Vinyl sales for 2017 have already exceed those of 2016, with Q4 yet to come. So does this mean a resurgence for this once hugely popular medium?
According to a report by Nielsen Music vinyl is yet to offset the broader decline of physical sales. Vinyl sales increased by 3.1% with close to £10 Million units sold, with CD sales falling by 19.9%. Digital sales continue to fall as streaming becomes the most popular means of audio consumption. From January to September this yeah Audio and Video streaming hit 442.44 billion, which is a massive increased of 40.5% from 2016.
The British British Phonographic Industry have recently reported that over the last decade, sales of vinyl have increased by 1,500%.
In other vinyl news, Discogs continues to grow strongly as well, having recently passed the 9 million mark it’s releases logged in it’s online database. Discogs COO Chad Dahlstrom discussed how this reflects the current market:
“What we’re experiencing in the growth of contributors and submissions to the Discogs Database only echoes the thriving passion for music’s physical formats. The Discogs Database mission will never lose focus on preserving physical releases in any format imaginable from every part of the world.”
Looking at these numbers its clear that the streaming platforms are leading the music industry, while the resurgence of vinyl is keeping physical music relevant.
