Best Buy VP Gary Arnold weighs in on ProPack CD sleeve packaging and music consumer trends in retail.
Big box retailers–Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, etc.–now have 65% of the market for printed music CDs, and downloads. Record stores, like bookstores, are a threatened species.
Downloads and iPod enthusiam notwithstanding, CDs still account for 85% of music sales. But CD sales have dropped 20%, challenging for printers of related packaging and liner notes. Industry leaders include Cinram, which took over the former Sony media production business; and MeadWestvaco’s AGIMedia.
Big retailers can no longer sell CDs at list prices of $15.99 and up, notes a report in the Wall St. Journal. Best Buy VP Gary Arnold tells the paper today that consumers think of CDs as $10 commodities. Recording studios should release no-frills packages for CDs following a “paperback book model” and more elaborate packages for die-hard fans.*
*article source by Bill Esler
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