Is The Compact Disc Format Dead?

by Terrence O'Brien on June 26, 2007 at 02:10 PM

It's no secret that the music industry is hurting. Bad press, easy-to-find free music, and a release calendar consistently filled with nominees for our most irritating song list have cost the major labels dearly. At the same time that the industry as a whole is being yanked down by plummeting CD sales, digital music sales have increased enough to make iTunes the number 3 music retailer behind Wal-Mart and Best Buy.

Apple has taken 9.8 percent of the music market, rolling right past Amazon and Target. We do, however, have a slight issue with how this was calculated. In the study, single song downloads were converted to album sales by assuming every 12 songs sold equaled one album. This isn't an absurd way to calculate the total, but we can't help but feel it's inflating iTunes percentage of the market place.

On the plus side, indie bands are seeing more success. Whether this is part of a backlash against the major labels and their continuous output of safe, bland music, or simply a byproduct of the new reach they have with digital music and iTunes is hard to say.

Some experts are expecting digital music sales to climb 47 percent in 2007 and another 28 in 2008. However, overall music sales are expected to drop by nine percent in each year. What's more, experts estimate that CD sales will drop by 20 percent in the year 2008.

All of this begs the question, is the CD really dead?

From Forbes and Audioholics via Slashdot

Related links:

Tags: breaking+news, cd, digital music, DigitalMusic, itunes, top

Comments

Another Black SeasonJun 26th 2007 4:26PM

Neutral

I run an indie label Inner Dream Records. When I started the label a few years ago I said it will be a digital label only because of costs and I also saw the trend to digital coming on and replacing the CD. I say yes, the CD is going the way of vinyl.

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river WolfiJun 26th 2007 5:38PM

Neutral

As a consumer, I'll always want a great "hard copy" of my music. Thus, I'll want a CD. I still
have my favorite vinyl albums, including some childhood 78's ! While I love advances in technology.....I really detest having my playing
mediums become obsolete so quickly. Making for a
big $$ outlay. How long will it be before "digital" is dead? Or we absolutely HAVE to pay to get decent music much like we have to
now with TV ? (Cable or Dish) As for the music industry? I like music or I don't like it. I'm not label loyal, radio station loyal, only loyal to a few artists and celebrate that technology has allowed for the evolution of music of many kinds even as the record companies played it too safe.

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HeatherJul 7th 2007 12:06AM

Neutral

I only own 5 legit CDs. People don't want to spend all their money buying CDs when it's much easier to download hundreds of songs in minutes. It's sad but it's true.

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G-BenzStudioJul 8th 2007 7:44AM

Neutral

I remember years ago when the CD format first hit the streets (and cassette tapes were deemed "going the way of the dinosaurs"), only 5 or so plants were capable of producing the new format, thus justifying its high $16.99 cost per CD. Record companies assured the public that the cost would drop dramatically as the technology matured and more plants retooled to accomodate CD production.

The price drop never evolved, and the price remained fixed at $16.99 (and in fact, increased), confirming consumers' worst fears that record companies were just plain greedy.

I welcome the new digital format (despite its slightly degraded audio quality compared CD), and more so if it hurts the pockets of those same record companies that gouged us for years, forcing us to purchase bland album efforts in order to obtain one or two listenable recordings.

I also enjoy being able to pad my archives with older recordings that never made the transition from vinyl to CD, or were just unobtainable in any format until now.

Change is good. It forces companies to stay on their toes...the gravy train is over guys!

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EricJul 16th 2007 1:41PM

Neutral

Blame the RIAA, they were suing people based on the IP adress and if you know that AOL asighns the the same IP adress to mutiple users, there are going to be probems. There is a HUGE backlash aganist them because they keep all the money won in cases to them selfs and not the artist

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