CD Sales Plummet As Digital Music Sales Explode
Jul 5th, 2007 | By James Lewin | Category: Digital Music, iPods & Portable Media PlayersCD sales are taking a dive this year, as more and more music fans get their music fix from free music podcasts and digital music services like iTunes.
229.8 million albums were sold in the United States from Jan. 1 to July 1, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures. That is a 15 percent decrease over the same period last year. In the same period, sales of digital tracks were 417.3 million, a 49 percent increase.
While digital sales are growing rapidly, they aren’t growing as fast as album sales are dropping. The decrease in album sales is 9.2 percent when digital sales are included. The gap is attributed by many to the fact that many people are now buying hit singles instead of an entire CD.
This was the idea behind the 45 RPM singles.
I remember those…..
has anyone thought that sales are down because all the music produced these days is woeful crap !
[…] It’s inevitable, and the music industry is just going to have to get used to it: now that music is sold digitally, millions of consumers will no longer be buying albums in favor of buying individual songs they like.¬† I certainly purchased music this way for themost part until I hit high school, before I began delving into ’seminal’ music from the independent underground and preferred digesting full albums.¬† It’s been years since I bought an album based on one song alone, but that may be the nature of the artists I listen to, i.e. no one-hit wonders.¬† Yes I’m a snob and I don’t care no mo. Posted in Music. […]