Is the CD replication industry heading toward overcapacity?
Some experts say yes, others say new formats will pick up the slack. Overcapacity is an issue periodically faced by the media manufacturing industry. Audio and video tape duplicators have been dealing with capacity problems for years now and the tape industry is still experiencing a shakeout. Now it appears that the CD replication industry may be on the verge of a similar scenario. DEJA VU Eight-and-a-half years ago, the audiotape duplication business was on the brink of a serious overcapacity situation, causing considerable concern throughout the industry. Compact discs were beginning to erode prerecorded cassette tape sales as CD hardware sales grew 2,000 percent from 1984 to 1987; spoken word had not yet become the formidable and salvaging…
