Not dead yet: CD sales keep hanging on
Record executives and musicians making sure the compact disc still has a future
TORONTO — Adrian Doran knows he’s clinging onto what many consider an obsolete music format, but for him there’s still plenty to love about compact discs.
Not long ago, he made browsing the CD aisles of HMV Canada part of his shopping routine, but when the retailer went bust last spring he was confronted with the possibility of migrating to a streaming music service. He chose to start picking up CDs at his local independent record store instead.
“I just bought into them big time,” the 52-year-old Toronto resident said of his appreciation for CDs. Despite becoming what some dubbed “the year of streaming,” 2017 proved those shiny little discs still have some life left in them. But it isn’t necessarily because of strong consumer demand from holdouts like Doran. It’s because the music industry is trying to stave off the demise of its golden goose any way it can.
CD sales were boosted this year by a trend that saw some concert tickets for big arena shows — including tours by Arcade Fire, Shania Twain and Pink — bundled with a copy of the band or artist’s latest album.
Many concertgoers were offered the choice between a digital download or a CD sent through the mail. Whether those CDs were ever unwrapped is anybody’s guess, but each ticket sale helped rocket those performers to the top of the album charts in their first week of sales.
Preliminary numbers from Nielsen Music Canada show that while CD sales fell 18 per cent over the past year, still selling roughly 10 million units, they were relatively strong compared with the more dramatic erosion of digital album sales through stores such as iTunes.
Digital album sales tumbled nearly 25 per cent for the year to 6.2 million units, extending what is expected to be a steep downturn as more listeners embrace streaming services.
But it’s impossible to deny that CDs took an irreparable punch to the gut in Canada when HMV’s 102 store closures left many communities without a music store for months.
Sunrise Records eventually picked up the slack by reopening many of those locations with a stronger focus on vinyl albums.