Big Drop In Post Thanksgiving CD Sales Has Merchants Feeling Pessimistic

Billboard reports disappointing CD sales during Thanksgiving weekend has merchants feeling pessimistic about music’s prospects for the holiday selling season and worried about what will happen next in the new year. The decline compared to sales in 2006 ranged from 15 percent to 25 percent for the weekend that begins with Black Friday. Lack of hit releases were cited as the main reason for the decline. “If the labels had put out a new hit CD for the week, sales might not be down so much,” Newbury Comics head of purchasing Carl Mello said. “You have to put something out to get people to buy music.”