Business CD sales grow for first time since 2004 - 2021 CD sales were up more than $100 million from 2020.

https://www.axios.com/cd-sales-grow-for-first-time-since-2004-0745a5ce-a2f3-4ed3-8b1e-14b20f0b218e.html

Dust off those plastic binders that lived in the back seat of your car and fire up the boombox, because compact discs are back.

• CD sales enjoyed year-over-year growth for the first time since 2004, according to the Recording Industry Association of America's annual sales report.
• Combined with the decade-long vinyl sales explosion, overall physical music sales grew for the first time since 1996.

Why it matters: Streaming is the new lifeblood of the music industry, but physical music is enjoying a resurgence that can no longer be dismissed as a passing fad driven by hardcore collectors.

By the numbers: Physical music sales exploded to the tune of $1.65 billion in the U.S. last year, according to the RIAA data.

• CD sales grew to $584.2 million nationally last year, up more than $100 million from 2020. By comparison, 2021 vinyl sales increased to $1 billion annually, up from $643.9 million.

Zoom in: It's especially good news for local record stores, like Grimey's on East Trinity Lane. Co-owner Doyle Davis tells Axios that vinyl is still king, but CD sales have "held their own."

• Davis has noticed strong CD sales for new albums, especially when there is a delay in the vinyl release, and pointed to the new album by Adia Victoria last year as an example.
• "I think really this is about young people who are finding they like hard copies of music in the digital age," Davis says.

Be smart: The CD was the music industry's leading format in the 1990s, peaking at $13.2 billion in annual sales in 2000.

• You know what happened next. Napster and illegal streaming sites gave way to paid streaming, which now accounts for $8.6 billion in annual revenue.
• In addition to record stores, artists have appreciated the rise in vinyl — and now CD sales — because it gives them another avenue to sell their music.

What they're saying: "I just think the whole thing is great," Davis says. "It speaks to the health and the overall comeback of physical media in general."

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Time to bust out your Discman, frens. What's old is new again!

 

[Dysnomia]

Ok, what TikTok zoomer just discovered CDs?

 

[Kheapathic]

Ok, what TikTok zoomer just discovered CDs?

I'm just gonna go ahead and push the notion that trends cycle and/or history rhymes. Several years ago, I started noticing stores like Wal-Mart and Target are carrying records, and not records from when they were relevant, but like modern artists putting out legitimate record albums. We somehow skipped 8-tracks and cassettes, but I'm sure they'll come around when it's their time. Though I do remember one of the Paul brothers carrying a Polaroid around like it was the 1980's and he wasn't even born yet. So we truly live in the worst time line.

Edit: Or maybe, some consoomers are becoming smart and realizing that the online digital versions can be taken away from you without notice. I'll admit I'm one of those people who buy or rent products, make my legal backup copy and go off that instead of running the disc over and over. I know I turned some people onto it, because we had an massive internet outage over here and a lot of girls were going stir crazy because they couldn't watch or listen to anything; meanwhile I'm sitting comfy and everyone wants to fucking come hang out because I got the hookup. I'd like to think that's what we're seeing.

 

[Ahriman]

I only speak for myself, but I can see myself building a sizable "essential kino" library in Blu-ray discs (streaming services be damned), mostly coming from the Criterion Collection. So I can see why CDs might enjoy a reinassance.

 

[AnotherPleb]

Here's hoping people are getting the CDs to preserve against iTunes and Spotify deleting songs that don't jive with Current Year.

 

[Ahriman]

Here's hoping people are getting the CDs to preserve against iTunes and Spotify deleting songs that don't jive with Current Year.

My thoughts exactly. Same goes for movies that Cuckflix and other streaming services might consider not kosher in $CURRENT_YEAR, so I can imagine people returning to Blu-ray discs.

 

[The Lawgiver]

I like how the article acts as if cds naturally went out instead of electronics and media carrying stores just replacing them with shitty cheapass offbrand iphone accessories and amazon alexas for no good reason. CDs are still being sold and bought like crazy it's mainly just secondhand stuff or imports they literally never brought over to the US for whatever reason.

This article is probably just a preperation forcd "value assessment" scalpers to crop up andprice the common man out of shit forever like every other fucking hobby or industry right now.

Here's hoping people are getting the CDs to preserve against iTunes and Spotify deleting songs that don't jive with Current Year.

I guarantee at least some people buying physical lately have been doing so due to that.

 

[Aidan]

I just pirate everything again but it'd be cool if people had binders of CDs in their cars again.. and CD players.

