Media industry sectors such as music or photography underwent digital transformations over the last decades. CDs, record stores, sales assistants, cameras and many more have been virtualized and thus dematerialized. As I couldn't find good stats for the music industry I tried to fill the gap.

1. DEMAT
in Media

2. 21.05.2021
Cameras as a product group sold independently is
becoming obsolete, as camaras have become a
standard feature of smartphones
Same chart as to the left
but augemented with the
number of smarthones
acting as cameras.
The effect of virtualizing a
physical product.
The revenue is mostly gone
but the usage skyrocketed
Remember – the
reproduction cost of a
digital product is zero
https://petapixel.com/2015/04/09/this-is-what-the-history-of-camera-sales-looks-like-with-smartphones-included/
DEMAT
Cameras

3. DEMAT Photos
21.05.2021
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1826 1930 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
Photos taken per year
Analog all Photos
The number of photos taken
before the year 2000 seems to be
statistically insignificant.
Yet the commercial value lost for
the global economy was $ 190
billion per year (at ct 50/photo)
Material effect: at 4 grams per
photo, 344 million tons less
chemically treated photo paper is
manufactured, processed,
transported and finally disposed
of year by year

4. DEMAT CE*
*Consumer Electronics
Radio Shack Add 1991
14 consumer electronics devices
have merged into the
smartphone.
Retail value 1991 $ 3.054
Converted to 2021 dollar value $
5.889
Material effect: (how many?)
tons of electronic devices not
manufactured, not transported,
not powered electrically, not
discarded
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/radio-shack-ad_b_4612973

5. 0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
20 Years of Transformation in the Music Market
from physical CD to digital streaming, in $ bn
Global CD sales bn $ Global Streaming bn $ Global Streaming Aggregate
DEMAT Music
The global music industry underwent
several disruptions by digital
technologies from 1998 to 2007, before
the next wave of digital technologies,
commercial streaming, was able to
recover some of the lost revenues.
Yet margins are way higher, since the
reproduction and distribution costs for
digital goods are zero.
Material effect: half a billion tons of
less plastic. no CD plants, no transport,
no stores, no people travelling to stores,
no record/CD players manufactured,
sold and finally discarded.
21.05.2021
MP/Napster3
iTunes/iPod
Smartphone
Streaming
CD Sales US, Source Statista ID 186772, at $10 per CD x 2 for
global market estimation /
Streaming, Source Statista ID 86435
all physical world digital world