Best Buy will stop selling CDs in their retail stores as of July 01st, 2018. Billboard.com report that the retailer recently announced its plans for the move away from the format to music labels and distributors. It is estimated that CD sales had slumped to roughly $40 million annually for the company. Notably however, the retailer will continue to carry vinyl records for at least the next two years.
As a recent Nielsen report showed, both physical album and digital track sales continued to decline last year, though vinyl sales represented a 9% growth from the year prior. The explosive growth of digital streaming looks to be the main cause for the increasingly rapid decline.
Additionally, Billboard also report that rival retailer Target has apparently given an ultimatum to labels/distributors that they shift to a consignment model, thus putting the risk of unsold product after a certain time period on back on the label/distributors.
There’s also mention that Target have been pushing towards scan-based trading, meaning the company would pay the music supplier for the product once it is actually sold at the register in the store, rather than paying up front. There is at least one silver lining however, as the shift away from the CD format by the two major chains may be a temporary blessing for the independent mom and pop music retailers.