Just like most people, I can very comfortably put my head in the sand. While I knew this day would come — I’ve been selling out of all of my CD titles — I was putting off making a decision about what to do about it. Should I press up more CDs or not?
Other than a few short run CDs for Necessity, my last few releases have been digital only (they were only available as a download), so you would think my decision would be an easy one. But it’s not. I put a huge amount of time into the CD format. Spent time learning about printing, pressing, shipping costs and learned a few hard lessons about distributors along the way too. I’m an indie, so I’ve also done a whole bunch (read thousands and thousands and thousands…) of packing up and mailing CDs. I guess you would call that skin in the CD game.
But the reality is, pressing up thousands of CDs in the current market is not an easy decision for me to make. And short run CDs are such a hassle — they cost a lot to make and they don’t play in every CD player. To top it off, I’m finding I’m endlessly busy these days doing non-creative stuff. That has to change and part of that change is stopping selling CDs. So I’m taking my head out of the sand — it’s all digital from here on out.
Jamie Bonk 