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Another nail was driven into the coffin of CDs this week after music giant Sony announced they were no longer sending them as promos to journalists. From 1 May all reviewers will have to use the major's digital previews system instead. Many in the music industry have wondered how long the major record companies could justify the cost of pressing up extra CDs for reviewers, while subsidising the jiffy bag industry and the Royal Mail. There appears to be a 50/50 of split of reviewers, between those who prefer to get MP3s or streaming links to review, and those who still want the physical product in an envelope. While some are thankful they will have cleaner newsrooms, others think disks in envelopes still have a bigger impact, as few open every email and e-cards they receive. Record companies preview track systems have also been criticised. Sony is the first record company to make the leap into digital-only promos - while 87.5% of albums sales are on CD; sales are down for the fifth year in a row while single download sales continue to soar. According to Music Week, the major's top man chief bloke Ged Doherty said in an email recently: "Digital promo is set to become an industry standard as other major and independent music companies also make the switch. Physical stock is expensive, difficult to store and environmentally unfriendly. The digital e-card system that we have developed and tested in-house will provide all our partners across radio, television, press and retail with the same sound quality you are used to as well as artist images, pack shots, press clippings and other content to give you a complete picture of each release". The music media will be split on this development. The music journalism legend that is David Hepworth, now overseer of The Word and Mixmag, of course, wrote on his blog this week: "I know all the arguments about the decline of physical product but this move shows that record companies don't understand what goes on in the head of a hack who gets scores of new records every day, most of them by people he's never heard of. I'm sure there are lots of good reasons for Sony making this move. Should send a shiver through the Jiffy Bag business for a start. I also predict that within a year when they want reviewers to take notice of something they'll start sending out copies again". Additional reporting by CMU Network
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