They can jump, bend, warp, buckle and even snap when a drunk arse crashes on top of them, but still vinyl remains the format that will not die.
With sales driven by indie kids who perhaps want to make a more meaningful connection with their favourite songs than a collection of bits and bytes from iTunes, vinyl sales in the UK have jumped 55 per cent rise from January to June this year (compared to sales during the same period in 2010).
Vinyl record sales reached a total of 168,296 units for the first half of 2011, with Radiohead’s King of Limbs album proving the most popular release, shifting 20,771 copies.
By comparison, the biggest seller over the same period last year was Paul Weller’s Wake Up The Nation, which only sold a rather modest 1,446 units.
Kim Bayley, Director General of Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), commented:
Vinyl may still be a niche format, but it is growing fast. Whether it is the ‘warmer’ sound many music fans appreciate, the large-scale artwork of a 12-inch sleeve or its sheer retro appeal, vinyl seems to be capturing the imagination of buyers despite the fact it typically costs twice as much as a CD containing exactly the same music.
With CD sales plunging as digital downloads surge ahead as the the most common format for music, the stubborn resistance of vinyl market gives continuing hope for record stores struggling to find a niche in an iTunes world, although vinyl sales still only make up a tiny percentage of physical sales.
Stocks lost in riot fire
Sadly, the rise of vinyl looks set to be stutter after a major fire at the Sony distribution centre in Enfield, which destroyed entire stocks of hundreds of yet-to-be-released indie records.
The fire was started by some halfwit during the major riots in the area last week, and saw small labels like Domino, Sub Pop, 4AD, Matador, Warp, Ninja Tune, XL and dozens more losing huge amounts of stock.
Top 10 Vinyl Albums Jan-June 2011 (according to the Official Charts Company)
Radiohead – King of Limbs
Beady Eye – Different Gear Still Speeding
Adele – 21
Arctic Monkeys – Suck It And See
Elbow – Build A Rocket Boys
Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
Noah & The Whale – Last Night On Earth
Vaccines – What Did You Expect From the Vaccines
Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
[Via]
Something that I really think has boosted vinyl sales that that record companies seem to have got their act together with regard to supplying digital downloads of tracks free with physical LPs.
If an album is £6 to download, or a £8 for a CD or a tenner for vinyl+download it’s a no brainer. I’m not ready to spend more than a couple of quid on something that doesn’t physically exist, and if I’m going to have something physical to put on my shelf it might as well be a lovely big record.