"It's a tip of the hat to the past and the tip of the hat to the future," said Perry Watts-Russell, a senior vice president at Warner Bros. Records Inc., which signed the band.

The label expects the Sun to be the first of many artists to embrace a no-CD, video-only strategy. And that is part of a larger move away from the traditional album concept that some experts say is steering the CD the way of the hand-cranked gramophone.

Watts-Russell of Warner Bros. acknowledges that all-video and all-Internet distribution changes the definition of the word "album" -- a sequenced body of songs with heavy emphasis on the all-important cover art.

"I think the gestalt of having an album has been changing on its own, with or without this change," he said. "A few years from now, this is going to be exceedingly common," Watts-Russell said. "You can avoid the CD. It's on its way out. It's in no way out now, but the writing is on the wall."

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