Physical vs. Digital: Should Experimental Artists Still Press CDs in 2026?
By: The Guys Who Run RZRecords (yes, we're still here) So, you’ve spent the last six months hunched over a modular synth, a four-track, and a broken MP3 player sending signals through some pedals. You’ve captured the sound of a dying fluorescent light bulb, layered it with a field recording of a construction site, and set it to a rhythm only you and maybe your cat can understand. Congratulations. You’ve made exclusive art. Now comes the existential question that keeps us up at night here at RZRecords headquarters (which for some of us is a spare room with a lot of boxes, and for others a laptop): What format do you release it on? It’s 2026. We have streaming. Everyone's streaming away. We have high-resolution hid-def downloads. We have the infinite, intangible cloud. And yet, we’re here, seriously debating the merits of the Compact Disc. That shiny, 80s-era frisbee that everyone loves to mock. As a label that’s been “ruining the world of noise and jazz since the early 00s,...