Vinyl is one of the older mediums for recorded music. However in recent times it seems to be making a comeback, and if the numbers are any indication, it seems to be actually increasing. In fact according to a report from the BBC, it was revealed that based on last week’s figures in the UK, vinyl sales actually topped that of digital album downloads.According to the Entertainment Retailers Association, vinyl sales made £2.4 million, while digital album downloads accounted for £2.1 million. They note that this signifies a huge shift in demand as last year, digital album sales made £4.4 million while vinyl sales only accounted for £1.2 million in the same week.
ERA chief Kim Bayley said, “This is yet further evidence of the ability of music fans to surprise us all. It’s not so long ago that the digital download was meant to be the future. Few would have predicted that an album format, first invented in 1948 and based on stamping a groove into a piece of plastic, would now be outselling it in 2016.”
However as 9to5Mac notes, we’re talking about full album downloads versus singles which tends to be the more popular buying option. Also vinyls tend to cost more than digital albums, meaning that there could be less units sold, but the difference in price would still allow for it to overtake digital downloads in terms of actual revenue. However this is still an upwards trend which might explain why companies like Sony and Technics are releasing updated turntable models.
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