The Compact Disk. Once the hot, happening, hi-tech format for listening to your music. After years of steady CD sales you'd be forgiven for thinking that they were here to stay, but in spite of all the musos who claim to still love the feel of a tangible audio product, and the best efforts of record label execs everywhere, CD sales are continuing to plummet.

Figures from the UK this week show a 27% drop in week-on-week sales, and the US looks set to follow suit. Though nobody is surprised that CD sales are becoming less popular, a drop of over a quarter has sent alarm bells ringing through the music industry and high street retail market. New schemes are being introduced to try and save sales, a strange system whereby music is automatically downloaded to your mobile devices when it is bought in store has been suggested, but perhaps suggests a hint of desperation as the industry continues to make further strides into the digital age.

Piracy is debatably an issue and a big contributing factor towards declining album sales, but it's not all doom and gloom. Digital sales, for one, continue to rise, suggesting that not all people choose to take music for free. Another huge impacting factor is the rise of Spotify, who, as you probably already know, provide a completely new model towards listening to music, and allow their members access to a huge portion of the world's music either free with ads or paid with a monthly subscription.

Spotify continues to sky-rocket as the music business evolves. If you're looking for my two cents, physical sales are suffering because of a desperation of major labels to cling to the income stream they have relied on for so long, which leaves a huge gap for companies like spotify to take advantage of.

There will always be a market for CD sales, just like there will always be a market for Vinyl, but the music industry needs to realise that the format in which people listen to music will always evolve, and that truly is a good thing.

Ben is an ex BBC featured producer and Record Label owner who runs Zedara, a music industry blog and resource for current and aspiring industry professionals.

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