The current state of the vinyl record market – October 30, 2024
https://www.heavyheadsrecords.com
This is basically a response to an article about vinyl records, which I've paraphrased here.
After a notable vinyl resurgence earlier in the decade, Billboard’s latest music consumption report shows that record sales have taken a 33% hit this year. Compared to last year's data, vinyl sales dropped from 34.9 million units in 2023 to 23.3 million in 2024. This isn’t isolated to vinyl alone—CD and digital album sales both saw declines as well, with CDs down by 19.5% and digital albums slipping by 8.3% since 2023. Altogether, album sales have fallen by 23%, from 75.5 million units last year to 57.5 million in 2024.
However, it’s not all bad news for physical media. Vinyl is still outselling CDs, so the record-collecting revival is holding strong. On top of that, audio on-demand streaming has grown by 7% since last year, and catalog releases (music over 18 months old) are being streamed more than new releases this year.
Interestingly, the dip in vinyl sales doesn’t necessarily reflect declining interest in the medium. As Headphonesty points out, economic factors are likely more to blame. Higher inflation, increased interest rates, and a rising cost of living mean fewer fans can afford $40 vinyl records, let alone pricier box sets and reissues that can go for $50 to $200. We’re seeing the same pattern with music festivals this summer—not due to lack of interest but simply because tickets are increasingly out of reach.
Let’s not forget that vinyl has never been cheap to produce. Pressing costs alone are steep, and the surge in demand during the pandemic created production delays that haven’t fully subsided. Inflation has only added to these production costs.
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