It's perhaps a passé idea among the digerati but, when Alain Levy CEO and Chair of EMI declares to an audience at the London School of Business that the CD as a format is dead, people listen. Physical media sales have been in a steady decline since 2000 but the format is far from dead, representing over 70% of worldwide sales. So, what exactly does Levy mean when he says that your shiny disc shaped friend is a goner?Unable to rely on just music to sell CDs, the industry is looking towards "value added material" to close the deal with consumers. "We have to be much more innovative in the way we sell physical content," said Levy. He noted that, though ailing, physical formats aren't completely dead, "You're not going to offer your mother-in-law iTunes downloads for Christmas," making the point that, though popular, the iPod isn't universal just yet.
