Best Buy to Stop Selling CDs

[Lily Adler]

https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16973538/bestbuy-target-cd-sales-vinyl-cassette

Best Buy is abandoning the humble CD and will no longer sell them in its stores starting on July 1st, 2018, reports Billboard. The move comes as CD sales continue to decline; revenue from digital music downloads eclipsed it back in 2014.
Target, on the other hand, says it will only sell music CDs under a consignment basis, shifting inventory risk back to the labels. That means Target would only pay labels for CDs when customers buy them, rather than buying the CDs in bulk and paying for shipments of unsold CDs back to the label for credit.
In a statement emailed to The Verge, Target said:
“Entertainment has been and continues to be an important part of Target’s brand. We are committed to working closely with our partners to bring the latest movies and music titles, along with exclusive content, to our guests.
“The changes we’re evaluating to our operating model, which shows a continued investment in our Entertainment business, reflect a broader shift in the industry and consumer behavior. We have nothing more to share at this time.”
Despite no longer selling CDs, Best Buy will still sell vinyl for the next two years, which Billboard says is part of a commitment it made to vendors. Sources suggested that Best Buy’s music CD arm was only generating $40 million annually.
As we’ve previously reported, during the first half of 2017, streaming services accounted for 62 percent of revenue from the US music market. The decline of CD sales has also sparked Warner Music Group to offer voluntary buyouts to its 130 staff working in physical product, according to Billboard.
It’s not surprising that we’re no longer buying CDs — at least not for new music. The best-selling CD in 2016 was a Mozart boxset, which contained 200 CDs that were individually counted as a separate sale. Users who don’t buy music prefer to stream it via services like Spotify and Apple Music, and gadget makers aren’t really making CD players anymore.
There’s still hope, though: vinyl has seen a resurgence in recent years, as has the cassette tape. And even though there aren’t a lot of new cassette players on the market, artists are still finding ways to release music through physical mediums (or at least a mix of both). For example, Korean artist G-Dragon released his latest album via USB drive.
We’ve reached out to Best Buy and will update this post if we hear back.

 

[Sithborg]

Wait, cassettes are making a comeback?

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Gotta get rid of all the formats that are easy to resell or pass down.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

The end of a ******* era.

 

[Teelie]

Wait, cassettes are making a comeback?

In much the same sense that vinyl has. It's a niche market that has its followers who insist music sounds better on it but are otherwise a small minority.

 

[Spider-Fan]

When are DVDs/Blu Rays next?

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

They still sold CDs? Everyone is digital now for music. I don't even bother enabling downloads on mixes for Soundcloud anymore because folks just stream.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

Wait, cassettes are making a comeback?

Yeah, I was really surprised to see some cassette players advertised a little while back. Think I might just wipe the dust off my old tape boxes

 

[Dark Raven]

Wait, cassettes are making a comeback?

Yeah, I was really surprised to see some cassette players advertised a little while back. Think I might just wipe the dust off my old tape boxes

Cassettes? It's reel-to-reel spool tapes you want.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

Cassettes? It's reel-to-reel spool tapes you want.

I remember my dad having one of those!

 

[psylockolussus]

Sad but its expected.

 

[squeekness]

I'm old enough to remember 8 track tapes.

 

[Enriquespy]

Solid media for audio and video has always standed on shaky grounds.

 

[Dark Raven]

I remember my dad having one of those!

It's what they used in the Mission Impossible TV series in the 60s. Whenever it says "this tape will self destruct in 5 seconds", that's what it's referring to.

 

[squeekness]

Who has space to keep storing solid media anyhow?

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

It's what they used in the Mission Impossible TV series in the 60s. Whenever it says "this tape will self destruct in 5 seconds", that's what it's referring to.

That's right, I remember. Then it would start smoking.

 

[Dark Raven]

That's right, I remember. Then it would start smoking.

[YT]4y9NtHlJvbY[/YT]

I always wondered: what if he missed some of the details and it self destructed?

Or what if someone else broke in and found that tape before he did?

 

[C. Lee]

When are DVDs/Blu Rays next?

They're working on it. Went into my local BEST BUY last week (first time in months)....the DVD section was down to around a 12 foot section on the back wall. The same goes for TARGET. Their DVD section has gone down to next to nothing. In my area, the places with the biggest selection of DVDs is WalMart and FYE.

 

[Teelie]

My Best Buy has similarly scaled back their Blu-Ray/DVD section although not nearly as much as that. It went from roughly 12 shelves to 8.

 

[squeekness]

They're working on it. Went into my local BEST BUY last week (first time in months)....the DVD section was down to around a 12 foot section on the back wall. The same goes for TARGET. Their DVD section has gone down to next to nothing. In my area, the places with the biggest selection of DVDs is WalMart and FYE.

Same with me, though my Wal-Mart doesn't stock much. The fact is most people stream or buy hard copies online now.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

[YT]4y9NtHlJvbY[/YT]

I always wondered: what if he missed some of the details and it self destructed?

Yeah, I imagine him frantically pouring a glass of water on it, crying "No! No, No!"

 

[squeekness]

I remember when my boombox used to munch my cassette tapes and we tried to fix them with tape. Fun times.

 

[Immortalfire]

I bought this stereo in 2001, it had to be one of the last systems ever made with a cassette deck.

 

[Aximili86]

I still buy albums on CD.

**** MP3 compression. These vinyl hipsters are also lame, considering the vast majority of the albums they buy were recorded digitally anyway and therefore sound no "warmer" on a record.

 

[DJ Kornphlake]

Can't say I'm surprised they're stopping, considering how small the CD section is at their stores now. It's still weird to think how CDs went from being by far the largest floor space of the media department 10-15 years ago to now just like 2-3 racks.