Best Buy, Target May Stop Selling Music CDs: Report

CDs and music videos could become more scarce in big-box stores as sales fall under competition from the digital music industry and dramatically change how Americans get their music groove on. The pressure stores like Best Buy and Target are under already can be seen in reduced inventories of CDs, sales of which dropped by nearly 20 percent last year while paid-subscription services saw big jumps in revenues.

Patch has reached out to both Best Buy and Target for confirmation of a report that they will adjust their policies in response to souring sales. We didn’t immediately hear back, but will update this story if we do.

Both retailers have already reduced their CD offerings, Best Buy more so than Target, according to the report.

Citing industry sources, Billboard said major big-box stores are poised to phase out CD sales or move to a retail model that reduces the risk of maintaining big inventories.

Billboard’s sources said Best Buy earns only $40 million annually from CD sales and has reduced its inventory to include fewer A-list performers. The sources said the retailer has notified its music suppliers that CDs will be gone from its stores by July 1. Best Buy will continue offering vinyl records for two years, honoring a commitment to vendors, the report said.

Stocking CDs comes at a risk to retailers, and the sources told Billboard that Target plans to shift the risk back to music labels. Under a model that could take effect as early as April 1, Target would pay it DVD vendors only when they are sold or scanned.

Billboard said that if the major labels don’t go along with Target’s terms, the CD format could be on the way out.

Paid subscription services eclipsed physical sales in 2015, Digital Trends reports. And last year, services like Apple Music and Spotify saw a 60 percent increase in sales.

Tell Us: The quality of CD offerings in big-box stores is already decreasing, and they may go away entirely. What do you think of this trend? Tell us in the comments.

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