CD Comeback?

CAN CD BE SAVED? The CD has shown signs of life since Trans World began an experiment six months ago by dropping the price on all physical product in some of its stores to $10. The result: one major distributor has seen an uplift of more than 100% in those outlets. This eye-catching result has given added cache to the theory that it’s possible to reinvigorate consumers by locating the “sweet spot” price point. Retail mavens believe that if any or all of the Big Four distributors react to these results by lowering the wholesale price of CDs, they’ll be forced to compensate for the resulting razor-thin margins. Specifically, they expect to see the current trend of albums containing fewer tracks to intensify. (2/25p)