The meteoric popularity of online listening platforms was about to sign its death warrant, but it seems that the good old compact disc has not breathed its last breath yet.
According to data from the Luminate music sales compilation firm relayed by the magazine BillboardCD sales in the United States are up – very slightly, but still up – by 2.5% in 2023.
In the first ten weeks of the year, 6.9 million compact discs were sold in the country of Taylor Swift compared to 6.8 million copies for the same period of 2022.
Cheaper, more accessible
The reasons for this renewed interest? Its price, in the first place. For music lovers looking for a collectible, CDs are more affordable than vinyl because they cost less to produce.
Billboard cites as an example a compilation of Creedence Clearwater Revival which retails for US$13.99 on CD and US$28.31 on vinyl on Amazon.
“Its smaller format and shorter production times are also advantages over vinyl. Thus, artists who were going on tour opted for the CD at their kiosk of merchandising because they were unable to have vinyl delivered on time”, mentions an industry player quoted by Billboard.
No increase with us
All this announces that the CD will not die soon, although no one imagines that it will regain its glory of twenty years ago.
Moreover, Canada and Quebec are not seeing an increase like in the United States. The most recent data from the Culture and Communications Observatory shows a 19% drop in sales in 2022.
“It’s not really the trend in the market in Canada,” says Musicor’s marketing and distribution director, Jerry Kotrokois.
On the other hand, the subsidiary of Quebecor manages to increase its figures by selling CDs with the magazine 7 days et Featured Echoes. Approximately 15,000 copies of an album by Guylaine Tanguay and 12,000 to 13,000 of an album by René Simard were thus sold.
MARTIN ALARIE / QMI AGENCY
Singer Guylaine Tanguay.
“On the other hand, we don’t see these figures on Soundscan (the firm that compiles sales in Canada) because it refuses them. For them, it’s not standard output,” says Kotrokois.
