Why Rent When You Can Buy

I was looking at the latest figures on unit sales in Canada for DVDs and CDs. Year to date 1,699,000 DVD units were shipped which is up 38% from last year (1,233,000 units). 22,562,000 CD units were shipped which is up 6% from last year (21,211,000 units).

There is a great deal of concern about the overall decline worldwide in the sale of CDs. Global music sales dropped 7.6 percent to $32 billion in 2003. This has been the fourth straight annual decline according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

CD units shipped in the U.S. increased by 9.6% percent in the first four months of the year leading to some cautious optimism that anti-piracy actions are having a positive impact.

Retail shipments of DVDs rose 52% in the first six months of 2004, while sales of DVD players rose 25%, according to the Digital Entertainment Group. On a unit basis, 649 million DVD titles were shipped to retail stores in the first six months of the year, while 13 million new DVD players were sold to play those discs.

Why rent when you can buy. Maybe it is time to get out of two-channel music production 😉