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I like looking at statistics, and BuzzAngle has the first full report on 2017 US music sales. Key facts: 75 million CDs were sold in 2017 (down from 82 million the year before). Vinyl sold nearly 9 million units.
"In the U.S., there was a significant increase in overall consumption, an outstanding 12.8% over 2016 that marks the third year in a row with increasing growth. Audio stream consumption continued its explosive expansion with a 50.3% increase to 377B streams, an amazing 127B more streams than in 2016. Subscription streams are now at an impressive 80% of total audio streams, up from 76% in 2016. Both album sales and song sales continued to decline, 14.6% and 23.2% respectively, but physical sales declined only 7%, while vinyl sales continued its impressive growth with an increase of 20.1% over 2016 and now comprises 10.4% of all physical album sales."
http://www.buzzanglemusic.com/buzzanglemusic-2017-reports/
(You have to download a pdf to read the full report.)
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I had some salty language for the person advocating for digital downloads.
Why have only digital when you can have both by ripping physical media into lossless digital formats?
CDs4VR
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Here's the deal and why this isn't obvious I don't know:
Let's say streaming and downloads finally kills off the CD. Wait ten years and what do you think will happen? CDs, like vinyl, will become hip again and everyone will want them, buy them used, companies will go back to making them, they will be pricier and history, as always, will repeat itself.
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Is it just me or is our annual CDs-versus-downloads debate more cordial this year?
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Here's the deal and why this isn't obvious I don't know:
Let's say streaming and downloads finally kills off the CD. Wait ten years and what do you think will happen? CDs, like vinyl, will become hip again and everyone will want them, buy them used, companies will go back to making them, they will be pricier and history, as always, will repeat itself.
This comparison would only make sense if there were some newer form of listening to music that was 100% clearer, crisper, and better in every way than CDs, yet the hipsters still snatched up lucratively priced, retro-cool CDs anyway.
The only advantage digital has over CDs is physical storage. There is absolutely no other advantage. The disadvantages on the other hand...
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What if I told you CDs are digital? (Enter Morpheus).
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But yeah your right, I remember hearing car manufacturers were going to phase out the CD player a long long time ago. It wasn't that much of a secret.