Oyzon, Joanna

Zaleski, A. (2018, February 10). The CD is dead? Not so fast. Salon. Retrieved from: https://www.salon.com/2018/02/10/the-cd-is-dead-not-so-fast/

Two huge retailers, Target and Best Buy, are reevaluating their compact disc sales strategies. Target wants to pay music labels only for what is sold (instead of buying CDs upfront and then returning them for credit). Best Buy, in an even bigger move, has decided to stop selling CDs as of July 1. CD sales have been slipping for years (as vinyl record sales have increased). However, streaming still dominates. As Zaleski states, "On-demand audio and video streams sales increased 43% to 618 billion. Physical and digital album sales, meanwhile, decreased 17.7 percent, to 169.15 million, " (2018). However, she believes compact discs will still be used by those without a solid internet connection and people who prefer stability in their music collection.

I am not surprised that CDs are decreasing in popularity. I don't remember the last time I bought a physical CD, and I have been using streaming services (Google Play, Spotify and now Amazon) for years now.  But... I've also got a library of my own music from my decades-long music buying days that I have digitized back when the iPod was popular. When I listen to new music I like, I'm able to listen to it for while... until it disappears from the streaming catalog, then I buy it digitally. Hoopla is a streaming service that is in use by libraries, but it doesn't have everything. For example, I just searched for Radiohead. There where no albums. So unless you want to hear a karaoke or a piano tribute to Radiohead, you're out of luck. In the future, when digital and streaming are much more dependable than they are now, I see libraries no longer having physical CD collections. Currently though, if having a stable music collection with breadth that is usable by people without a solid internet collection is important to a library, then physical CDs are the way to go.

A View from Outside the Box

Lederer, Haylee

Bradford, R. (2015). A View from Outside the Box. Library Journal, 140(12), 50. 

Summary: This short article discusses a particular problem that a lot of libraries face today: music licensing. It brings attention to issues that the digital age is producing for libraries. The author claims that "Many librarians may not be aware that playing music during programs, or for most purposes, requires a license" (pg. 50). This has the capacity to bring unnecessary legal issues to libraries, who may or may not have the means to handle them. The author expresses surprise at this problem, because of how wholeheartedly most libraries embrace digital content.

Evaluation: This article was really short, but it served as a good source to start looking into libraries and digital issues. It presents the reader with a specific library who is dealing with this issue. It could also be used as inspiration for other libraries who maybe dealing with the same thing. I found the article really interesting, because music and copyright are not things that I think about very often. Because of the radio and internet streaming, music just seems always readily available, as well as free. As librarians, I think it's important to remember that there are legal hoops that need to be jumped through if the institution is interested in providing music for its patrons.