A new study by the ominously named Total Bankruptcy blog breaks down the current state of selling music.
As any stroll through Best Buy or the former site of your favorite record store will tell you, physical album sales are asymptoting their way to virtual zero. In the last decade, CD sales dropped over 76%; by 2016, they’re projected to drop another 77%, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Yes, vinyl sales actually are going up. Vinyl is a great piece of merch — it’s like band art in a nostalgic packaging that can be displayed and even played on the right occasion. If you have the money and demand to press it up, by all means do it!
But don’t bother pressing up a bunch of CD’s for your next album. Instead, put that money (and van space) towards creative merch or anything else that people will find more useful than an obsolete piece of plastic.
