A new survey says online sales of CDs and cassettes in the US (via online retailers like Amazon) have fallen by 25% in the first nine months of this year. Needless to say the increasing popularity of CD copying and illegal song-swapping over the internet has been blamed. Research firm ComScore Networks monitored more than 1.5 million web users. It showed online sales of music - in the form of physical singles, albums, CDs and tapes - fell to $545m (£348m) from $730m (£467m) in the same period a year earlier. Sales of legal digital downloads were also included in the survey but accounted for a tiny portion of the total. While sales of music are falling across the board in the US, the survey found online music sales fell three times faster.
"There's no point in buying a physical CD online when you can download one," said Phil Leigh, an analyst with investment company Raymond James and Associates. "The primary message of the CD burner is the consumer doesn't want to be straight jacketed into buying a pre-packaged CD. I think what we're seeing is not only the death of the physical form factor, but the death of the pre-packaged concept."
Of course it could be argued the novelty factor of buying CDs online has declined this year and that too may explain the fall in sales.