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The total revenue of CDs sold in 1999 (Peak CD) was $938 million. https://www.statista.com/statistics/186772/album-shipments-in-the-us-music-industry-since-199
by scarface_74 3y ago
The total revenue of CDs sold in 1999 (Peak CD) was $938 million.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/186772/album-shipments-in-the-us-music-industry-since-1999/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/186772/album-shipments-i...
The best estimate for the number of adults that same year I could find was 191 million. Let’s say 200 million to include some teams.
That’s nowhere close to 10 to 20 CDs.
I can’t find a citation. But I’ve seen other places that people were spending $65 a year on music before streaming and iTunes
- ghaff 3y agoI believe those are US units not revenues. So depending on how you count relevant consumers that’s actually close to 10 CDs per year per person. Which puts music purchases in the rough ballpark of streaming which is probably not coincidental.
- scarface_74 3y agoThat’s about 5 CDs per adult then.
- ghaff 3y agoYes. But most music purchases were probably people from about their late teens through about their 30s. So the relevant adult population is probably quite a bit smaller. Point is you’re looking at on the order of $100 per year plus or minus.