2003: $11.2 billion
2012: $2.5 billion

a decline of 77.5%

http://www.billboard.com/biz/article...h-were-greatly

The one thing everybody has correctly predicted is that the CD would decline. CD revenues fell 77.5% to $2.5 billion in 2012 from $11.2 billion in 2003, according to RIAA numbers released last week. The deepest losses occurred in 2007 and 2008, when CD revenues dropped over $1.9 billion each year. Total revenues suffered badly as a result in those years, falling 9.4% and 17.6% in 2007 and 2008, respectively. More recent years have not been as bad. After four straight years of deficits that exceeded 20% (from 2007 to 2010) CD revenues declined 8.5% in 2011 and 18.3% in 2012.

The decline hasn't been as bad worldwide though.

If they stop releasing physical CDs...

These figures include CD singles, which used to be the dominant form of music revenue. Now it's single downloads.

I'm imagining CD's will be like the existence of vinyls I hope I'm wrong since I collect CDs

What if we took 21 out of the equation? How would it look then?

OMG

this is so sad to see

this is quite sad to see

I think the decrease in 2011 would be double digits

This is sad.

It's bound to happen.

These music industry idiots that can't seem to replace the CD format when it's already an obsolete format only useful if you have a CD drive in your computer or laptop.

Make USB albums the norm and make the data in them durable for like ever.



PLEASE. I do wanna buy more original music than what I originally do but I don't like to waste my money in a format so unpractical and fragile like the CD. Also, I find buying MP3 albums stupid since MP3 quality is compressed and I like my music to have the best quality possible.

Oh wow

I doubt it would look all that much different. Even if we assumed every single copy of 21 sold was a physical CD and they were all bought at full price, that would only cover about $100M of revenue. Certainly a nice chunk for one album, but given the decline in revenue is nearly $10 Billion, it wouldn't really move the needle in any noticeable way.

Or just lower the damn prices. I mean does anyone actually USE physical CDs anymore? All the CDs I have bought in the last few years are unwrapped.

And it's no good to unwrap them, all my original opened CDs are broken/scratched. And it's not like I haven't taken care of them, it's just that if you ever think of using a CD regularly, it will get scratched and remain unusable in the future if you're not an obsessed freak when taking care of them. Leave it in the sun for one day accidentally and goodbye. I feel so angry the people that take care of this haven't been able to make a proper CD like made of polycarbonate so it doesn't get scratched or broken easily and some sun protective layers, and even then, CDs are unpractical in the digital age.

I would be really pissed if the industry thinks MP3 digital albums are the replacement of the CD, we need the next physical format now.

Discs are not practical for music like DVDs/Blu-ray are movies, since an album has much more replay value than a movie you may only watch once. Even when you don't like a whole album there can be a song you like in it so you replay it a lot and with CDs this is like I've said many times, unpractical.

Replace the CD, please. It's not like you have to stop making them. Some people will still buy them like they still buy vinyls. Just do it.

Summary of the 4 Big Revenue Segments in the USA right now:

Streaming: $1,032.8 million USD (up 59%)
Singles Download: $1,623.6 million USD (up 6.7%)
Album Download: $1,204.8 million USD (up 12.5%)
Physical CD Album: $2,532 million USD (down 18.3%)

In 2-4 years time, Streaming will most likely be the biggest among the 4 major segments.

Physical is going down and down and down. It won't go up EVER again.

I disagree.

I think it can go up, but it's obvious the CD doesn't fit in the current state of media. People still buy physical "products", and will still do. Like they buy games, movies, smartphones, etc.

It's that it's obvious a CD has no much use today so it's logical the sales are down.

Replace it with something physical that can mold with the current media, being able to be connected to MP3 players, smartphones, laptops/PCs, tablets, etc (by USB Cable or WiFi) and people will be interested again.

They just have to play smart when migrating the format.