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CD Music Sales Down 20% In Q1 2007

Posted by kdawson on from the RIP-CD dept.

prostoalex writes "Music sales are not just falling, they're plummeting — by as much as 20% when you compare January-March 2007 with the 2006 numbers. The revenue numbers are actually worse, since CD prices are under pressure. The Wall Street Journal lists many factors contributing to the rapid decline: 800 fewer retail outlets (Tower Records' demise alone closed 89); increasingly negative attitude towards CD sales from big-box retailers (Best Buy now dedicates less floor space to CDs in favor of better-selling items); and file sharing, among others. Songs are being traded at a rate about 17 times the iTunes Store's recent rate of sales. Diminishing CD sales means that you don't have to sell as many to get on the charts. The 'Dreamgirls' movie soundtrack recently hit #1 by selling 60,000 CDs in a week, a number that wouldn't have made the top 30 in 2005."

2 of 544 comments (clear)

  1. Welcome to the Asian markets by TubeSteak · · Score: 4, Informative

    Jeff Rabhan, who manages artists and music producers including Jermaine Dupri, Kelis and Elliott Yamin, says CDs have become little more than advertisements for more-lucrative goods like concert tickets and T-shirts. "Sales are so down and so off that, as a manager, I look at a CD as part of the marketing of an artist, more than as an income stream," says Mr. Rabhan. "It's the vehicle that drives the tour, the merchandise, building the brand, and that's it. There's no money."
    That is exactly how things are in Asia, due to rampant physical CD piracy.

    Guess what.
    Asia still has a thriving music industry.
    They just have to make their money differently.
    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
  2. Too many reasons for the fall by u19925 · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are just too many reasons why the CD sales are falling. Here are some of them:
    * Digital music sales
    * Satellite radio
    * Music channels on Cable TV
    * CD's last forever or can be archived on computer and once the media goes bad, you can burn again. This means no more replacement sales. In olden days people used to buy same album again because the media didn't last forever.
    * Lots of DVD/Computer/Games. People are spending their free times on these items instead of listening CD
    * You only need one CD for the entire family. Earlier, I used to buy multiple copies of same albums (for car, house, office etc). Not anymore.
    * Just a seasonal fluctuation with not too much of great music release. .....