The vinyl resurgence is showing continued growth, with vinyl album sales growing from 3.23 million to 4.1 million units from 2016 to 2017 according to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). No attribution required.Five years ago Radio Facts predicted the resurgence of Vinyl and Record Player Nostalgia. The’experience’ that baby boomers grew up with when it came to buying records was completely�lost in the CD and the digital era. In the face of the industry-revolutionizing rise of streaming, the rebirth of vinyl was an initial surprise.
Speaking to Music Week, Karen Emanuel (CEO of Key Production, manufacturer of CD, DVD, and vinyl) noted “I thought we would see a plateau in vinyl before now and we haven’t. For us, the format is still growing.”The reemergence of vinyl shows no sign of abating any time soon. Label manager at Proper Music Distribution Vangel Vlaski notes:”Vinyl is changing hands considerably more than any metrics can really show.
We might not be witnessing the continuous exponential growth that provides great news headlines, but we are looking at format longevity as an increasing number of people are looking to start, or rebuild their collections. In my view, that’s a healthier situation to be in, as it ensures that the vinyl ‘revival’ is much more than just a fad.”Vinyl’s continued health highlights that, for all the dominance of digital formats, there is still a sizable core of music consumers who like to own their music. Moreover, data from Kantar’s Worldpanel survey shows that the proportion of music consumers who both buy physical music and use music streaming services has increased in 2017.