 

[Beautiful Border]

CDs have always been the best physical medium for music. The only reason vinyl records and cassette tapes have had a resurgence is because zoomers who didn't grow up with them think they're novel.

Now, there's two possibilities here: either the novelty of records and cassettes has worn off and they're choosing CDs because they're realising they were better, or zoomers are now so young that even CDs seem exotic and unusual to them. I really hope it's not the latter or else I feel ancient...

 

[The Lawgiver]

I just pirate everything again but it'd be cool if people had binders of CDs in their cars again.. and CD players.

they do and cd burning is still very much a thing to the bane of industry guys.

Real talk I didn't even know cassetes were even still a thing that were being occasionally made till I saw a bonus inclusion for buying the physical version for a game a year or 2 ago was a fucking cassete version of the full OST. Special editions usually include CDs of soundtrack selections but that one blew my fucking mind and I hate I forgot to buy it before scalpers hawked all physical versions of that game cause everything other than a first party release is a "limited production run" these days.

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

Considering that I just bought these two albums over a week ago, I’m not surprised by this news.

 

[PS1gamenwatch]

CDs have always been the best physical medium for music. The only reason vinyl records and cassette tapes have had a resurgence is because zoomers who didn't grow up with them think they're novel.

Now, there's two possibilities here: either the novelty of records and cassettes has worn off and they're choosing CDs because they're realising they were better, or zoomers are now so young that even CDs seem exotic and unusual to them. I really hope it's not the latter or else I feel ancient...

That must be the reason. Either that or

 

[FAQnews Correspondent]

Now, there's two possibilities here: either the novelty of records and cassettes has worn off and they're choosing CDs because they're realising they were better, or zoomers are now so young that even CDs seem exotic and unusual to them. I really hope it's not the latter or else I feel ancient...

The iPod will be old enough to drink in the US this year.

 

[DuckSucker]

We somehow skipped 8-tracks and cassettes, but I'm sure they'll come around when it's their time.

Cassettes are a thing, I remember a few years back there were guys on bandcamp selling "limited release cassettes" to the hipsters buying vinyls, but I guess it didnt catch on that big. I kinda thought it would because walking around with a Walkman and over the head headphones seems like a very hipster thing to do.

Maybe its an aspect of vinyls being saved by certain boomers and there have always been hipsters into repairing and collecting stereos and record players, while cassettes and the like were the peak of 'it doesnt matter if you break it, buy another', but CDs are still relatively recent enough that people could come back to them.

 

[FAQnews Correspondent]

Cassettes are a thing, I remember a few years back there were guys on bandcamp selling "limited release cassettes" to the hipsters buying vinyls, but I guess it didnt catch on that big. I kinda thought it would because walking around with a Walkman and over the head headphones seems like a very hipster thing to do.

I don't like earbuds, so i can understand the headphones.

 

[augment]

Good cassette players are mixed bag on the second hand market. You got the cheapest china-made piece of shit being dumped on amazon, and you also have classic refurbished decks and walkmans being offered on ebay for a small fortune thanks to audiophiles and collectors. I'm just glad I never threw away any of my minidisc recorders and MDs.

 

[stupid orc]

Cassettes are a thing, I remember a few years back there were guys on bandcamp selling "limited release cassettes" to the hipsters buying vinyls,

i bought a few of those from the flenser for like 5-10 bucks including a copy of voids by HANL which sells for like 70 bucks on discogs. not a bad investment if it’s the right band.

 

[Maurice Caine]

Here's hoping people are getting the CDs to preserve against iTunes and Spotify deleting songs that don't jive with Current Year.

Just download your MP3s from Soulseek or some shit. I used to have some cheapo knockoff Discman back in middle school and it was horrible. I don't wish that upon anybody.

 

[All Cops Are Based]

CDs have always been the best physical medium for music. The only reason vinyl records and cassette tapes have had a resurgence is because zoomers who didn't grow up with them think they're novel.

The only problem is a lot of them sound like shit because CDs usually (not always, but usually) get the loud, overly compressed masters while vinyl gets the more dynamic masters. CDs can theoretically sound perfect, but engineers fuck everything up.

I'm holding onto my best CDs until I'm old and gray though, I'm never going to be on board with just streaming music. Gives way too much control over your own listening habits to some corporation.

 

[JosephStalin]

Have a lot of CDs, buy a lot of CDs. You can get some great deals on CDs without looking too hard. Been through everything - 78's, 45's, albums, 8-tracks, cassettes, but for my money the CD is tops in physical media. Been buying CDs for over 30 years now. Sure don't miss having 8-track and cassette tapes eaten by the respective players.