CD vs vinyl vs cassette

Those readers who join us in the joys of finding secondhand music will be fully aware that the ongoing vinyl revival has meant that the halycon days of finding cheap vinyl in the corners of Lifeline and Sally Army stores are long gone. On the other hand there’s never been a better time to seek out cheap CDs, with the format increasingly abandoned by the streaming generation; some thrift stores are even ditching CD stock altogether, as “it simply doesn’t sell”. Adding a layer of confusion on these notable trends is the revival of cassettes, and notably their performance in online auctions, where the price of desirable classic cassettes can often top $100, and sometimes go far beyond.

The latest data from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) brings another surprise — shipments of compact discs there rose unexpectedly in 2021, for the first time since 2004, rising from 31.6 million in 2020 to 46.6 million in 2021 – that’s a rise of 47%. Revenue rose 21% to US$584.2 million.

Whether this prefigures a CD resurgence, we will have to wait to find out. It’s not at the expense of vinyl, which recorded a 15th consecutive year of growth, with 39.7 million records recorded as sold in the US (it is thought these figures underestimate the true totals because of the sometimes obscure nature of vinyl sales), generating nearly US$1 billion, a noticeably higher return than CD revenue. New cassette sales grew but remain tiny by comparison, and are often promotional in nature.

Streaming remains the leader in music sales, of course, with paid subscriptions to streaming services accounting for over 57% of music revenue to music companies (US$8.6 billion), and ad-supported streams bringing in another $1.8 billion.