I read yesterday an annoucenment by Woolworths who are the UK’s biggest music retailer, that they will stop selling CD singles. Eight million CD singles were sold in Britain last year, compared to 72.6 million music downloads.
Woolworths currently sells one in three of all audio CDs in the UK, but said it believes competition from downloads means the CD single format is in “terminal decline”. From August 2008 Woolworths will only sell single tracks via its download website.
I find this story amazing as I’d always assumed that it was kids and teens that purchased the majority of CD singles with their pocket money, so I thought that retailers like Woolworths who cater strongly to these markets would be relatively immune to the decline in CD single sales.
I wonder how long it will be until they withdraw CDs althogether? I haven’t purchased a CD in the UK for a number of years now, and I only buy CDs when I’m on holiday if I spot a bargain.
