[LINK] Damn! That fake "CD sales fell by" number again...

[andrew clarke]

On Fri, Feb 13, 2004 at 11:52:42PM +1100, Adam Todd wrote:

> Who in their right mind buys CD singles?

Teenagers with no patience would rather own a copy of their latest
favourite song immediately than wait (possibly months) for it to appear
on an album by that artist (or a various artists compilation) that they
might not like anyway.

Some songs are never released on an album, although I suspect they're in
the minority.

Also, collectors will buy CD singles of songs even if they already own
the albums.

I've bought CD singles myself a couple of times in the early 1990s. 
Back then (~1992) CD singles were around $8 each.  This is in contrast
to the price of 7" vinyl singles before they were phased out - either $3
or $4, depending on the label.  I think the record companies were
pricing CD singles to be similar to the prices of 12" vinyl extended
singles, which were around $7.

I'm convinced that at the time the general quality of Top 40 music
diminished considerably because people couldn't buy songs for ~$3 any
more (which seemed like a fairly reasonable price to me back then) - the
market had changed.

Regards
Andrew