In audio circles stamped cd’s have been making a comeback. It’s much like the last decades vinyl revival.
It’s not the older generations getting nostalgia, it’s the younger generations looking for ‘experience’ over content. Buying a physical thing, storing on the shelf, having a visible collection of disks to show off.
Additionally it is a revenue stream for artists, where despite the costs of mastering and pressing a cd, they can get more money from a cd release than from streaming. So artists have been incentivized do make releases a big deal since they money goes straight to them. It’s a bit like a ‘buy me a coffee’ but with a physical item.
You can buy brand new cd players, not just blueray players or vintage units that need service.
I went looking for data and it seems cd sales are on the decline again. So my info is outdated. It looks like it was trending younger with Taylor swift and k-pop titles as the top sellers. It appears to be less of a revival and more of a fad.
It looks like vinyl is still growing in 2026 even while cd decrease again.
It’s a bummer since artist can get a bigger cut of physical media sales and cd are easier to make than a records.
In audio circles stamped cd’s have been making a comeback. It’s much like the last decades vinyl revival.
It’s not the older generations getting nostalgia, it’s the younger generations looking for ‘experience’ over content. Buying a physical thing, storing on the shelf, having a visible collection of disks to show off.
Additionally it is a revenue stream for artists, where despite the costs of mastering and pressing a cd, they can get more money from a cd release than from streaming. So artists have been incentivized do make releases a big deal since they money goes straight to them. It’s a bit like a ‘buy me a coffee’ but with a physical item.
You can buy brand new cd players, not just blueray players or vintage units that need service.
It’s a thing.
In terms of nostalgia-buying, we millenials are now the older generation. I doubt it’s all the 15-20yo who are buying CDs.
I went looking for data and it seems cd sales are on the decline again. So my info is outdated. It looks like it was trending younger with Taylor swift and k-pop titles as the top sellers. It appears to be less of a revival and more of a fad.
It looks like vinyl is still growing in 2026 even while cd decrease again.
It’s a bummer since artist can get a bigger cut of physical media sales and cd are easier to make than a records.