Vinyl Sales Continue to Grow

[MylesBAstor]

Up 11.4% in the first six months of this year compared to 2015. And as album sales dropped in the first six months of 2016. Plus we know these numbers are a serious underestimate.

[Bill Hart]

Kind of makes sense. Mass market is likely to be streaming for convenience. Those "buying" albums are on the decline generally, whether it is CD, or a download; I would assume hi-rez downloads are a tiny fraction of "purchased" albums in the larger scheme of things. So, among those who "buy" an album (rather than stream music from it, whether via Spotify, or non-interactive streams like traditional Pandora), one would think that factors include SQ, having a tangible copy in hand, and vinyl boom as cultural phenomena. Even so, Darkstar vinyl at 57k units is pretty low when you consider the significance of the album, the relatively wide demographic of Bowie, and the timing of the release with his passing. In terms of under-reporting, there is no real effort to calculate used sales as far as I know. That market is significant, not just for rare or collectible stuff, but for resale of common releases.

[JCOConnell]

Lets face it, streaming is the future. Physical copies of music will one day just be obsolete collectors items. Lets just hope they can stream in high sound quality some day.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Saw the Nielson numbers for Canada yesterday, and they mimic the U.S. numbers (not surprisingly).

[MylesBAstor]

Lets face it, streaming is the future. Physical copies of music will one day just be obsolete collectors items. Lets just hope they can stream in high sound quality some day.

For the masses sure. Just like Casio watches. Just like McDonalds, Uncle John's Pizza or Olive Garden. But those who truly appreciate quality will always embrace the physical media. Or a restaurant like 11 Madison Park, The French Laundry or Bouley. Just like a IWC watch. Well maybe not a century from now but then again who cares?

[MylesBAstor]

Kind of makes sense. Mass market is likely to be streaming for convenience. Those "buying" albums are on the decline generally, whether it is CD, or a download; I would assume hi-rez downloads are a tiny fraction of "purchased" albums in the larger scheme of things. So, among those who "buy" an album (rather than stream music from it, whether via Spotify, or non-interactive streams like traditional Pandora), one would think that factors include SQ, having a tangible copy in hand, and vinyl boom as cultural phenomena. Even so, Darkstar vinyl at 57k units is pretty low when you consider the significance of the album, the relatively wide demographic of Bowie, and the timing of the release with his passing. In terms of under-reporting, there is no real effort to calculate used sales as far as I know. That market is significant, not just for rare or collectible stuff, but for resale of common releases.

I meant under-reporting in the sense these figures don't take into account independent record sellers like say Acoustic Sounds, Elusive Disc, Soundstage inc, Music Direct and others. They move a lot of records.

Same goes for the quoted annual sales figures for LP sales. Mikey has tried the best he can to send questionnaires out to all the record pressing plants to get an accurate figure. While not entirely successful, Mikey arrives at a much higher number than you will see quoted in what is it the Billboard numbers.

[Bill Hart]

I meant under-reporting in the sense these figures don't take into account independent record sellers like say Acoustic Sounds, Elusive Disc, Soundstage inc, Music Direct and others. They move a lot of records.

Same goes for the quoted annual sales figures for LP sales. Mikey has tried the best he can to send questionnaires out to all the record pressing plants to get an accurate figure. While not entirely successful, Mikey arrives at a much higher number than you will see quoted in what is it the Billboard numbers.

No surprise. Ever hear of so-called "back-dooring" from the golden era? Look at the number pressed by the plant rather than the number claimed sold. Of course, that would mean the artist wasn't getting paid, and perhaps not the record company either. Not saying that happened, but just a hypothetical issue. You know, kinda like the Bada Bing club. For records.

[mep]

Is anybody releasing music on CDs now? I thought that format died out.

[Guest]

Apparently counts now include "times consumed" to cover streaming.

Here's some numbers from Billboard:

"Album units overall fell 13.6 percent, with 100.3 million total sales. The compact disc continued to crumble, losing 11.6 percent and moving 50 million. Digital album sales fell to 43.8 million, from 53.7 million in the first half of last year. Vinyl sales continued to move up and to the right, growing 11.4 percent, to 6.2 million. New album releases have been most affected by the continued contraction, falling 20.2 percent overall, to 44.1 million units. Catalog albums fell "just" 7.7 percent, to 56.2 million."

"David Bowie’s final record, Blackstar, sold nearly 57,000 LPs, making it the [half] year's best-selling vinyl album."

And, fwiw, Billboard has the best selling Classical album currently is: Star Wars: The Force Awakens soundtrack.

[allenh]

For the masses sure. Just like Casio watches. Just like McDonalds, Uncle John's Pizza or Olive Garden. But those who truly appreciate quality will always embrace the physical media. Or a restaurant like 11 Madison Park, The French Laundry or Bouley. Just like a IWC watch. Well maybe not a century from now but then again who cares?

+1! In the digital realm I do like the convenience of streaming, but I need to own the physical media first and rip it. If there was a convenient SACD ripper, I'd probably have a larger SACD collection.

[Metamatic]

I meant under-reporting in the sense these figures don't take into account independent record sellers like say Acoustic Sounds, Elusive Disc, Soundstage inc, Music Direct and others. They move a lot of records.

Same goes for the quoted annual sales figures for LP sales. Mikey has tried the best he can to send questionnaires out to all the record pressing plants to get an accurate figure. While not entirely successful, Mikey arrives at a much higher number than you will see quoted in what is it the Billboard numbers.

Myles

Do they include Amazon vinyl shipments in these figures? If not , globally they may actually double overall vinyl sales.

[MylesBAstor]

I don't know.