Friday, 3 January 2014

How CD sales have changed in the last 5 years

CD sales dropped dramatically in the last five years due to illegal downloading from the Internet and the widespread CD burning.

The use of the internet to buy cheaper (or sometimes free) music with easier access. Whether it's buying a song from iTunes or taking advantage of streaming from sites such as Spotify and SoundCloud; consumers are far more likely to use a computer to buy their music rather than go out and buy it from their local store.

Between the years 2008 and 2013, CD sales - both singles and albums - have had to deal with bad income due to illegal downloading and worldwide CD burning, and now gain most of their money from tours, concerts, festivals and merchandise instead. Physical copies are considerably less important than before since the take over of iTunes and downloading websites, even leading to musical stores such as HMV to shut down some high street stores. But the internet made up for that loss by providing a system such as iTunes to download music onto the consumers gadgets instead.




The recording industry experienced its first success of the century in 2012 when it revealed that they had a 0.3% increase in global sales; in which thanks is for the popularity growth of digital downloads and and streaming subscriptions. However, it is notable that that physical CD copies have become less of a mass-market item and more of a niche product that a select few still continue to follow.

2011 sales saw a slight increase however, according to Times Magazine, but it was only by 1..3% and that was due to the immense success of Adele's 21. Additionally, it has been noted that while the music industry's profits are falling, it is the artist's themselves making the most money now due to the growth of live shows.

Overall, having the ability to digitally download and/or listen to music rather than physically go buy it has far more direct benefits for the consumer and, living in such a technological age, this will always be far more appealing in the long run.

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