This may sound like a fake article from The Onion, but it is actually 100% true. A story in Tone Deaf magazine confirmed a trend that has been going on under the radar in the music world: the resurgence of vinyl LP sales. Left for dead as CDs emerged in the mid-1980s, vinyl has roared back over the last half decade thanks to both old school audiophiles and college students seeking the "warmth" and complete sound that analog vinyl creates.
This may sound like a fake article from The Onion, but it is actually 100% true. A story in Tone Deaf magazine confirmed a trend that has been going on under the radar in the music world: the resurgence of vinyl LP sales. Left for dead as CDs emerged in the mid-1980s, vinyl has roared back over the last half decade thanks to both old school audiophiles and college students seeking the "warmth" and complete sound that analog vinyl creates. According to Tone Deaf, sales of vinyl albums, while still miniscule (an annual pace of around 6 million albums), were up 33% in the first half of 2013, and have become the lifesaver for independent music retailers, which notched sales increases of 44%.
According to the article:
“These first-half sales figures reveal a stunning result for indie record shops,” said the ERA’s Chairman Paul Quirk of the results. “Although the odds are stacked against them, indies have fought back. With Record Store Day they have created the first major new UK sales promotion for music in 20 years and as consumers re-waken to the joys of analogue, they have driven the growth of vinyl sales.”
See the full Tone Deaf article
The resurgence of vinyl continues to be a bright spot in an otherwise rough year for recorded music, which has experienced historic lows in sales in 2013.
What do you think? Are you listening to vinyl?
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