Sales of vinyl albums are beating digital downloads for the time in the UK, presenting an unexpected shift in the buying habits of music fans.
In data compiled by the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) it has been revealed that last week vinyl sales pulled in £2.5 million for the music industry, while downloads made £2.1 million. This points to both an increase in the popularity of vinyls and a heavy decrease for downloads, with vinyls having took in £1.2 million and downloads £4.4 million during the same week in 2015.
While many predicted that the rise of streaming services such as Spotify would prove detrimental to paid download services such as iTunes, it’s an incredibly sharp decline nonetheless, and it’s still very odd to think that vinyls have managed to overtake the amount of revenue generated by downloads in 2016. There are a few factors that have contributed to this being the case, including more UK stores now stocking vinyl records and, of course, the run-up to Christmas.
This is now the eighth year in a row in which sales of vinyls have grown, despite the music format all but dying out back in 2006. Discussing their increase in sales, the ERA’s chief executive Kim Bayley said: “The vast majority of releases are coming out in vinyl now. It used to be that only heritage acts or niche albums would come out as a record, but now everything does – pop albums, compilations, film soundtracks, all genres.”
Bayley also pointed to new generations becoming vinyl collectors, with “lots of teenagers and lots of people under 25” now opting to buy their music on vinyl instead. Though the future is now looking bright for vinyl (something we never thought we’d be saying a decade ago), it seems that the digital download industry is continuing to run out of steam as we continue to move into a streaming world. I
