CD sales are on the up again in the USA | Darko.Audio
According to the RIAA's 2021 Year-End Revenue Report.
darko.audio
CD sales are on the up again in the USA
- Thread starter carl13
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darko.audio
Interesting article. I would change the headline however. What I was more impressed is that vinyl sold about twice as much in terms of revenue than CDs. CD's have more units, about 15% more than vinyl, but vinyl dominates the total revenues of physical media. Darko's comment that vinyl is niche and good for a Sunday supplement article, but that the big news is CD's resurgence. The data doesn't support this to my eyes. Look at the bar chart in the article for 2019, 2020 and 2021. The total sales are growing significantly in 2021 compared to 2019 and 2020 (which are flat), but almost all of the growth is in vinyl. In fact, it looks to me like the revenue from CD sales in 2021 just returned to the revenue from 2019, after dropping in 2020. All the growth since 2019 has been in vinyl sales. You can see that even in 2020, the vinyl revenue grew substantially, and looks like it doubled in 2021 from 2019. Am I reading the charts wrong, or is Darko?
Larry
Larry
Though companies aren’t presently making a profit, Streaming is still king.
However, what would the stats be if we just compared two channel only audio stats, i.e. eliminate iPhones and iPads, and earbuds, etc from the equation.
What percentage of formats do the members here use for only two-channel audio? Are some still vinyl, tape or CD only? It would be interesting to set up a poll.
However, what would the stats be if we just compared two channel only audio stats, i.e. eliminate iPhones and iPads, and earbuds, etc from the equation.
What percentage of formats do the members here use for only two-channel audio? Are some still vinyl, tape or CD only? It would be interesting to set up a poll.
The vast majority of my media money goes for tapes. Easy way to make a small fortune (start with a large fortune).
Larry
Larry
If you purchase vinyl from reliable sources there will be very few if any returns. I‘ve purchased over 500 records in 5 months and only returned one item. The item returned was my error, not a defective record; i.e I already owned the record ... But if you purchase from Amazon and Wally World then you deserve what you get.…
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That‘s surprising as that is where I purchased mine as well. Unusual that two people can have such opposing experiences? No Noise - snap, crackle and pops. Not a single wrapped record!
Perhaps you need to check your TT setup. My TT was professionally set up. It makes a great deal of difference. I also use quality carts - Airtight Opus1 and MSL Signature Platinum.
What type of TT and carts do you have? Can you post some pics? Here’s mine:
Nothing to do with setup or equipment. A warped record is a warped record. A noisy record is a noisy record. Or what about (off) center holes that look like they were cut with a sawzall? Could have something to do with the choice of music but I got that latest clear Miles Kind of Blue and that was also poor quality (as heard by many others).
It’s unbelievable the 75% of your records from Acoustic Sounds have been bad. How many records have you purchased from AS in the last 6 months? Again, what liked of system and carts do you have? Please post pics.
I’ve bought about 300 total. I guess we all have different opinions of quality. I’ve had many different turntables, arms, cartridges. Again, has absolutely nothing to do with poor modern vinyl quality.
Not a vinyl guy so asking this out of curiosity, aside from Acoustic Sounds and, I'm guessing Chesky, what other retailers sell audiophile quality vinyl ? Not knowing the answer to that question it is hard to understand why one would continue to purchase from a vendor that you personally had a repeatedly 75% poor quality experience with
Everyone is buying vinyl, but it isn't (and shouldn't be) the end for CDs
Can CDs be the new vinyl?
Everyone is buying vinyl, but it isn't (and shouldn't be) the end for CDs
Can CDs be the new vinyl?www.whathifi.com
Tracks packed onto musician's DAT is where the masses go next.
After everyone threw away their old CD they started erasing free downloaded music off their hard drive.
Attached is the 2021 Year End Music Revenue from the RIAA site.
(Full report: https://www.riaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2021-Year-End-Music-Industry-Revenue-Report.pdf - file too big to attach here.)
