FEATURE:
Compact But Mighty
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Thinking About the Sustainability of the Decades-Old Format
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NOT that it is a major revolution…
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but it is a major revelation! The compact discs has been around for decades and did experience this peak and surge through the 1990s and 2000s. Of course, as technology developed and new formats came in, compact discs were starting to fade from the forefront. Not as advanced and desirable as they once were. People might say C.D.s have always been flawed. A little too fragile and not as cool as a vinyl. Less portable than a cassette. It is amazing that the compact disc has survived all this time. Perhaps not surprising now at a time when people are slowly starting to move away from streaming. It is still a vastly popular medium, though physical music speaks to people in a different way. I really love we can enjoy both. Vinyl has this resurgence and new lease. It is the most popular form of physical music. Compact discs have enjoyed a brief rise. A new time in the limelight. Not as prominently as vinyl, though we look ahead to a big anniversary that I hope will compel people to keep investing in compact disc. In November, it will be forty years since the introduction of the Sony Discman. In 1984 (the D-50), it was a real breakthrough and boom. The Walkman came out five years previously. The opportunity for people to listen to compact discs on the move! That freedom was a real pull for music lovers in the 1980s. Through the 1990s, the Discman became even more popular. I remember owning one and taking it everywhere. A wallet of C.D.s and my Discman. It changed the way I experienced music. Forty years after its release, I am looking out at the current market and the options out there.
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Depending on your budget, you can get a pretty good C.D. player similar to the Discman. They range from retro and sleek to a little more modern. When it comes to the flaws of the Discman, they might be hard to remove. The fact that you do get skipping. The disc skipping or stopping because of the movement and obvious fragility of the player. I know that modern versions are sturdier and a little more reliable. I would love it if there was a modern-day version of the Discman. Something that could come in a range of colours and was mass produced. Affordable for those who this is their first portable compact disc player or those who have owned one before. Though many people dislike C.D.s and feel there are too many issues – many albums still come in plastic cases and the C.D. itself no more resistant to scratching and damage than they were decades ago! -, one cannot deny the reason they are still around now. To own an album in your hand that is a permanent thing. Vinyl is great, though you have more options with a C.D. where you can play it and how you can experience them. They offer more possibilities. Earlier this year, it was reported that C.D. sales increased for the first time in twenty years:
“Digital and entertainment retail association ERA has issued its preliminary numbers for the past year, and they make encouraging reading for the physical music sector following years of overall decline (although vinyl sales alone have soared for the past decade and more).
Overall, UK spending on music streaming subscriptions, vinyl, CDs, downloads and cassettes grew by 9.6% based on value in 2023, nearly twice as fast as 2022 (which saw an increase of 5%). As part of that sales performance, there was a rare increase in CD sales last year – the first in two decades.
The £2.22 billion total for 2023 was the highest since 2001, the historic peak of the CD era, and just 0.08% short of that record. It was more than double the level of 2013 when music sales were being hammered by internet piracy.
Two years ago, ERA reported a rare increase in overall physical sales (vinyl, CD and cassettes combined) during 2021, although that wasn’t repeated the following year as vinyl sales growth softened a little in 2022 (but still outsold CD for the first time in terms of revenue).
But 2023 was a blockbuster year for physical music sales, delivering growth across the board. A strong release schedule included albums by Taylor Swift, whose 1989 (Taylor’s Version) was the biggest seller on vinyl last year, as well as Take That, the Rolling Stones, Lewis Capaldi, Lana Del Rey, Blur, Olivia Rodrigo, Pink, Kylie Minogue, Foo Fighters, Metallica and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.
ERA said that overall physical sales increased by 10.9% year-on-year to £311 million, a significant improvement on 2022’s 4% decline. It was also ahead of the 7.3% growth for physical sales in 2021, which was then the first such increase since 2001”.
