Posted on 03/10/2023 7:56:12 PM PST by BenLurkin
Vinyl albums outsold CDs last year for the first time since 1987, according to the Recording Industry Association of America's year-end report released Thursday.
It marked the 16th consecutive year of growth in vinyl, with 41 million albums sold — compared to 33 million CDs.
Streaming is still the biggest driver of the music industry's growth, making up 84% of recorded-music revenue, but physical music formats saw a remarkable resurgence in the past couple of years.
The pandemic led to a spike in demand for vinyl records, driven largely by younger buyers. Vinyl has become a major part of artists' marketing campaigns.
Artists including Adele and Taylor Swift made pop a fast-growing genre on vinyl, and many independent manufacturers struggled to ramp up and meet demand after years of decline. That's forced some bands to push back album releases and stopped small artists from being able to press records.
The recorded-music industry's fortunes started to improve in 2016 as streaming services grew, overcoming the decline in CD sales and online music piracy. Paid subscription services including Spotify and Apple Music brought in $10.2 billion from 92 million paid subscribers in 2022, topping $10 billion for the first time, according to RIAA.
Ad-supported streaming, like YouTube, brought in $1.8 billion and made up 11% of recorded-music revenue. Revenue from digital downloads, including both albums and single tracks, dropped 20% to $495 million.
Vinyl revenue grew 17% and topped $1.2 billion last year, making up nearly three-quarters of the revenue brought in by physical music. At the same time, CD revenue fell 18% to $483 million, the RIAA said.
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
I mean, Taylor Swift, Panic at the Disco or Rhianna on vinyl? That's really sacrilege.
I mean, Taylor Swift, Panic at the Disco or Rhianna on vinyl? That’s really sacrilege.
——————————————
I actually enjoy Panic at the Disco.
Yeah. It’s more like “CDs undersell vinyl.”
Wonder if I can get a copy of “Don Ho: Live At Honolulu”?
But be real, does it really belong on vinyl other than as a gimmick?
A Night in Hawaiʻi With Don Ho
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0ixD7M1O8s
As for CDs, they are virtually worthless because streaming is such a superior delivery method for digital music.
Years ago I ripped my CD collection to MP3s and was done with them (CDs) forever.
No. Not on vinyl.
Nailed it.
Audiophiles covet vinyl.
Nobody cares about CDs.
Mainstream music listeners (about 99.99% of the rest of us) stream.
Someday when my kids get older, I will crush their spirits when I regale them of the thousand of so 12" records that I owned at one point and that are now rotting away in landfills.
I can put a SteppenWolf or Queen CD in my computer and play it. That 12 inch vinyl will not fit in the slot. I tried, lol.
I am old school, but I do know how to stream to devices. I like my CDs. Oddly at my wife’s antique shop we sell a lot of vinyls amongst our antiques. It is the millennials buying them and old farts like me. I do not know why the millennials buy them.
Of course vinyl is selling.
How else is a cutting edge DJ turntable artist going to scratch?
Actually it’s the kitch factor.
Younger folks just stream music...
If they are going to buy something physical they tend toward vinyl due to it being something physical and differnt.
Lets face it, watching a record spin and dropping the needle etc, are far more a tactile experience than plopping a CD into a player and closing the lid.
They already have all their music on Spotify or Apple Music.. they are buying Vinyl because its kitchy, not because they are preferring the sound etc.
Living with cats, CDs were a godsend back in the 80s.
It’s more than just CDs underselling vinyl. There’s a real movement towards vinyl going on right now. It’s not huge but it’s substantial.
I happened to be wandering thorough a Best Buy the other day, probably the first time in over a year, and I was surprised to see that they had a McIntosh tube hifi system on display including an exotic looking turntable as well as a more affordable but still very nice Planar turntable. They also had some low end cheapies.
When was the last time you saw turntables at an electronics store, let alone at different price points including exotic high end? It was like deja vu 1980s again. And you’ll find well stocked vinyl record sections at the big box stores these days — Walmart and Target. If those guys are selling vinyl, it’s a thing.
So there’s something going on with vinyl. Will be interesting to see if/how long it lasts. I think it’s possible that there will be an enduring demand to have physical ownership of your favorite pieces of music, and vinyl is probably the best format for that. I suspect vinyl will have an enduring role as the physical medium of choice.
People will have a gazillion songs in their collection out in the cloud but they’ll keep a few of their most cherished recordings on vinyl.
My thoughts, it’s still nice to have SOME of my favorite things on physical media, so I buy nice hardcover editions of books, or music on vinyl etc. Maybe a remastered/collectors edition or the like
But then I made a rule ha I’m limiting it to 30-50 tops on records maybe less, I don’t think I will ever go back to having 100s of books/movies/music and all that
True enough but the 1.2 billion vinyl pulled in is a pretty surprising number.
I go to youtube and get my music.
Copy the web address of the video and then click on the paste button in the program and save say to your desktop.
https://www.4kdownload.com/36
You can play using your favorite media player. I suggest VLC.
https://www.videolan.org/vlc/
The millennials had parents who raised them on vinyl in their toddler years, so it brings them joy to discover our generation’s music. That’s how it is for us.
We still have our vinyl, and each of our 3 kids have their own turntable and systems, though only 2 use that regularly.
We use both streaming and vinyl here, and switch between them. Hubby has the speakers hooked up for both analog and digital. It’s a lot of fun.
The sound on vinyl is much more rich than on CD. There’s just something about it besides the kitschy factor.
That’s not why they are outselling them.
The kids buying the vinyl aren’t audiophiles...
Seriously go look at the record players that are selling they are $50-$75 dollars on the shelves of walmart and target.
They already have their music in their pocket.. they are buying the kitch factor.
I was born in 1971, back then once you got to you teen years, probably the most expensive thing you owned, after you had cash to buy your own stuff from your first job was a stereo system. You may have started with a walkman or a boom box depending on your age, but eventually you bought a tuner, a receiver, an equalizer,a record player, a tape deck , good speakers and a CD player.
These kids buying Vinyl aren’t buying top of the line audio equipment to get the best sound out of their records.. they are just into the kitch.. They pick up a cheap record player, with blue tooth, connect it to their crap tiny overbased JBL or whatever bluetooth speaker and that’s their rig.
They aren’t doing it because they are not buying the vinyl for “the sound”.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.