No More 'CDs For a Penny': Columbia House Blames Streaming for Bankruptcy

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/streaming-music-has-killed-columbia-house-n407856

by Keith Wagstaff
Aug. 11, 2015

The music died for Columbia House on Monday when its parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

As anyone with a dusty Hootie & the Blowfish album probably knows, Columbia House became popular in the 1990s as the business that would sell you eight CDs for a penny.

Then came Napster, iTunes, and now Spotify, which offers more than 30 million songs for zero pennies. Other streaming services, like Apple Music and Tidal, also give consumers a nearly endless supply of albums for a monthly fee.

"The business has been in decline for approximately two decades, driven by the advent of digital media and resulting declines in the recorded music business," Columbia House's parent company, Filmed Entertainment, said in a statement on Monday.

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Ironically, sales of vinyl records — which is what Columbia House sold when it was founded in 1955 — were actually up by 38 percent.

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