We live in an era where everything is served up fast. We make purchases with one swipe, phone calls with the touch of a single button and we can even buy eBooks with a tap of a finger. We expect to stream music without an issue and downloads now take up less space than ever, making CDs obsolete — or so you'd think.
According to Billboard only about 4.2 million physical albums are sold in the U.S. each week. When was the last time someone handed you an actual CD to listen to? So who's still buying them?
According to a new study done by MusicWatch, 61% of the people buying CDs are 36 and older. Learning that figure helps to explain why some older artists like The Black Keys have had their latest albums hit number one for the very first time.
Teenagers used to be a real force in music sales. For the longest time that was the demographic that everyone catered to from the cover art to the liner notes. The thinking years ago was that if you could get a cluster of teens in the door to buy one album then they would likely leave with a few.
Teenagers are now used to the idea of downloading everything and that means buying a physical CD is almost a foreign idea. Why do you think that middle-aged people are still buying so many CDs? Is it because it's the way that they have always gotten their music and they continue to cling to the familiarity? Why do you think so many middle-aged people are still buying CDs rather than just live-streaming? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
