Forty years and not a scratch. Developed by Sony and Philips, production of the first compact discs officially began on August 17, 1982 at a factory in Langenhagen, near Hanover, Germany. It arrived on the market in France from March 1983, with growing popularity during the 1990s, before being shunned during the record crisis of the 2000s and the arrival of music streaming. Its place on the shelves then drops, in favor of vinyl, which is back in fashion. And yet: in 2021, CD sales increased by almost 10%.
He is resisting, thanks to some die-hards like the independent record store Silence de la rue, located in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. “There is still a clientele and a spontaneous demand for CDs. I have about 6,500 different CD titles, it’s less than the vinyl offer, it represents 30% of my sales and my stock“, details the boss, Christophe Ouali, who has always had this musical format on the shelf. And, for him, the CD still has many advantages.
“Today, the CD is something economical, it’s not expensive to manufacture, it’s not expensive to transport. And then, there is a sound quality that is incomparable.”
Christophe Oualirecord store in Paris
The proof is in the figures: in 2021, the CD remains the second source of market revenue, behind subscription streaming, according to the National Syndicate of Phonographic Publishing (SNEP). At Gibert Musique, the famous second-hand record store located in the Saint-Michel district of Paris, it even outsells vinyl.
“This represents three quarters of physical sales. Clearly, the buyers are not young people, who are on streaming and not on physical formats, but rather a slightly older clientele, the irreducible“, assures Mathieu Potier, head of the pop-rock section of the store, where Éric, 64, unearthed a record by Joni Mitchell.I have about 15,000 CDs, or a full room, all the walls covered with two layers on each wall“, he smiles. Before confiding that today, it is more complicated than before to listen to a CD: “Now, in cars, there are no more readers… That’s annoying. It bothers me a lot because I listened a lot in the car. In the morning, I listen to music for breakfast every day. I put a CD, but never a vinyl“, he slips.
A little further on, Luc, in his sixties, comes for the occasion. His relationship with the object is special: “I have comics and it’s the same. It is something physical. The work behind it is worth sticking with“, he pleads. And there is no doubt that certain initiatives launched by artists seduce this enthusiast: the rapper Orelsan thus unveiled the “Tickets d’or” operation when his album was released. Civilization. Five boxes contain tickets allowing the winners to go to his concerts free of charge for life. Enough to launch a treasure hunt among fans and boost sales.
The CD is 40 years old and still successful – Report by Aude Lambert
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