Music Industry

Weekly Survey: How worried are you about the disappearance of the CD?

Over the weekend, we heard that Best Buy was going to phase out selling CDs in all remaining stores that carry them. At the same time, Target announced that they plan to sell CDs on consignment, which means that they’ll want the labels to buy back any unsold inventory.

The lost of a big box like Best Buy and the scaling back by Target is going to have an impact on the overall number CDs sold. In Canada, we’ll probably see less than 10 million units sold by the end of the year and below 80 million in the US.

Here’s the question: Do you care? Are you worried about the slow but seemingly inevitable end of the CD? Lemme know and I’ll report back on my radio show on 102.1 the Edge Tuesday afternoon.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 38031 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

6 thoughts on “Weekly Survey: How worried are you about the disappearance of the CD?

  • For me, CDs are still the best way to purchase and listen to music. I don’t own a smart phone. I do have an MP3 player, but I haven’t used it in a couple of years. I like having something physical in my hands, with artwork and the listing of songs and all the information that goes along with that. I mostly listen to music in my car, and for me putting on a CD and playing it is still the best route for me. If CDs disappear, music will continue to devalue and the already sorry state of the music industry will just get worse. I’ve been a musician for over 30 years, and I never thought I would see things come to this, ever.

    Reply
  • I’m not overly worried. I still buy CDs but mostly I buy vinyl and high res. mp3 downloads. I could live with just buying vinyl if all vinyl releases included the download code so that I could put it on my computer and burn CDs if I wanted to. I can see the demise of CDs being more problematic for folks who don’t use smartphones or unwilling/able to pay for streaming services. I never left vinyl so losing CDs would not be emotionally upsetting.

    Reply
  • As much as I miss rifling through CDs at the local music store (and being old enough to remember when it was record albums), I am officially done with CDs. I sold my collection off last year. Everything I have is digitized and backed up, and probably 85% redundant thanks to Spotify.

    Reply
  • I have about 1000 CDs or more. I still buy the odd one for my absolute favourite bands to keep the collection going, but I buy mostly vinyl for the artists I want a physical copy for, and digital downloads for those I don’t need the physical version for.
    Never thought I’d get to this point, but when I got a new car 3 years ago, I went from plugging my phone into the AUX port to dumping 5000 songs on a USB stick and leaving that in the car. Car still has a CD player that more or less functions as a DVD player for the kids in the back. The car was really the only place I used CDs, at home if I am sitting down to listen to music it is either vinyl in the living room, or off the computer in the home office.
    Haven’t made the jump to streaming, not sold on it just yet – plus my data plan isn’t enough to use away from the house.
    There’s always Amazon if I want a CD I can’t get locally, but that’s less and less these days.

    Reply
  • I took me long enuff to get into CD’s, so I’m not ready for them to go yet. I loved playing cassette tapes in cars, and they took the players away……and now they are taking CD players away in new vehicles! What’s a physical fan to to??!!

    Reply
  • Not happy about CDs going away. I’m 54 and have about 400 of them. I’m looking long term and picture myself in an old folks home. I’ll want to be able to enjoy my favourite pastime, listening to high quality sound with the booklets attached. I went to a show where a band didn’t have CDs so they were selling USBs. The band was so good, I asked one of the guys to autograph it. Ridiculous.

    Reply

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