Factors Affecting the Popularity of Music CDs

The music industry is in a constant march towards technological progress and has enjoyed a great success in changing formats from vinyl to cassette in the 1980's, then to CD in the 1990's. Now with digital sharing and music download options it has entered in a digital era, that not only facilitates music in a cheaper rate but also of superior quality.

With more and more options of uploading free music from various online music shops the music CD sales are affected. Even digital piracy can also be blamed to some extent for the decreasing sales of music CDs. Also music consumers can download copies of music from file sharing services and other sources rather than purchasing a music CD.

It is not always true that piracy is the most prominent reason for the decreasing popularity of music CDs. There are various other factors that are affecting the music CD sales. Poor quality of product, bad marketing tactics and digital rights restricting technologies are also some of the inevitable reasons that affect music CD sales.

People now are more comfortable with DVD players and broadband Internet connections because they could fulfill their entertainment needs in a much lower cost than opting for a music CD. Moreover the recorded music requires very little cost to produce, so consumers can actually make music CDs by either borrowing from his friend or downloading from the Internet. And in a month billions of songs are downloaded, mostly illegally, from P2P networks. On the other hand since marginal price of recorded music is slowly declining the bands will require other options of making money. So the consumers are more likely to get latest concerts in live TV shows than in a music CD which will help the artists earn more revenue.

The music industry is also concentrating more on digital music to compensate the unavoidable decrease in the sale of music CDs. Also launching of the Apple's iTunes Store which allows music maniacs to conveniently and quickly access large amounts of music from the virtual shelves has brought about a revolutionary change in music retailing, thereby reducing the market value and popularity of music CDs.