The document discusses the evolution and decline of CD sales over time. It notes that CDs gained popularity in the 1980s and 1990s as a means of storing and playing audio, but that sales have declined in recent years as music has become more freely accessible online. This has caused a major drop in CD sales. However, the document explains that artists still make money through merchandise sales at concerts and licensing their music for movies and TV, bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars through these alternative revenue streams.

1. The Evolution
of CD Sales

2. What is a CD?
• A CD or compact disc is a digital
optical disc data storage format that
was originally developed as a
means to store and play audio
recordings but later was adapted to
also store data.
• They first began to gain popularity
in the 1980s but it wasn’t until the
1990s that they became globally
popular. The first CD single was
reported to be in 1985 and was ‘Dire
Straits’ with ‘Brothers in Arm’.

3. What Happened?
• There has been much talk in recent years of the ‘death of
the CD’ as music become mores and more accessible on
the internet etc for free. This issue really came forward in
the last 5 or so years as the internet is more available to
more people and there are more shortcuts and loopholes
that mean that people no longer have the same
limitations.
• This has caused a decline in CD sales as shown in the next
slide…

5. WHY?

7. So How Do They
Still Make Money?

8. T-Shirts and Merchandise
• Selling merchandise and paraphernalia has been
‘a staple in touring artists' revenue streams for
decades’. Particularly for pop stars that have a
large ‘tween’ fan base (eg. One Direction), as
their fans' parents will pay for everything. As
well as this market, there is also a large demand
for the merchandise of ‘rock veterans’ like Iron
Maiden and The Who, who have very distinction
band logos that are popular on t-shirts etc. For a
band like One Direction, they could potentially
make $225,000 per show from merchandise.
Unfortunately, not all artists are able to perform
in the massive arenas and have a tweeny-pop
fan base.

9. Movie and TV Licensing
• When you watch a film or TV series and like a song in it, or even just
register that there is music, that is helping that artist. For example, a
song in the credits of a movie could bring in between $250,000-$600,000.
About half usually goes to the performer, with the other half going to
whoever owns the song's publishing rights.