Whether or not Kanye holds to that pledge is another matter. Although it's true that downloads and streams make up the majority of music revenue in some countries (including the US), that's still a lot of money to leave on the table. He's gambling that internet-based music sales will grow quickly enough in the near future that lost CD sales won't really matter. It seems like a reasonably smart bet, but then this is also the man who made his latest album an exclusive on a music service (Tidal) overshadowed by Apple Music and Spotify. It may be tempting for Kanye to change his mind if CD sales are decent in the near future.

uuuuuuum, so there it is... No more CDs from me — KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) March 7, 2016