DIGI VS CD!!!!

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Digital may be growing but the CD is far from dead

10:01 | Thursday July 16, 2009

By Eamonn Forde

Despite the boom in digital, CD remains the format of choice for most UK consumers according to new research from The Leading Question/Music Ally.

The study also found that the users of digital access models actually buy more CDs and downloads than the average consumer.

The annual Speakerbox survey found that, overall, 73% of music buyers prefer CDs. Even among younger consumers, that many had presumed were digital-only, the numbers were still in favour of physical formats. A total of 66% of 14-18-year-olds said they still prefer CDs over downloading.

Interestingly, physical is still the main format for piracy. While 17% of those surveyed said they fileshared tracks, a total of 23% said they burned CD-Rs.

The Leading Question CEO Tim Walker says, “The continued popularity of the CD should be looked upon as an opportunity. We believe that labels and online stores could and should be doing more to build on music fans’ familiarity with CDs to provide them with additional digital content and to use the CD as a bridge into the digital world.”

Perhaps the most surprising finding was that users of subscription music services and streaming music services still buy a significant amount of physical product.

Those who use services like Napster spend an average of £16.87 a month on CDs compared to an overall average of £11.37 a month. Those who use streaming services like Spotify spend £12.17 a month on CDs and £7.02 on downloads. This is against a survey average of £3.81 a month on downloads.

This, the survey claims, is proof that digital access models are not a substitution for most consumers and are, in fact, a gateway into ownership, be it MP3s or CDs.

Digital made up 20% of recorded music sales globally in 2008 according to IFPI figures, growing from 15% a year earlier.