Could CDs soon go the way of the cassette tape? CEDAR RAPIDS – Eight track tapes and audio cassettes are two once-popular music formats that faded away. And could compact discs, or CDs, be the next to get replaced. A worker at Record Collector in Iowa City checks in a used CD sold for resale. A national music industry publication says retailer Best Buy could stop new CD sales this summer. Reports that one national retailer plans to stop selling new CDs in stores this summer is raising that question. A report by the music industry publication Billboard claims Best Buy has told music distributors the company plans to pull CDs from store shelves July 1st…Bobby Larson, owner of Record Collector in Iowa City, says some music formats disappear only to reappear with new enthusiasts. One example in the music business is the sale of vinyl LP records.
Best Buy may be done with CD’s, but this Springfield music store isn’t: SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Stick It In Your Ear has been a Springfield staple since 1993, and they say if big box chains like Best Buy are ready to give up on music CD’s, then that just means more customers walking in their Walnut St. doors. “It’s kind of bittersweet, I guess,” store manager Erik Milan said. “Because it’s sad that [CD’s are] leaving on that level, but it’s great for us because they’re not going anywhere from our store. We’re only getting more and more, so it’s only going to be better for us.” Best Buy announced this week that CD’s will be off their shelves by this summer. Milan says that CD’s are one of the most popular formats in their store, but admitted that vinyl records are No. 1.
Best Buy Will Stop Selling CDs This Summer: The CD, which revolutionized the music industry in the late 1980s and early 1990s, could be on the way out…The threats to the CD format come as music streaming continues to explode in the music industry. Revenues from streaming music services accounted for 62% of the total market for the first half of 2017, according to newly-released numbers from the RIAA, the music industry’s U.S. trade group. Physical sales, which are comprised of both CDs and vinyl albums, made up 16% of the overall revenues. Revenues from shipments of CDs were down 3% to $431 million, while vinyl albums were up 3% to $182 million.
Independent Dubuque music shops say CDs not dead yet: John Hackett, who has owned and operated CDs 4 Change since 1998, has adapted to the recent uptick in popularity for vinyl. At one point in the 2000s, Hackett recalled, he exclusively sold CDs. Now his inventory is split about evenly between CDs and vinyl. Hackett acknowledged the rise of streaming and digital downloads has taken a substantial bite out of physical sales. “It has made a huge difference,” Hackett said. “You can go on YouTube and click on a song and listen to it without paying a dime.” Hackett suggested Best Buy’s decision to abandon CD sales could be a boon for stores like his. He noted that Best Buy often sold the items as a loss leader, luring customers into the store in hopes that they would buy something else.
Revenge of the vinyl record album, Some stores stop selling compact discs: Shake it Records, a vintage record shop on Hamilton Avenue in Cincinnati’s Northside neighborhood, is enjoying the vinyl revival at the same time stores like Best Buy are dropping music CDs (Best Buy will no longer sell them after June). Co-owner Jim Blase says he has been watching the vinyl revival for the past 5 years. “The vinyl albums have been selling a little bit more and a little bit more, and now it’s kind of steamrolled. It’s probably two-thirds of what we sell now.” Blase says vinyl used to appeal primarily to older customers reliving their youth, snapping up Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Simon and Garfunkel, and other ’60s and ’70s music staples…But now millennials make up the biggest vinyl buyers…
The Rock Shop expands and opens store in King of Prussia Mall: UPPER MERION – “The more things change the more they stay the same.” Would you ever have guessed that accurate old French saying would ever apply to the King of Prussia Mall? Probably not if you’re one of the longtime shoppers who have said that, with its focus on high fashion stores, the mall had lost much of its character in the last few decades. But now those folks may be happy to learn that, according to Roy Thomas, owner of The Rock Shop, mall owner Simon Properties has been looking to bring back two types of stores that were once dominant entities here — a book store and a music shop. With The Rock Shop having created a cozy haven of used and new vinyl and CDs in the old Radio Shack on the lower level of what many locals still affectionately refer to as The Plaza, the mall has handily accomplished one of those directives.
