'CDs Will Be Dead In Five Years', Says Retail Giant

Published by: Yuda on 14th Sep 2011 | View all blogs by Yuda

The chief-executive of one of the largest entertainment retailers in the UK says the CD will be dead in five years time.

The HMV executive, Simon Fox, told The Sun (via Gigwise) that the CD market will drop from £900 million ($1.4 billion) in 2010 to £300 million ($475 million) in 2014.

He believes his retail chain, famous for it's logo of a dog peering into a gramophone, will finish stocking CDs by 2016.

"There will be a place for CDs, but it's difficult to see out more than five years,”he said.

CDs reportedly reached their sales peak in 2004, but with the growing popularity of digital stores like Apple's iTunes, and illegal downloading, CD sales began to falter.

It is hard to imagine how a high-street store like HMV will keep their doors open when digital stores have already carved a space online, and it could be difficult for 'traditional' retailers to enter the new marketplace.

However, HMV have a plan. In preparation for their uncertain future, HMV will re-focus their shelves and increase their stock of MP3 players, headphones and other technology products to account for 25% of their product range.

Comments

4 Comments

by Yuda 8 months ago

i would still buy CDs if they're available :)
by Aranelle 8 months ago

Audiophiles need CDs. Even if digital stores offer music files in lossless formats (I don't think there ARE any who offer that today), there's a different kind of satisfaction to rip your own CDs into the various forms of lossless and lossy formats. Perhaps CDs are heading down the road of being niche-d. Sort of how vinyl records are still being sold today despite the evolution of players, from Walkmans to Minidisc players and finally mp3 players.
by Yuda 8 months ago

it'll be sad if CDs become as difficult to find as vinyl records...and probably gonna cost more :(
by Aranelle 8 months ago

I doubt CDs will be in that state 5 years from now. There's still a huge demand for CDs, provided iTunes still offers 128kbps AAC format :

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