Increased Vinyl Sales are not a 'Blip Built on Sand'

I was catching up with recent copies of Music Week today. There are of plenty of vinyl stories in October. It is in an editorial titled ‘Vinyl’s Revival Defies “Medical Science”’ that Paul Williams claims the comeback is not a blip built on sand. He reports that in the third quarter of the year vinyl album sales rose year-on-year by 115.8% (‘Yes, that’s right 115.8%’), and points out that this sort of increase would normally only be associated with a new product, not something as venerable as the LP.

            The journal also reports that HMV is now stocking vinyl in each of its stores. The shop is claiming some responsibility for the overall boost in sales. Previously, it would appear that they chose to fleece vinyl buyers, deliberately selling albums with a high profit margin because they knew that ‘people are going to buy it whatever the price category’. Now they say that they are pricing LPs closer to CDs and as a result have seen increased turnover.

            Finally, Music Week reports that vinyl album sales for this year are already over half a million. This is the first time that this figure has been reached for more than ten years, and there are still two months of the year left. Although this still only represents only 0.8% of all album sales it is remarked that this year vinyl albums are ‘potentially generating £12 million at retail’.