Students buy CDs despite sales decline

Digital music download sales increased by 30 percent in 2008, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

However, avid music listeners continue to purchase physical copies of their favorite songs in the form of CDs and vinyl records.

“I want more from my music,” senior Mike Lang said. “It’s easy to download hundreds of songs at a time and never listen to them.”

Lang, who buys CDs in mass quantities, works at Tracks Music & Videos, a small record store on Kirkwood Avenue.

Tracks owner Andy Walter said he began the business 37 years ago at Purdue University. The Bloomington store opened 21 years ago and is now the only one he owns.

“The music business has changed dramatically,” Walter said. “It changed when big-box stores like Best Buy came in and people didn’t have to go to record stores anymore. People can be exposed to a variety of music online far greater than by walking in a record store.”

Tracks, which began solely as a CD store, eventually became a CD and DVD store and is now a CD, DVD and IU apparel store, he said.

While sales are decreasing at Tracks and record stores similar to it, listeners like freshman Jonathan Pabey continue to support the traditional music industry.

Pabey said he owns an iPod but has never downloaded from iTunes or other downloading Web sites. He prefers the aesthetic sound of vinyl records and CDs.

“Vinyl sounds better, crisper,” he said. “Vinyl almost sounds like the band is playing in your room.”

Digital music cuts out the finer details of songs, Lang said.

Vinyl records include all the sounds involved in recording, so listeners get more out of the music experience.

“Vinyl records on the right system sound immensely better,” Lang said. “But you have to invest in a solid turntable.”

Artwork on packaging is another reason Pabey and Lang said they continue to buy CDs. Bands spend a lot of time finding artwork that fits their sound and style, Lang said.

“It’s a nice bonus to have, especially for concept albums,” he said. “It puts you in the mood for what you’re about to listen to.”

Senior Haleigh Howe, another Tracks employee, said artists decorate their MySpace pages in basically the same way by posting CD images and other photos. It gives off the same feel as album artwork, he said.

Pabey said he thinks art and music go hand in hand and disagrees with downloading artwork online.

“What are you going to do with it, just save it in a file?” he said.

When records first came out, Howe said they were used to support the artist’s tour and schedule gigs. Then artists began to make more money from the records than the shows, he said.

“The record got people to come to the show,” Howe said.

He added with the introduction of digital downloads, the income for the music industry turned around again.

However, artists are not selling the massive amounts of CDs they sold 10 years ago, Pabey said.

“Back in the day, people like Mariah Carey and Alanis Morissette sold 22 million copies,” he said. “Now you’re really successful if you hit a million or two.”