Chandos to close its download service

[Mark Thomas]

Chandos has announced that's it's to close its download service on 25 October. In an email Managing Director Ralph Couzens writes: "The reason for the closure is purely that sales of digital downloads have been decreasing year on year, with many customers preferring to stream from their favourite streaming service. It has now become un-profitable for us to continue the service". If the  decline in download sales is an industry-wide trend, then this is a potentially worrying development for those of us who have focussed on owning downloads rather than CDs but I'm not panicking yet. Chandos has only ever offered the products of a relatively limited selection of labels, often at prices higher than UK rival Presto. In addition, it's now owned by Klaus Heymann, whose own Naxos operation relies on third party download sellers, rather than hosting its own service, so maybe his influence has informed Couzens' decision. Still, perhaps it's a straw in the wind?

[Alan Howe]

We need to keep an eye on what Presto does...

[Mark Thomas]

Presto now has its own streaming service, of course, so it has two bites of the digital cherry.

[Alan Howe]

Apologies - I meant that we need to keep an eye on whether Presto too will discontinue its download service.

[Mark Thomas]

Understood, I was just pointing out that they've already hedged their bets.

[Alan Howe]

I'm beginning to think about streaming...

[Mark Thomas]

The problem with streaming is that you lose access to the music if the streaming service withdraws an album or the service closes altogether. I'm old-fashioned enough to want to have ownership, even if it is only of a digital asset.

[Jonathan]

I agree!

[Maury]

Downloads have been declining faster than CD sales for years which I found a bit odd given the fascination with streaming. Anyway I assume downloads will be a niche service henceforth.

[TerraEpon]

They've been niche for a while now.
Someone on another site about the Chandos store closure linked this article here:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/billrosenblatt/2018/05/07/the-short-unhappy-life-of-music-downloads/ -- from over six years ago.

[Ilja]

Downloads have never become as profitable as everyone hoped. The huge commercial advantage of streaming is that the cost of infrastructure (which is enormous) is offset by a continuous revenue stream. In the case of downloads, you have to do more or less the same, but you only get paid once. And it gets worse as your catalogue expands.

I'm hoping Presto hangs on for some time to come, but I'm not that hopeful, and owning your own music now comes down to acquiring physical media (which not only doesn't work for me, but which I also think are on the way out because of infrastructural issues) or resorting to semi-legal tactics.

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks TerraEpon, an interesting article, which concludes: "downloads should soon fall off the map, and few will miss them". That was six years ago, so it hasn't happened yet, but I thought I was in the vanguard of progress and now I find I'm bringing up the rear of the funeral procession!

[Ilja]

What the first graph in that article also illustrates is how much of a commercial outlier the CD era has been. For the industry, unfortunately, that heydey has defined their "normal".

[Maury]

but I thought I was in the vanguard of progress and now I find I'm bringing up the rear of the funeral procession!

One guarantees the other!

But yes the death notice of the Download (and the CD) was a bit premature as the numbers in absolute terms are not trivial. But the steep downward direction is hard to ignore.

[Justin]

Why do you say physical media doesn't work for you, Ilja?