CDs are now worth thousands as they make a comeback alongside vinyl and cassettes

Vinyl and cassettes are back, but now the humble CD is also enjoying a resurgence. See what yours are worth.

Sales of vinyl records are the highest they’ve been in decades and even the cassette is hip again as a kitsch retro throwback format.

But music industry figures suggest the CD is set to make a comeback — and the old CDs gathering dust in your shed could be worth hundreds.

Invented in 1982, by the end of that decade the compact disc, with its improved audio technology and longer running time, swamped sales of vinyl and cassettes.

However the CD fell victim to music being consumed digitally (and often for free), with CD collections seen as clutter to be offloaded for a few dollars.

This means savvy collectors can now find old CDs selling for peanuts in charity shops that are potentially worth a small fortune.

Sydney musicians Jess and Matt with CD copies of their album Wildflowers. Pic: Supplied

Website Discogs is a good source to check what any release is worth on the collector’s market (it’s what record stores check, so they know when something rare has been unknowingly dumped) as well as checking ‘completed listings’ on eBay for what people have actually paid.

There’s a niche market for Australian CD releases, especially albums released on CD decades ago long out of print and difficult to find.

It’s not just Paul Kelly’s first two CDs (Manila and Talk) that can sell for up to $150 each. Melbourne band Uncanny X-Men’s second album, 1987’s What You Give Is What You Get recently sold for $450.

CDs by local acts manufactured between 1986 and 1987 are particularly rare – the format was still relatively new in Australia and print runs were limited.

Original pressings of CDs by Australian Crawl, Pseudo Echo, Chantoozies and even one-hit-wonders Koo De Tah can sell for hundreds in good condition. Some of Kylie Minogue’s earliest CD singles, on Mushroom Records in cardboard sleeves, can fetch up to $600.

Richard Clapton’s Prussian Blue CD can sell for over $1500.

The 1995 hardcore dance music compilation Thunderdome Down Under Australian Tour Vol 1 CD sells for over $4000 – only 200 copies were pressed. Top 40 compilation CDs from 1987, with titles like Smash Hits, Into the Groove and Right on Track, sell for over $100 each.

Iconic Australian musician Richard Clapton has seen rare CD copies of his old albums sell for extreme amounts.

“There was a copy of (1973) album Prussian Blue on CD in mint condition that sold for $2000,” Clapton tells SMARTdaily. “The most surprising one was (1976’s) Main Street Jive, it was around $1600.”

Melbourne collector-based record store Vicious Sloth has a copy of the 1992 reissue of Main Street Jive on sale now for $1250.

Clapton, like most artists, does not own the rights to his back catalogue so whether or not they are reissued is out of his hands. Many of his old albums are not available on streaming services either.

Jess and Matt signing copies of their CD for fan pre-orders. Pic: Supplied

Richard Clapton is watching his old CD sell for hundreds. Pic: John Feder/The Australian.

“Unfortunately that’s the only way you can get a lot of these albums. They’ve been out of print for many years. It’s quite wondrous really that there’s such avid fans who are prepared to fork out that kind of money on the old albums.”

In the last decade, after most new cars stopped having CDs built into them, and new computers no longer have a CD disc drive, the format has struggled.

Many record stores either moved CDs down the back, focusing on the more lucrative vinyl instead, while second hand stores are dumping CDs by A-list artists like U2 for a few bucks.

However physical formats are making a comeback, including the CD, which is cheaper – and quicker – to manufacture than vinyl.

Releasing an album in multiple CD formats, usually a standard and deluxe, is still something artists from Kylie Minogue to Taylor Swift do – their diehard fans like to add new music to their existing physical collections.

CD (and vinyl) sales also maximise the chances for an album to chart higher, especially in the crucial first week of sales, as a physical sale has up to 250 times more weight than an album being streamed on Spotify or Apple Music.

Thunder DownUnder CD – this rare dance release can sell for $4000.

Even for young artists, such as Sydney musicians Jess and Matt, producing their new album Wildflowers on CD made financial sense. They could sign copies fans had pre-ordered, helping to secure the album’s No. 11 debut on the ARIA chart this year.

When touring resumes they, like many Australian artists, can enjoy a lucrative side hustle selling CD (or vinyl) directly to fans at gigs, cutting out any retail middle man.

“There’s a big demand for physical formats again,” Matt Price says.

“Most people don’t even have a CD player, but they want something they can hold in their hands.” Jess Dunbar said. “I’d say 80-per-cent of our fans buy the physical album but also download or stream the album, and that’s how they listen to it.”

“It transcends music when you have something physical to attach to,” Price says.

“Fans are also more aware about how artists aren’t making many royalties from Spotify, and especially in the last year during Covid we’ve made no money from streaming, so they can support you by buying a CD.”

Pat Monahan of Melbourne’s Rock Steady Records says his store has maybe five-per-cent CD in stock, the rest is vinyl. However he can see a CD comeback on the horizon.

“As more and more physical product gets deleted, there will a CD revival in five years. I think nostalgia has no bounds.”

Even the Avalanches’ Robbie Chater, who literally created their classic album Since I Left You from sampling old vinyl records he’d scoured stores for, is a fan of the CD.

“I reckon the CD is about 18 months away from being supercool again,” Chater says. “They are coming back. Hang on to them!”

WHAT RARE AUSTRALIAN CDS CAN SELL FOR

● AC/DC Box Set Volume 1 $1350

● TISM – Collected Recordings $710

● Kylie Minogue – What Do I Have To Do? (CD single) $600

● Go Betweens – G is for Go Betweens $425

● Mondo Rock – Nuovo Mondo $365

● Australian Crawl – Between a Rock and a Hard Place $315

● Koo De Tah – Koo De Tah $280

● Richard Clapton – Girls On the Avenue $250

● Pseudo Echo – Love An Adventure $240

● Chantoozies – I’ll Be There (CD single) $190

Source: previous eBay sales