How the sales of CDs have changed in the last 5 years

In the past 5 or more years, CD sales have dropped in sales dramatically as these printscreens show evidence of:

The main reasons for these sales dropping dramatically is because of the eas access to listening to free music, e.g: music channels, YouTube, Spotify etc. Also, illegally downloading music for free has become very popular too.

 This image shows he dramatic decrease in sale in the USA from 1999 to 2009

The above pictures are two different reports (BBC News and The Mirror) on the HMV crisis as their sales dropped by huge amounts. They had to close down many stores to make sure not to go into dept.

It is clear that artists are now making the most of their money through online stores for merchandise, concerts and gigs, iTunes and other download methods such as the premium Spotify. It is important to note that CD sales are of a bare minimum now and the primary source of the artist's money is totally through online stores.