The music industry continues to struggle as it looks for ways to close the technological gap that has seen CD sales continue to slide.
This is a natural industry switch to the newer, more flexible format as its predecessor continues to disappear. Vinyl made an appearance in the 1950s and remained solid until the early 1980s, when cassettes became the format of the era. Cassettes were eventually phased out by CDs, but lingered for years to come. New cars are less likely to include CD/cassette in favor of CD/MP3.
I'm just 24 years old, but I've purchased just a select few CDs since high school. Since then, I've tested peer-to-peer downloads in the earlier days, legal MP3 downloads, and online radio/streaming services.
Around three years ago, Nielsen SoundScan research indicated 90 percent of music sold was on CDs, while digital downloads came in at 10 percent. However, recent 2010 SoundScan figures reveal a significant change that is expected to continue into the future -- CD sales accounted for 79 percent, while digital downloads slotted in at 20 percent.
Despite the decline in CD sales, there is no correlation towards a decline in music demand. In fact, Apple iTunes leads the market and reached 10 billion music downloads last February -- and additional competitors continue to expand into the growing market as quickly as possible.
To combat the downward sales trend of music CDs, Universal Music has set a $10 sales cap on all music CDs. The record studio now aims to sell CDs between $6 and $10, but the lower prices also hasn't helped stop the sales slide.
I don't foresee music CDs -- even though they're vanishing from store shelves -- to disappear any time soon. There are still enough loyal followers who enjoy CDs alongside music downloads, especially since some musicians see larger CD sales than newer, younger artists.
