Two major music CD retailers have closed in America over the weekend, and it seems after almost 30 years, the reign of the compact disc could be over.
The song is over for another big record store chain, amidst a free fall in the sales of music CDs. Many music lovers are lamenting the demise of places where you can browse the aisles – your eyes and ears catching something new, and have those conversations with the all-knowing clerks. Some fear the CD itself is an endangered species.
The shuttering this weekend of Virgin’s last two Music Megastores – in Manhattan and Hollywood – marks the death of a once booming chain, and another nail in the coffin of the music CD.
Sales nationwide in the US are down by half since 2000. So Virgin’s parent company closed its 25 megastores and is leasing the space to other businesses.
CEO of Virgin Entertainment Group Simon Wright says the internet has had a huge impact on this industry.
“Everything on [the] racks, though I don’t like to say it, is available on iTunes, is available on Amazon,” he says.
That is where the music sales have shifted.
Apple’s iTunes is now the nation’s largest music seller – with 20 percent of the market. Amazon has about eight percent. Some studies show most music is now downloaded for free illegally.
“The only reason people are coming here is because they like the buzz of it,” says Mr Wright.
“They like the sound, they like the feeling, they like that they can hang put, pick things up and look at it.”
Which leaves music lovers longing for that special browsing experience.
“CDs are now are catering to fans who like the object, who like high sound quality of a CD,” says Senior Editor at Rolling Stone magazine Michael Endelman.
“But then they also want the pictures and booklet, and they want to look at the liner notes and the lyrics and the photos.”
Two years after the lights went out at the once might Tower Records chain, Virgin was the last giant standing. The void affects music fans and artists.
“The death of the CD and the sort of shrinking of record labels makes it a lot harder for small acts and even for mid-level acts to get their music out,” says Mr Endelman.
And the big acts simply are not selling albums like they used to.
This year, Green Day needed to sell only 600-thousand copies of its 21st Century Breakdown to hit number one.
“There’s a huge generation gap in music,” says Vice President of NPD Group Ross Crupnick.
“If you take a look at teens, for many teens the CD is what an 8-track might be to me – it’s an antique, it’s an artefact.”
An artefact that is getting increasingly harder to find.
3 News / CBS