As vinyl becomes a vintage statement piece, more and more music fans are purchasing record players. Does this mean in another 20 years we’ll see CDs and their players becoming popular again? Will there be a CD boom?
It’s no secret that vinyls have had their second boom. Many who weren’t born during their first release are now hunting down record shops to purchase their favourite tracks for their shiny new record player. But, will we see the same with CDs?
Is there an appeal with vinyls that CDs just don’t have? Perhaps it’s due to each vinyl having a set track on it. You need to take it out of its packaging and carefully place it onto the player. A slight scratch could result in the sound not being right, or parts skipping.
Vinyl players are attractive pieces of equipment. They offer a more raw sound that streaming stores just can’t achieve. However, vinyls are also large and take up quite a lot of room. They’re also expensive since they’ve resurfaced.
It makes sense for them to be. Like with anything ‘retro‘ it has a higher price tag because often it’s older and has been kept in a great condition for much longer. The value seems to increase over time. However, even the new models are pricey, because they’ve become in demand.
Many would have long got rid of their record players. Especially when cassettes and CDs came to the market. They would have replaced them for a more modern version of listening to music. Which leaves the demand for vinyls much higher.
With more people wanting them, companies are able to increase their prices when selling them. So, although the version of listening is old school, the equipment itself is often quite new because people that want them, don’t already own them.
Will CDs become popular again?
So, moving on from records. Will CDs have the same boom? It’s hard to say right now, because they’ve only just had their time, really. Although we’ve had music streaming for quite some time, before that, it was CDs.
They’re still relatively recent to the market. We’d imagine it will be a good few more years before CDs become a ‘retro‘ must have item. However, we can see them becoming popular once more. We can imagine people with their large stereos playing their fave tracks.
Looking at figures from 2022, it suggests CD sales have increased. The number of units sold is up by 47% compared with the previous year. This is the first time since 2004 that CD sales are increasing. It’s even prompted audio companies to add CD players to their sales.
From these statistics alone, it shows that CDs are on the rise. Perhaps not majorly at the minute, but it could turn this way in years to come. There’s no evidence so far that this won’t happen. Perhaps it will become a statement to have a CD player.
What are your thoughts, can you see it happening? CDs are mini vinyls, so if people enjoy displaying a large disc, perhaps they’ll have fun displaying CDs in future generations. We can see it happening. Watch this space.
