So believe music leaders who spoke to Christian Retailing magazine for our latest "Essential Guide to Christian Retailing" feature, on the category.

Though sales are tending downward, about 80% of Christian music is still sold in the physical format. So, abandoning music makes no more sense than dropping children's books or any other category that makes up a similar percentage of store sales, Randy Ross said.

"At our (stores), we're still averaging more (revenue) in music than children's books; in most of our stores, music and Bibles are neck and neck," said the music inventory specialist for Parable. "With that same logic, we need to stop selling cards, children's books, and take a hard look at our Bibles."

At Word Distribution, President Mark Funderburg commented: "We finally found the enemy, and it's us. If we're not careful we're going to kill an industry that consumers still want."

Dire predictions of the CD's decline are influencing some retailers to diminish expectations so much that it actually changes the future of music sales, he added. "I can't tell you the number of times I talk to customers and they say, ‘We want to buy this, but we can't find it.' "

Read the full report in the May 4 issue of Christian Retailing.