According to an article at appscout.com, CDs might not be ready for the dust bins quite yet. It seems that around two thirds of the folks out there still paying for music buy CDs exclusively. That's nice. Well, it's better than nice, it's good. Good for us independent musicians still trying to sell our product. Although it has become cheaper over the last few years, it's still a pretty hefty chunk of change to get a CD together. This is good news, if it's reliable.
Of course, the folks who are not paying for their music are either illegally downloading (or, I suppose, stealing CDs!). The question arises: how do these numbers compare with the amount of free and/or illegal downloads? How does the legitimate market for music compare to the illegal download world in size and scope? If two thirds of the music buying public are still buying CDs, but the whole of the music buyers is not as big as the illegal downloaders, that's an issue. If we are to believe some of the reports that come out of the Music industry, that might very well be the case. For example, maybe as many as 50% of todays college students download illegal music or movies from unlicensed peer-to-peer networks.
Still, this has got to be encouraging news for those of us still selling our wares in a volatile market. CDs live to face another day.
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