FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS: WORST HOLIDAY SEASON EVER SENDS THE CD TO ITS DEATH BED

Variety reports that the 2007 holiday shopping season saw a precipitous drop in sales of recorded music albums. Sales for the 2007 holiday season (day after thanksgiving through Dec 23) were down 21% from 2006. Even a stellar week leading up to Christmas that saw sales rise a whopping 42% over the previous week couldn’t right the ship; when the week’s sales of 25.57 million are compared to the same week from ’06, they represent an 18% drop. Compound all this with the full year figures — CD sales down 14% to 18% according to various reports — and we’ve got a shitstorm on our hands.

This is it, my friends. If you want to own CDs that you don’t already have, now would be the time to go buy them. Come January major retailers and big box stores are going to cut CD shelf space dramatically in favor of products that actually, ya know, sell.

Here’s some Metallica to listen to while you chew on that. Enjoy.

Metallica – “For Whom the Bell Tolls”

-VN