Music

Vinyl sales have increased by 12 times in the last 20 years

by Mark Teo

It’s official: Vinyl’s back.

Anyone who purchases music already knows this, but vinyl LPs are moving closer and closer to the mainstream. According to findings posted by Priceonomics, in the U.S., vinyl moved six million units last year. It’s still a relatively small piece of the pie: It’s only two per cent of all musical purchases, with CDs and digital downloads respectively selling 165 and 118 million albums.

But vinyl—which, like cassettes, was considered a dead technology with the advent of the CD—has been trending upwards. In a very serious way. In a wonderful chart by Statista, a statistics portal that analyzes data from numerous industries, vinyl sales have surged by 12 times since 1993, when records only sold a half million copies in the U.S., and by six times since 2006, when they moved one million units. Indeed, vinyl is moving out of the realm of those who line up for hours on Record Store Day, hoping to get their grubby paws on a live Metallica box set.

The reasons behind vinyl’s resurgence, however, are varied. While many argue that records sound “warmer”—which is often related to the intangible elements of the analog listening experience, like warping, dust, and so forth—certain audiophiles argue that it’s impossible to top the perfection of the digital music of CDs and .FLAC files.

“Lots of audiophiles say that when it comes to sound quality, nothing beats vinyl,” said NPR’s John Dankosky. “These purists wonder if digital files can really give you that analog sound of our youth.”

It’s hard to argue with that. But that’s perhaps over-romanticizing vinyl. As Pitchfork notes, there’s a strong likelihood that vinyl reissues—of albums that might’ve been released in the pre-CD era—are now often remastered from a CD source. But that might not matter, anyhow, considering the other benefits of vinyl. “The other part of it is that the experience of listening to an LP involves a lot more than remastering and sound sources,” Pitchfork’s Mark Richardson writes. “There’s the act of putting a record on, there is the comforting surface noise, there is the fact that LPs are beautiful objects and CDs have always looked like plastic office supplies.”

Even outside of the tactile experience of holding a record (and its comparatively plus-sized artwork), vinyl also offers a different listening experience: Unlike listening to digital music on, say, Rdio or your phone, LPs are geared towards an immersive, album-based experience. When you can’t skip tracks with the flick of a finger, you’re more likely to listen a songs in bunches and an album in its intended sequence. It’s an experience, say vinyl lovers, that allows listeners to focus on albums as cohesive units.

So, what do you think: Is vinyl back? Or is it a 20-year fad?