FEATURE:
AC/CD
PHOTO CREDIT: cottonbro studio
Given an Unexpected Rise in Compact Disc Sales, How Will the Industry React?
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WHEN we talk about…
PHOTO CREDIT: Wellington Cunha/Pexels
physical sales increasing, it normally relates to vinyl. It is always great to see. Year after year, the format is reaching more and more people. Ensuring that we keep vinyl sales climbing up. There are other physical alternatives that struggle for the same kind of success and appeal. Cassettes are finding ne3w focus and audience, though they are still quite a niche and lesser-bought format. Compact discs have had mixed fortunes through the decades. When streaming came fully into force, they started to decline more notably than years before. In fact, I think since the start of this century, there has been less attention and desire for CDs. As new technologies came in and people began getting musical digitally, the compact discs seemed more obsolete and less necessary. Happily, we have just heard about a rare success story for CD sales. Music Week reports the statistics and news:
“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.
Vinyl album sales grew by 17.8% year-on-year in 2023 to reach £177.3m, while CD recorded its first rise in sales value for 20 years – up 2% to reach £126.2m. Take That’s This Life was the biggest seller in the format last year.
Vinyl pulled ahead of CD in 2022 in value terms (though not in units), and the older format extended its lead last year.
“The strength of physical sales was all the more remarkable given significant distribution problems which affected much of the industry in late summer 2023,” noted ERA in its end-of-year results for retail. The numbers are based on data from the Official Charts Company and the BPI.
Of course, the main driver of growth in 2023 came from streaming services such as Spotify, YouTube, Amazon and Apple, which grew subscription streaming revenues by 9.8% to £1.866 billion, an all-time-high.
The biggest album of the year across all formats was The Highlights by The Weeknd, while Miley Cyrus had the biggest single with Flowers.
The CD sales increase for 2023 tallies with results from HMV, who have just returned to London’s Oxford Street with a flagship store. The chain’s owner Doug Putman recently told Music Week that it had increased CD sales in terms of both units and revenue.
ERA CEO Kim Bayley said: “With revenues just a fraction away from music’s all-time-high, this is a red letter day for the music industry and is a testament not just to the creativity of artists, but to the entrepreneurial drive of digital services and retailers. A world without streaming now seems unthinkable. Meanwhile the tenacity of physical retailers has driven not just the vinyl revival, but a surprise increase in the value of CD sales. Given all we’ve been through, it really doesn’t get much better than this”.
I do hope that this increase continues. It will never boom and hold like vinyl sales, yet many thought that the CD was declining and would face being phased out. Maybe huge artists account for this increase. Fans wanting to get their albums on CD, or they are also getting it on that format alongside vinyl. I would be interested to see the breakdown in terms of the types of albums bought - whether new or classic albums are bought on CD. I suspect that there is a new attachment to CDs from younger listeners. Maybe those who would otherwise stream albums, they are keener to have something in their hand. There will be some variation and dip in years to come when it comes to physical music sales. Vinyl is steady and doing well. People have turntables to play them on. A format exclusively for listening when stationery, not much needs to be done regarding making it easy for everyone to listen to vinyl. Other than try and keep prices low so fans are not priced out, that idea of vinyl being an investment holds true. People buying albums and keeping them for years. Cassettes might seem the most fragile and least sustainable physical form. I would love to see them embraced more, though I know a lot of people do not like them and have nothing to play them on. This is something that needs addressing. I do know that there are options on the market. The ones that are highlighted are quite expensive. There do need to be cheaper alternatives or greater exposure of the CD players that are out there already. CDs are proving desirable now. At least more than years past. As you can see from that feature, physical sales went up last year. I do feel like it is a sign of things to come. What about CDs and keeping them alive and playable?
ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Tienda92
There are many advantages of a CD. Aside from the fact the packaging is not environmentally friendly – more artists will need to put them out in card covers and packaging rather than plastic -, they are less expensive than vinyl. I know people my age have CDs from our youth that we collect. You can get a CD wallet and carry your collection around. They are sturdier and less breakable than cassettes. Affordable and portable, there is a lot to recommend about the CDs. Not much needs to be done in terms of improving them. One of the worrying things about the rise in compact disc sales is that people are probably not listening to them on the go. I guess some people play CDs in the car still (as do I) or they have a boombox or Hi-Fi where they can play them. It does seem like CDs are being bought and maybe not played that much. I’d like to think that people are getting them and spending time listening. Compared to vinyl, you are going to have cases of people buying compact discs and not playing them. I have this romantic vision of people walking around with an old-skool Sony Discman with a wallet of compact discs in their bag. Why do we not have a modern equivalent?! With a few selections available, I do think many are beyond the budget of most people. What about reviving older models? Maybe the slightly unstable nature of the Discman is an issue. Less stable than a Walkman, CDs would jerk, skip and stop altogether – the Discman not really built for people moving around! I do think that a new model needs to be introduced that is stronger and more reliable (and one that can be bought for about £50 or so; maybe with in-car compatibility)). If more and more are purchasing CDs, are they even able to listen to them on the move?! There is nothing wrong with returning to the past and repurposing and updating older technology.
I hope that the industry reacts positively to the new desire for compact discs. Ensuring people can play them and, in the process, meaning more will buy them and use them. Vinyl survives and grows because there are record players easily available and they are very study and reliable. Cassettes are enjoying minor success. Perhaps even harder to play then CDs, we do need to ignore good news around sales and assume CDs/cassettes are a new fad and will soon fade out – and therefore do not need to be catered to in terms of how you can play them. I don’t think it would be a hugely risky or expensive process manufacturing more affordable compact disc players so that people can play them portably. The industry also needs to highlight CDs as much as vinyl. It is a format that was once a go-to for music fans. There is no reason why it cannot enjoy a resurgence and new period of growth. It is a shame to think people buying CDs and then putting them aside and not playing them. If the consumers are doing their part, how does the industry react to ensure there is sustained growth? I also think that many record stores and high street chains still massively prioritise vinyl over CDs. I know it makes them more profit, though we don’t want to side-line compact discs in their favour. As we have heard about unexpected and gratifying success for the CD, we need to keep it going and encourage people to keep purchasing them. In order to do so, they need to be playable. I guess there are modern equivalents or Sony Discmans, though I have done a quick scan and there are not as many as you’d hope. Investing in the technology that allows people to play CDs is crucial. Let’s hope this happens this year. Not something we were expecting at the start of 2024, we can raise a glass to CDs…
PHOTO CREDIT: Wellington Cunha/Pexels
ENJOYING richly-deserved success.