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CDs still popular among those modern streaming types, says BPI
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 11 December 2015
People are still buying CDs, the BPI has just noticed. And it’s got research to prove it.
As previously reported, although CD sales have dropped considerably over the last fifteen years, they still remain surprisingly buoyant in some territories, including the UK. The split between physical and digital revenues in 2014 still being nearly 50/50.
Physical sales slipped a further 6% in the first half of this year, but CD sales are still declining much more slowly today than a decade ago. Even though some in the industry, and many commentators, often seem to have written off CDs entirely, despite there still being decent monies to be made with the product.
Now research carried out by AudienceNet for the BPI and the Entertainment Retailers Association has shown that two thirds of music fans who use streaming services still buy their favourite stuff on physical formats too, something we are now calling “multi-channelling”, apparently.
“The enduring appeal of CDs and vinyl has surprised many commentators who wrote them off years ago”, said BPI CEO Geoff Taylor. “But these physical formats still represent over 40% of UK music consumption, after decades of success”.
The true test of the CD market comes in the run up to Christmas of course, when people are looking for physical gifts to hand over. But over a third of those surveyed said that they spend the same or more on CDs across the board since starting to use streaming services, and almost half say the same of vinyl.
We will be putting the spotlight on all things CD at CMU Insights @ The Great Escape in May next year.