the site to indulge in political discourse or to indulge in criticism of other peoples experiences, This is of course, a personal preference and a personal opinion. If my objection to political discourse offends anybody's sensibilities, then I apologise. It is not my intention - maybe I am on the wrong forum.

 

[Deleted member 116933]

That’s interesting. I wonder if it generates the same revenue for the artist as a traditional CD or LP would. That seems to be the rub with streaming, though it’s probably also the big labels seizing the opportunity for ever greater revenues from reselling stuff we’ve already bought multiple times on records, cassettes, CDs and special editions.

There’s certainly an lp on the way. August some time. Probably made from recycled plastic like London grammars new album was.

 

[Deleted member 116933]

@Vincent Kars They’re probably using soy based ink, fsc certified paper and so on. Hopefully the factory is running on sustainable energy.
Dropping the cd will actually drop the carbon footprint drastically.

Delivery infrastructure will always be a sticking point but the load should be lighter allowing them to carry more units in one container . So on theory should be a lot better than normal as less trucks would be required for delivery. In theory!

 

[nopiano]

There’s certainly an lp on the way. August some time. Probably made from recycled plastic like London grammars new album was.

I was only reading today how warped and noisy many new LG records have been - not the recorded crackles!

 

[12th Monkey]

Seems to me that there's nothing political about matters being environmentally friendly - all parties (at least in the UK) are leaning increasingly in that direction. But back on topic, hasn't this been done before? I thought one of Radiohead's albums was released electronically - at least at first.

I can see the sense in the act discussed in the OP, but it wouldn't be for me if she were an artist I liked.

 

[Deleted member 116933]

I was only reading today how warped and noisy many new LG records have been - not the recorded crackles!

I was one of the lucky ones, as I have one of the signed ones. which makes me think they were transported in a very warm environment. But yeah no crackles on the players I've tried them on sounds pretty good tbh.

 

[Vincent Kars]

that's the normal method of delivering physical media.....
and food and such like....

Agree, but in case of food etc it is unavoidable.
In case of music there no need imho for physical distribution, a download only will do.

 

[idc]

Lorde’s new album won’t be available on CD, but there will be an eco-friendly ‘music box’ with album art, postcards and other goodies with a voucher for a high-res download of the album

I think this is a brilliant idea that I hope other artists adopt. After all in most special edition CDs the packaging is so bad the CDs can be easily scratched.

I don't see how that is eco-friendly. Streaming has to be the most eco-friendly method of listening to music possible.

 

[manicm]

I don't see how that is eco-friendly. Streaming has to be the most eco-friendly method of listening to music possible.

Yes, but for those like who still like the packaging. I've bought an awful lot of CDs in the last several months, and plan to buy more. There's that remastered Metallica Black album coming in Sep...

 

[insider9]

I don't see how that is eco-friendly. Streaming has to be the most eco-friendly method of listening to music possible.

I don't know if that's the case as it's incredibly difficult to determine. All these servers powered on 24/7 all over the world just so most people can listen to these few albums we like vs making a physical copy in a cardboard box that can be replayed repeatedly at no additional impact to the environment.

Isn't it an equivalent of owning and running a walk-in freezer just so you can use one ice cube every time you fancy a whisky when you know you're a wine drinker? I'm not encouraging anyone to be wasteful or not to care about environment; only pointing out these generalisations might not necessarily be to our planet's advantage.

 

[idc]

I suppose the impact of streaming means finding out how much energy Spotify uses on all those servers and divide that per streamed track. Then find out how much energy is used to make a CD, package and transport is and then divide by how many times that CD is played.