Not News: CD Buyers Disappearing Daily. Might Be News: Music Buyers Disappearing, Too

Common sense tells you that the CD is a vanishing artifact. So would a trip to the music section of your local Best Buy (BBY), Target (TGT) or Wal-Mart (WMT) — or an actual music store, if you could find one.

But just in case you weren’t convinced, here’s some new data from NPD Group:

• CD sales dropped by 19% last year.
• The number of U.S. CD buyers dropped by 17 million last year.
• The number of music buyers dropped by 13 million last year.

Only the last number is noteworthy. Because while NPD says that digital music downloads increased by 29% in the last year — good for Apple (APPL) – the research firm that many Americans have simply stopped paying for recorded music, period.

Up until last fall, music optimists would argue that this was OK, because people were more engaged with music than ever. Semi-true cliche: The music labels are in trouble. The music business is doing just fine.

And indeed, NPD throws out a series of stats which show that more people are listening to free music provided by the likes of Pandora, iMeem MySpace Music. But all of the sites that are providing free music are having a very hard time figuring out how to make a business out of it. It’s quite likely that we’ll see some of them fold or sell out in the next few months. Stay tuned.

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Comments

[Walt17:]

Another source of free music is your local library. Many libraries are expanding their selection of music CDs and movies on DVD. This is probably not good for the artists. But for consumers looking to save money, the library is a great resource. My music collection is small, but it gets refreshed every other week. All without spending a penny. (Other than my taxes.)

Note: making copies of library CDs is illegal.

Mar 17 03:09 PM

[ChickenLips:]

Let's not forget that music today is totally horrible! I don't even bother "browsing" the latest CDs because they are all made by pre-manufactured corporate management. My last downloads were by real artists in the 60s-80s. I paid for those downloads because I want top quality. Record companies complain that the internet is killing the modern record industry, actually, it's these clown "artists" they push on us. Junk!

Mar 18 05:19 AM