Whilst I don't foresee the end of physical for a long time yet I agree with Nick that it is certainly becoming more of a niche collector's market with the third party independents leading the charge in respect to getting releases out there. I think as long as there is enough of a collector mentality then physical media will always be around in some form - just look at the resurgence of vinyl over the past few years for instance.
I personally feel we're in a golden age for physical media as consumers at the moment. We're practically spoiled for choice and the independents are all in competition with each other in an increasingly shrinking market meaning that the quality of releases has increased as they attempt to hook in the fans to buy their releases over that of another label's.
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