Vinyl records are heading back in fashion with sales up 87%

12 Jul 05 19:15 by Seán Byrne in category Uncategorized To news archive

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Just while most thought the Vinyl record has been obsolete, apparently Vinyl is actually making a come-back with sales rising a whopping 87.3% between April and June, compared with the same three month period last year. In fact, 7″ Vinyl has now had the best 12 month sales period since 1998. In just the twelve months up to March 31st 2005, 7″ vinyl sales have reached 1.38 million.

Apparently while DJ’s are the main vinyl users due to the ability to perform scratching, music fans are actually making the most of vinyl, especially those into British indie and rock acts. Some teenagers prefer vinyl due to the warmer tone such as from guitars and percussive musical instruments.

While CD single sales have fallen by 23% this year, overall sales including music downloads and vinyl have risen by 52.4% from ~7.25 million (April to June 2004) to 11.04 million sales (April to June 2005).

src="http://www.cdfreaks.com/contentimages/newsimages/1170549613" align=right border=0
>Vinyl was once seen as a dying format in the music industry, but according to sales figures it is now very much in fashion.

Sales of the seven inch have shot up by a massive 87.3 per cent compared to the same three-month period last year.

The British Phonographic Industry says annual sales of vinyl singles are now approaching 1.4 million. In the twelve months up to March 31 this year, sales of the seven inch hit the 1,380,000 mark.

This already represented a year-on-year improvement of 64 per cent, and the best 12 months for vinyl since 1998.

The figures released show that in the three months from April to June 2005, vinyl flew off the shelves even more rapidly.

They rose by 87.3 per cent from 154,216 sales during April to June 2004 to 288,780 for the same period this year.

I would wonder if the Vinyl sales increase has anything to do with what the music industry is doing with CD singles such as forcing a high price for just a few tracks. Then again, it is nice to see Vinyl making a come back, especially with teenagers who generally prefer to stick with the latest in technology. It will be interesting to see how well turntables are selling, especially since most Hi-Fi systems have not been equipped with a turntable since the late 1990’s.

Vinyl did have one major advantage over CDs in that there was no way for the music industry to start messing about with the structure of the recording or medium itself to prevent copying. For example, the only way for a vinyl record not to play on a given turntable is if there is a fault with the turntable, arm or needle or if the record has been damaged in some way. In fact, if the CD (or any other digital version for music) was never invented, chances are that the music industry would still be putting up a major fuss about consumers taping from vinyl and not being able to do much about it. :p

Source: ITV.com – News

16 Comments

Mordorr: Posts: 874; Posted on: 12 Jul 05 20:50

Well, one thing is true! Vinyl were allways superior to the CD! Shocked? Buy a turntable, Zaratrusta+Head Audio Técnica + Mark Levinson Amplifier + Electrostatic Apogee coluns... Then tell us what did you wear..:S:S The problem is their cost,better=more€€€€:g

shuma02: Posts: 72; Posted on: 12 Jul 05 21:58

Vinyl better than a CD, well, that's something new. I was under the impression that Digital was better... but hey, whatever makes you happy. To me Vinyl is no good only because I can't record it at home, can't play it in my car, and can't take it on the go... what's the point again?

lordofbaal: Posts: 8; Posted on: 12 Jul 05 22:06

exactly vinyl is a poor format for your music

BigJas: Posts: 32; Posted on: 12 Jul 05 23:27

Well, as an electronics engineer for over ten years, I'm always dismayed by peoples belief that all things digital are better than analogue.
[edited by BigJas on 12.07.2005 23:30]

nwg: Posts: 370; Posted on: 13 Jul 05 00:00

Vinyl is quite a bit better than CD. I haven't heard any CD yet that sounds better in almost twenty years.