I don’t think one can say that compact discs selling in high numbers is nostalgia. Many of those buying C.D.s are too young to remember them when they were popular. Also, it is more to do with a love of physical music and not necessarily the C.D. and connecting it to the 1980s and 1990s (and early-2000s). If you think about vinyl and its price and limitations in terms of portability and size, cassettes are more volatile. Maybe fewer portable cassette players on the market. Compact discs are affordable and relevant today. I want to bring in this article, which asks whether the rise in C.D. sales are because of nostalgia or a Gen-Z trend:
“CD sales are experiencing an unexpected resurgence and are now well ahead of digital download album sales. According to the Recording Industry Association of America‘s (RIAA) mid-year report, CDs sold almost three times as well as digital albums in the first half of the year. CD sales totalled $236.7 million, while downloads generated only $87.8 million. These figures show a remarkable shift in favour of physical recordings, which many had declared dead.
Why the CD is suddenly booming again and what it means for streaming
Interestingly, the comeback of the CD is largely due to younger listeners. According to the French music industry group SNEP, 43% of CD purchasers are under the age of 35. This generation is showing a growing interest in physical music formats, which can be attributed to several factors.
Firstly, CD sales offer a tangible connection to music, which is increasingly valued in the digital age. In addition, many people prefer the uncompressed sound quality of CDs to streaming or compressed digital files. Nostalgia also plays an important role: for many young people, the CD represents a return to a medium they only know from stories of their parents. In addition, CDs are a cheaper way to build a physical music collection than vinyl records.
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CD sales are exploding: Why young people are going retro
While CD sales remain stable, digital downloads are in sharp decline and represent only a small part of the music industry’s total revenue. In the first half of 2007, digital album sales generated just $87.8 million, down 18.5 percent from the previous year.
Single track sales also fell by 16.1 per cent to $81.8 million. Overall, digital download revenue fell by 15.8 per cent to $189.7 million. This clearly shows that music lovers are increasingly turning to streaming services and digital downloads are becoming less in demand.
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CD and vinyl sales are outperforming digital formats: What it means for the future
In addition to CD and vinyl sales, which continue to play an important role in the market, streaming services are also experiencing growth. Paid subscriptions to music streaming services grew by 4% to $5.7 billion, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the music industry’s total revenue. It seems that physical recordings and streaming can co-exist, while digital downloads are becoming less important.
This could mark the end of digital downloads, while CD sales are making a surprising comeback. The music landscape is therefore more diverse than ever, with a mix of physical and digital formats catering to different listener preferences”.
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Against this sign of a resurgence - or a rise at the very least - in C.D. sales and popularity comes the news that new cars are being made without C.D. players in them. Against news that C.D.s are being bought more, it seems like a very myopic decision. I still listen to C.D.s in the car. It is an easy and natural way for people to hear them. Enjoying albums over a long drive. It has left a sour taste:
“Car manufacturers are turning their back on seven million music fans in the UK by removing CD players from new cars, according to digital entertainment and retail association ERA.
Commenting on new data from Which? reporting that no new cars in the UK now include a CD player, ERA CEO Kim Bayley said: “With 15% of the UK adult population reporting that they listen to CDs in their cars, this is a remarkably short-sighted move by carmakers to stop fans listening to the music they love.”
In the latest edition of ERA’s long-term consumer tracking study conducted by Fly Research 15% of the UK adult population reported that they listen to music on CD in their cars, slightly fewer than the 16.6% of people who listen to CDs at home.
While the latest figures on CD listening are down on five years ago (2019: 27.6% in-car and 31.2% in-home), it still amounts to around seven million individuals. That equates to around 20% of the 34.5m people with active driving licenses.
While CD sales have been on a sharp slide for the past 20 years – down to 11.4m in 2023 from their 2004 high point of 170m – recent years have shown signs of a rebound. Vinyl sales have been growing for 18 years and there are signs that CD could be set for a return to growth.
“Carmakers seem to be looking through the rear-view mirror when it comes to CD,” said Bayley. “The lesson of vinyl is you should never write off a music format. Even today 50% more people say they listen to music on CD as on vinyl”.
That is one bit of a sad news in a sense of hope. That an old format can revive and find a new audience. It is great that compact discs, alongside cassettes and vinyl, are healthy and showing physical music is very much in demand. In November, the Sony Discman turns forty. It should be an occasion to mark a big anniversary of a piece of kit that should not be seen as past it or a sign of a different age. Instead, it should be retooled and reintroduced to coincide with the current state of C.D. sales. I think that sales will continue to rise. Rather than the compact disc being a relic of the past, it is very much…
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A part of the future.