Report: music fans cling to CDs, but discover music online

Despite the popularity of music downloads and streaming, music fans still seem to love an old standby: the CD. A new survey conducted in the UK by The Leading Question and Music Ally Speakerbox has found that music customers of all ages still prefer the CD to downloading, a pattern that extends into the lucrative teenage demographic. That’s not to say online offerings aren’t important, though—those who use subscription or streaming services tend to buy more CDs than others, so online music discovery is clearly helping to keep those sales alive.

The firms conducted a thousand face-to-face interviews with UK music lovers between the ages of 14 and 64, all of whom have broadband connections. Seventy-three percent of the group reported being happier buying CDs than downloading, with 66 percent of those between the ages of 14 and 18 being among that group. Over half (59 percent) reported listening to CDs every day.

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