Mordorr: Posts: 874; Posted on: 13 Jul 05 02:10

Folks, get real!! You have all wearing vinnyl on crap systems :+ Wear it on a top system of 1000 dolars up... P.S. -Digital, don`t have same bass has analogic sound.....and voices natural sound Of course is a pain in the H*** to copy

FidelC: Posts: 987; Posted on: 13 Jul 05 06:09

Sweet! Although there are many drawbacks of vinyl, such as size, dust, scratches, one thing is obvious for many of us - it has superior sound quality. And here i mean proximity to the sound source, be it voice or any analog musical instrument. digitized sound has of cource greater s/n ratio and easier to transfer, but it is far away from what it should be to be called music. On CD the range is cut at 20k and there is nothing can be done to recover those "useful" harmonics beyond. It makes the sound artificial no matter how good the player or amp is. And i am not even getting into quantization step problems. All in all it makes perfect sence to buy vinyl for archiving as a source of original sound with no DRM crap in it and then convert it to CD formats for a car or more superior, like with 200kHz descritization, for home Hi-Fi. P.S. You can listen to vinyl in a car, just find one that doesnt move much

Cheers FidelC

Richteralan: Posts: 75; Posted on: 13 Jul 05 06:29

Vinyl audio quality is ALWAYS better than a CD. This is nothing new.

Richteralan: Posts: 75; Posted on: 13 Jul 05 06:30

Marketing marketing....

shuma02: Posts: 72; Posted on: 13 Jul 05 06:51

it's funny how someone here says to Get Real and to play the Vinyl on a thousand dollar plus stereo equipment. Dude, how is that getting real. I understand what you people are saying, and I'm willing to say "Sure, perhaps you're right." But c'mon people, are your ears really able to pick all of this sound?? How percise do you have to be to say that CD stops at 20k range and cuts out the rest of the sound? Maybe it's just me, cause I don't see what the deal is, and I don't HEAR what the deal is either. Are you all musicians with super sensitibe ear drums? I'm asking cause i don't think an average Joe like myself can notice the difference. Anyway, good like to you all with vinyl, I'm sticking to what works for me... now where is that Ace of Base tape...hehe

valnar: Posts: 219; Posted on: 13 Jul 05 14:28

Let's not generalize and say analog is better than digital. It's vinyl that is better than CD, I agree with. If anyone has ever heard a good system with a SACD player, you'd realize the potential of digital.

mikeymix: Posts: 7; Posted on: 13 Jul 05 16:30

I've always loved vinyl, years of DJing will do that... And it should also be noted, vinyl is 100% DRM Free!! :B -mike

nwg: Posts: 370; Posted on: 13 Jul 05 16:46

"it's funny how someone here says to Get Real and to play the Vinyl on a thousand dollar plus stereo equipment. Dude, how is that getting real". Sure a thousand dollar setup will sound very very nice. However, it is not needed to spend that much. I have mint second hand Technics 1700 (same insides as the famous 1200/1210, 30 years old and cost just £40). With a decent cartriddge it sounds fantastic. I also have a 1210 and that sounds exactly the same. It is not hard to keep vinyl in good condition with no scratches and free of dust. For people who like digital. How about a laser turntable (uses lasers to read vinyl). They are a lot at up to $19,000/£10,000 though

Mordorr: Posts: 874; Posted on: 13 Jul 05 18:58

i remenber the test on that laser reader...:S:S:S And a Linn Akito turtable + Audiotecnica cartdrige? Great sound..... CD still looks like a orchestra playing inside a small room... Vinyl shows same orquhestra playing in a bigger room.. :S and also CD is too "Metalic" sound... But of course, this isAudiophiles talking....no important to the "Mortals":B Even so, i love burn CD`s!! Long away from my Denon tape 3 Heads....:g

stvastva: Posts: 357; Posted on: 15 Jul 05 12:56

Audio Fidelity produced records with up to 30,000 pcs [cycles per second] or 30khz. I have a record that demonstrated that though we can't 'hear' those frequencies, the tenure is the sound is very noticable. The 'digital is inferior' statement is flawed by the silent inference to CD audio. 44.1 khz/16bit wave files always diminish my vinyl to PC transfers directly, however 24bit 96khz is *not* inferior. Digital per sae & used correctly is beaultiful. DVD-A is very smooth. Then again, Everything from Led Zeppelin to 50 Cent sounds ultimately cool on my monophonic 4 speaker ceramic cartridge record player console made by Motorola. Quality stock CD players in new cars sound really good as well. 2 thoughts: vinyl playback with the use of a quality record vaccuum is essential & rocks. The vacuum makes a hige difference & the fun of Mp3's, especially the 256 or 320 Stereo Lame produced mp3's sound fantastik & are ever so portable. Now: when will a new car come with a 'flash player' or a jump drive player so i can load the mp3's prior to the drive & just pop it in & go??

stvastva: Posts: 357; Posted on: 15 Jul 05 13:02

oops, many typo's: cps not pcs / huge not hige

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