CD Sales Are Down

Again on NPR this morning I heard a story about how CD sales are down and how that will affect artists, etc. I don't discount (pun intended) the fact they are down, but the reasons why are up for some debate.

Currently, the blame is placed on file sharing and downloading music. Supposedly, because so many people download files from one another there is no reason to buy the CD. I think that's bull, quite frankly.

When I was younger, we bought LPs. Remember those? Vinyl discs that had grooves etched in them which transmitted the vibration picked up by a needle riding in that groove, to be processed by your turntable and amp into sound.

The problem is, they scratched. Then the needle would give you that annoying 'click' or worse (the dreaded 'POP!') as it went over the scratch. If it were a really bad scratch, the needle wouldn't be able to leave the groove and the song would get stuck in one place, skipping. Even if you took care of the record, handling it by the edges, balancing your needle so it didn't dig in too deeply [I remember one friend taping 4 or 5 pennies to the top of the tonearm putting a lot of weight on the needle so it wouldn't skip when it hit all the scratches, lol], keeping it in the paper dustjacket inside the album cover... Even then they scratched. And if you really liked the LP and played it a lot, they wore out. There are albums I had to by 2, maybe 3 times.

Just not doing that would decrease sales per artist, per capita.

Then we had CDs. While possible to scratch them, it took a fair amount of abuse to do so... but it did happen. They also were lent out (I could never say no) and occasionally not returned [If you are reading this and have some, send the hostages home! ... and if I have yours, call/e-mail and let me know!]. Anyway, the record companies took a hit with the repeat sales to the same customer. It happened, but not as frequently.

Then came used CD stores...

Sure, I bought used records. Not many though, as there was usually a reason they were sold. They were scratched! Used CDs though? I have 1500 CDs and half of them were probably purchased used. The record companies have few figures on that, but I'm sure it took a BIG bite out of their sales. There was a time when I could get CDs for $12. or so, and maybe $9. if I had a coupon or hit a sale. I would get $100. or so for my birthday and hit the stores, coming home with 11 CDs. Once people started to record their CDs digitally they did so and then sold the original CD to make money to buy more. I realized that same $100 could get me $15, maybe $20 CDs. Again, the record companies took a hit in sales numbers.

I have nothing to back this up but would love to se a study, or studies, on a few things... How many CDs are sold used? If you add those totals to the record companies 'losses', what would they have? How many people do CDs travel to to be taped or recorded? When I was younger, my friends and I had similar collections; we all owned the same LPs. Now, CDs are passed around 3 or 4 times. How much does that make a dent in the record companies' profit?

Then comes the dreaded download. Have I downloaded songs before? Sure. But if I like the artist, I buy the CD. I don't want 3 or 4 songs I can find on-line through some download service... I want the entire CD. But at the new price of $17. per CD, I'm going to make sure I like it and its worth buying. I'll take a chance on a used one, if I can find it (the record companies don't se that sale) but if not I will download a few tracks or borrow a CD to be sure its worth the 'investment'. That same $100. no longer gets me 10 to 20 CDs. It gets me 5. And the record companies don't want to talk about that, do they?

Don't blame the people downloading... If they aren't buying the CD it is because they only want hits - they were the 45 Single buyers of years past. If you love music and an artist, you want the whole album / CD. But we are more selective now, not wanting to buy a CD to find out (as we did with some nay $4. albums, too) that we only like 2 or 3 cuts for $17. heck, if anything I buy more because of downloading as I have found many, many more artists that I like. And if I could get CDs for $9. again, I would not be as interested in used ones and would have many more than I do now. It seems the record companies would rather sell 1 CD at $17. and make $10. than sell 2 CDs at $9. each to make $10. or $11. I can';t say I blame them, but if they want to sell fewer at a higher price, don't complain. They don't really think they can double the price and sell just as many, do they?

We had to put up with that with the gas prices, but can find alternatives in entertainment.