Seattle Weekly:
The little guys are able to cling to a life raft not accessible to the corporate giants: used CDs. And because a combination of factors has recently led to a spike in the number of people looking to sell off their CD collections, the used market has been a glimmer of sunshine because of the higher markup on previously owned CDs as opposed to new ones. While new CDs may be getting pushed out of the market, owners of all three local indies say there is definitely still a market for the compact disc-so long as it’s a used one priced at around $6.99. Though Mike Batt, co-owner of Silver Platters, says the store is relatively new to the used-CD business, that business has grown: Used CDs now make up about 18 percent of Silver Platters’ revenue, tremendous growth for something in its infancy. Similarly, Jason Hughes of Sonic Boom says used-CD sales at his stores have gone up and now account for about 10 to 15 percent of their revenue, whereas it used to account for about 8 percent.