Retailers Shun The Music Industry?

Written By: Jim Markunas

Photo Credit: Stephen St. John

"February 20, 2010, is the day the CD dies."

That's what Tunecore president, Jeff Price was quoted as saying in an interview with the SF Examiner.

The quote goes on to say, "This is going to be the last year where there's any form of significant revenue generated from CD sales. The majors are going to be able to keep Walmart and Borders and Best Buy and Barnes & Noble into stocking inventory through this last Christmas season, but after that, the floor space is going to shrink significantly, and CDs are gonna go.'"

There you have it! There's speculation that after the 2009 Christmas season, retailers may drop physical music merchandise (i.e., CDs) completely.

What does that mean for us as an industry?

CDs will eventually go the way of vinyl. They'll be collector's items at indie stores around the world. However, there's two fundamental problems:

1. Vinyl sales alone can't finance a whole industry, and the same will soon be true regarding compact discs.

2. In the not-so-distant future, all music will be free. Yes... this means traditional music sales will generate little to no revenue.

Taking these two factors into consideration, it's important for the music industry to explore alternate sources of revenue. The internet is a vast space with limitless financial possibilities. There are literally millions of ways to generate revenue online, and there's no reason we can't start to use a few of these fresh new revenue streams as an industry.

Key point to remember: Everything can be monetized on the internet if digital space is leveraged efficiently.

OBLIGATORY PLUG: If you like my style, and think I can benefit your company shoot me an e-mail to set up an interview.