Today, more than half of Americans have access to digital music through online music stores or apps. In addition, more people are listening to digital music today than ever before, as evidenced by the fact that there are more than 10 billion songs in circulation. That’s a lot of tunes!
However, owning CDs can be expensive: they cost money to make, they require storage space and they must be purchased when you want to listen to them. On top of this, many people these days prefer streaming their favorite artists’ music instead of buying their album.
This makes purchasing CDs an expensive habit for most people who love great music but don’t want to spend money on it all the time. If you fall into this category and would like to reduce your spending on quality music without reducing your musical enjoyment, read on for some reasons why you should download your favorite tracks instead of buying CDs.
Digital Downloading Is Cheaper Than CD Production
Anyone who has worked in the music industry will tell you that making CDs is an expensive process. The main cost associated with the creation of a CD is manufacturing the disc itself. This requires a special vinyl-like disc that can withstand heat from a press and be readable by a CD player.
In order to manufacture CDs, the plant that made the CDs must be shut down while it’s being constructed. (That’s right—if you want to make a lot of CDs, you have to shut down a bunch of factories.) Another cost associated with CD production is the cost of the raw materials. To make 50,000 CDs, the plant that makes CDs has to use a lot of ink and paper.
This makes the cost of CDs higher than it needs to be, which is why most stores sell CDs for less than the retail price of other media like DVDs and downloads.
You Can Carry a Few Songs With You Anywhere
CDs are heavy, right? They’re mostly made of plastic, paper, glue, and ink. So, if you’re somebody who likes carrying music around with them in a backpack or a purse, you might have to carry a bunch of CDs with you.
Now, imagine taking all those CDs with you everywhere you go. If you’re like most people, you probably don’t want to do this all the time.
That’s where digital downloading comes in. If you download a digital copy of an album, you don’t have to take any physical copies of that album with you anywhere you go. Instead, you can download the songs you want to listen to whenever you want to.
Having a Digital Copy of Your Favorite Tracks Helps You Avoid Piracy
This is one of the biggest reasons to download your favorite tracks instead of buying CDs. It’s important to avoid piracy because it’s illegal and it can harm artists and labels financially. In order to keep earning money off of your music, labels and artists have to make money off of your music.
This is called revenue sharing, and it’s how labels keep paying artists. But what happens if people don’t pay for music? Well, then labels don’t make any money, artists don’t make any money, and we all lose.
This is one of the biggest reasons to download your favorite tracks instead of buying CDs. It helps you avoid piracy that can harm your favorite artists and labels financially.
Streaming Music Is More Accessible Than Ever Before
Another reason to download your favorite tracks instead of buying CDs is because streaming has made it easier for people to access music than ever before. What used to be reserved for high-speed internet connections is now available to anyone with a smartphone or tablet. This means that you don’t have to take time out of your day to listen to music when you don’t have time to listen to music.
Music is now available whenever and wherever you want to listen to it. You don’t have to take a break from your work, school, or chores to hear music. This means that you don’t have to take the time to pick up a CD and put it in your CD player. You don’t have to take up more space with a pile of CDs than you need to.
CDs Are an Old Technology Which Makes Them Cost More
For all the benefits of downloading your favorite tracks instead of buying CDs, you would think that the savings would be huge. But that’s not the case. In fact, the opposite is true. While you don’t have to spend money on CDs anymore, you do have to spend money on music streaming services.
With this comes a cost: the streaming service usually charges a monthly fee. Depending on the service, this fee can range from $10 to $20 a month. This is much higher than the amount you would pay if you bought CDs. CDs cost less than $10 each and can be found at most stores for less than $20 each.
The Bottom Line
Digital downloads and streaming may be more convenient than ever before, but they don’t save you money. CDs are an old technology which makes them cost more. And all of this makes CDs a risky investment for you and for the music industry. That’s why you should download your favorite tracks instead of buying CDs.