40 years of CD: music you can touch

Series production of the CD began in August 1982. It almost supplanted the record. In the meantime, vinyl is becoming more popular again – and music, above all, is streamed. But the compact disc has not completely disappeared.

By Julia Henninger, SWR

One box next to the other is full of CDs in the store “Second Hand Records” in Stuttgart. Music lovers browse them in search of discoveries. A regular customer proudly pulls a find out of the one-euro box. “With a dedication on the cover,” he says. A few meters away, Martin Georgi is standing at the turntable and putting on a record. “For me, the two belong together. I actually came to the record via the CD, so the CD also has a place in my musical heart,” he says. He still remembers his first CD: “Michael Jackson off the wall was that”.

Owner Rainer Rupp stands at the cash register. “We have a total of around 100,000 sound carriers here in the shop, 80 percent of them records and 20 percent CDs,” he says. There are used ones, but also new ones. In his shop they have always sold more records than CDs. But since the big chains hardly ever sell CDs anymore, more CD lovers are coming to the store.

A practical format

When the CD came on the market 40 years ago, it was a big change. “I think the format was practical. In times when there was no streaming, you could use it in the car or at the lake,” says shop employee Jerafim Meier.

According to Viola Wohlgemuth, an expert on resource protection at Greenpeace Germany, the CD is not particularly sustainable. “CDs consist of finite raw materials. On the one hand there is the blank, but then the CD is still packed in a plastic sleeve, which is still wrapped in cellophane.” Added to this is the transport. And in the end, the CD is largely not recycled. “This is a problem for the climate and for finite resources,” says Wohlgemuth.

Streaming far ahead in terms of sales

In the meantime, the CD has lost its importance. It’s being streamed more and more. In the 2021 yearbook, the Federal Association of the Music Industry indicates overall growth for the industry. The total turnover of the industry in 2021 was therefore 1.96 billion euros. “For the first time, more than three quarters of sales – 76.4 percent – were achieved online,” it says. Likewise: “The CD remains in second place with a sales share of 16.3 percent, in third place, as in the previous year, is vinyl, which for the first time since it was rediscovered in 2007 has a remarkable 6 percent share of the total market.”

Radio plays, music, podcasts, on the subway, in the car, while walking, jogging, at home – streaming consumption has increased significantly. But what is the sustainability balance here? According to Wolfgang Scheremet from the Federal Environment Agency, there is currently no valid data for an exact comparison of the environmental impact of music streaming on the one hand and the CD on the other. “So far there has been no comprehensive analysis along the entire life cycle of the respective formats.”

Power Consumption on Servers

When it comes to streaming, power consumption is the issue. “The problem here is not that I need the resources to produce the product, but of course the music has to be stored somewhere,” says Greenpeace expert Wohlgemuth. “That happens on servers. That means I have server power, I have computing power and I need energy for that. It is therefore important to ensure that my provider uses renewable energy wherever possible.”

“Streaming costs energy, even if you don’t think about it,” says Wolfgang Scheremet. The servers of the providers are one thing. In addition, there is also the own electricity provider. And the question of when and where someone is streaming. “Streaming over fiber or copper cable has only a third of the emissions of LTE. But people often listen to music on the go on their mobile phones and not at home over fiber optic or copper cable. But mobile phone uses more energy than cable.”

Comeback of the vinyl record

It is important to be aware of streaming. “If I’m only going to listen to a song once or twice, then streaming is better. But if I’m listening to a song on a loop, then it’s better if I download it,” says Sheremet. But it is also important to clear out the memory regularly. If everyone saves tons of music, that eats up resources again.

A conscious use of resources, that’s what they want at “Second Hand Records” in Stuttgart. Reselling old CDs and records – that too is sustainability. In any case, after 40 years, it’s hard to imagine life without the music you can touch. And the CD didn’t manage to oust the record either. Vinyl, as the figures from the Federal Association of the Music Industry have shown, is currently making a comeback.

You can also see that in Martin Georgi. “The focus is more on vinyl, but there’s also a CD every now and then,” he says, turning the record over and carefully replacing the stylus.