It’s been a rough month for discs, with Sony announcing its plan to stop selling physical games—a revelation that generated just a few feelings among fans of physical media and games alike. But in spite of that dire development for gamers, it might not be all doom and gloom for the flattest, shiniest physical media out there.
According to a recent report from Luminate, which tracks trends in the music industry, CD sales have popped off in the first half of this year, surpassing even vinyl, which has long been the frontrunner in terms of music-focused digital media sales. Specifically, Luminate says CD sales have risen by 16% to about 16.3 million units, which beats vinyl’s relatively small 2.4% increase during the same period.
Luminate notes that a lot of that growth has been fueled by K-pop sales—BTS’ “Arirang” in particular—but even without the bump from feverish fans of K-pop, CD sales are still up by 6.7% midway through the year.
Unsurprisingly, interest from Gen Z is the engine behind CDs’ growth, and 60% of those Gen Z buyers say they now listen to music from the ’90s or earlier, so clearly nostalgia is a factor. What’s interesting is that Luminate’s data suggests about half of the Gen Z CD buyers don’t even own a CD player, but even so, the zeal for some kind of ownership when it comes to music is clearly real.
There’s been renewed interest in digital audio players like the iPod, a trend that most agree transcends simple nostalgia. As nostalgic as iPods are, there are also external factors pushing people towards music hardware, like subscription fatigue, which nudges people toward paying for music that they can store on a device and keep. Sure, you have to pay for songs, but the hit on your wallet for paying an artist might feel a little less of a sting when you know that artist is actually getting paid. On top of that option, there’s also arguably the more likely avenue of just pirating your music and skipping payment altogether.
No matter which route people take, music ends up on a dedicated player that isn’t connected to the internet or subject to the whim of a streaming platform.
CDs, while a different animal, are also in the same general kingdom as digital audio players. It’s increasingly about owning something, even if that something is less convenient and more expensive. Or apparently even if that something can’t even technically be used, in the case of those buying CDs without a player.
As dead as discs might be to the gaming industry, it looks like the music industry may have plans for them yet.
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