Wrt physical media, from 2020 to 2021 Vinyl units shipped increased by 67.3%, shipped CDs by 47.7%. In terms of dollar value, Vinyl revenue increased by 61.2% ($1037.7 million) and CD revenue by 46.6% ($584.2 million).
Digital streaming in 2021 increased by 23.8% over 2020. Digital downloads decreased by -11.1%. I assume streaming includes any music delivered over the Internet, such as Youtube videos or a subscription service.
I see the inevitable sniping at vinyl that comes in threads like this. That's silly.
I do vinyl only. I used to do CDs (and have maybe a thousand) but realized I can only aford do do one medium really well. I buy very very few 'audiophile' records. Most of my purchases are with Discogs and some via eBay. Maybe 15% are sealed LPs. The rest are used. I look for M or NM grade. My record cleaning system restores the vast majority of used records to like new or near new status. Maybe 1 out of 50 turn out poorly graded and most of these are returnable or compensated by the seller.
(Full report: https://www.riaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2021-Year-End-Music-Industry-Revenue-Report.pdf - file too big to attach here.)
Wrt physical media, from 2020 to 2021 Vinyl units shipped increased by 67.3%, shipped CDs by 47.7%. In terms of dollar value, Vinyl revenue increased by 61.2% ($1037.7 million) and CD revenue by 46.6% ($584.2 million).
Digital streaming in 2021 increased by 23.8% over 2020. Digital downloads decreased by -11.1%. I assume streaming includes any music delivered over the Internet, such as Youtube videos or a subscription service.
I see the inevitable sniping at vinyl that comes in threads like this. That's silly.
I do vinyl only. I used to do CDs (and have maybe a thousand) but realized I can only aford do do one medium really well. I buy very very few 'audiophile' records. Most of my purchases are with Discogs and some via eBay. Maybe 15% are sealed LPs. The rest are used. I look for M or NM grade. My record cleaning system restores the vast majority of used records to like new or near new status. Maybe 1 out of 50 turn out poorly graded and most of these are returnable or compensated by the seller.
The current "vinyl resurgence" is mostly based on digital sourced recordings, so I don't really count that.
If I would do vinyl, I would look for real analog units, which is mostly older records or new analog remasterings of older, mostly jazz recordings on 180 gr vinyl (a number of which are excellent).
Yet I stick to physical CDs.
I don’t care about streaming, except using it from YouTube over my laptop and $30 headphones.
If I would do vinyl, I would look for real analog units, which is mostly older records or new analog remasterings of older, mostly jazz recordings on 180 gr vinyl (a number of which are excellent).
Yet I stick to physical CDs.
I don’t care about streaming, except using it from YouTube over my laptop and $30 headphones.
It is curious that our debates focus mainly on music formats and ignore the type of music. "According to billboard/Nielsen, classical music had an overall 1% share of the market in 2019, or 12th out of 12 genres. This is the least popular music genre well behind the top four genres: R&B/hip-hop, rock & roll, pop, country, and even behind children’s music." (quoted from https://medium.com/@AmericanPublicU...pular-is-classical-music-part-ii-4040456752db ). How relevant are for the audio industry our debates, considering they rely on using mostly classical music as a reference ?
My genre, my system, my ears = Musical Bliss. This means my system has to sound good with female vocals, jazz, and rock.
Some one here - I didn’t recall who - suggested I try some classical music when I tested my new system. I’m glad I did. Though I’m sure someone who was more familiar with the pieces I listened too would have heard more than I did, I still heard music that in my opinion sounded excellent. I’m not sure why - possibly the venue they were recorded at, better microphone placement, etc. - but I heard wonderful detailed music. It greatly helped in the evaluation of my new system.
It would be interesting for someone here to do a poll to find out the top three genres of music audiophiles listen to. Who knows audio shows may improve the selection of music they bring to the shows.
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