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RE: From WSJ: Neil Young CD=$10, LP=$42

Posted by radiodaddy (A) on May 30, 2012 at 13:50:44

In Reply to: RE: From WSJ: Neil Young CD=$10, LP=$42 posted by Bromo33333 on May 30, 2012 at 11:49:26:

It's not on the road to recovery. The US and global physical music markets are collapsing. Total music sales in 2011 were $15.9bn. The IFPI reported that US physical sales were down 10% and global 14.2% in that period. Digital went up 5.3% to $4.6bn and rising - some observers believe it will surpass physical in just a year or two.

Over four years, vinyl sales have increased 390% - looks impressive until you factor in that they went from 1 million units in 2008 to 3.9 million in 2011 (per Soundscan.) Compare that to 223 million CD units and 103 million digital albums last year. Overall physical sales accounted for $10.4 billion - down over 14% worldwide from the year before. In short, the increase in vinyl sales means that the format still accounts for only eight-tenths of one percent of the total market of recorded music (albums and track-equivalent of albums) and 1.7% of physical media. The minor uptick in vinyl sales looks more impressive only because the overall physical market is crashing - it's as much a result of fewer CDs being sold as of more LPs.

I love me some vinyl, but figures don't lie. I don't for a minute believe that the 'renaissance' we're seeing is anything more than a fad fueled by hipsters. I don't think my collection is going to be worth much of anything in another ten years. Once the hipsters move on to the next hot thing, the hobby goes back to us old guys, and more of us are dying every day. I imagine that if I leave my 20,000 pieces of vinyl to my son, he will be grumbling under his breath as he tries to figure out how much it will cost him to have it hauled away.

• Soundscan sales figures for 2011   (Open in New Window)

Edits: 05/30/12 05/30/12 05/30/12

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