Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Foo Fighters Driving LP Vinyl Resurrection

Why the sudden huge bump The vinyl version of the album had just been released Any orders for the LP version suddenly counted upon the fulfillment and Swift who is used to setting new benchmarks helped set another Its 192000 copies sold set a record for weekly vinyl sales in the modern eraTwelveinch vinyl albums were for decades of course the standard commodity for recorded music with millionselling heydays in the 1970s and 3980s But music buyers ditched its lavish packaging and fidelity for formats considered more portable amp8211 first cassettes in the 3980s and then compact discs in the 3990s CDs remained the dominant physical product while streaming services grew as an even easier way to hear the latest hitsEventually considered worthless at least at used record stores that were offering pennies on the dollar for oncebeloved titles vinyl LPs were no longer carried in bigger department store music racks that became devoted solely to CDs Vinyl for a time became strictly a boutique item embraced by collectors and hifi purists but was largely left behind by the pop mainstream especially when streaming turned music into something less bought and owned than turned on and off like a faucetAs interest slowly returned albeit to a limited degree and additionally fueled by younger Millennials and Gen Z looking for something quotnewquot vinyl sales increased annually through the last 15 years Major labels got back on board in part because top artists insisted on having a vinyl presence as well Last year was the biggest single year for vinyl sales in the 30 years since Billboard revamped its tracking system with 275 million copies soldAccording to the latest figures from MRC Data which provides tracking for Billboard charts the vinyl LP now accounts for nearly half of physical recording sales up 975 percent over last year alone at 142 million Year to date CD sales are at 144 million and climbingBut LPs overtook CDs in dollar sales last year for the first time since the 3980s in part because the fancy packaging and colored vinyl commanded prices nearly twice as high Swift39s bestseller for example retails for 2998Those who do venture into big box stores may be shocked to see CDs replaced by far more vinyl records in places from Target to Walmart with features they once offered with discs extra tracks fancy packaging etcBut proof of vinylamp8217s ascendance could be seen in the long lines June 12 for the first Record Store Day of two this summer a coordinated effort among 1400 independent stores in the US since this initiative began in 2008 with 3000 stores worldwide according to founder Michael KurtzOnce an annual summer event with a Black Friday reprise it was split into three different days last year to respond to the pandemic with scores of exclusive pressings available divided among them to help cut down crowd sizequotThe reports Iamp8217ve seen say that it exceeded the Record Store Day from last yearquot which was the biggest ever Kurtz notes of the June event Paired with the upcoming second event July 17 he expects sales to top 700000 this year quotIt39s a beautiful celebrationquot he saysFans will return in July for exclusive items like the limited 12000copy release Foo Fighters LP quotHail Satinquot that will be half live and half Bee Gees covers quotIt will be a unique big buzz itemquotamp160Kurtz assertsLast year39s pandemic may have slowed production but sales actually accelerated during the lockdowns says Larry Jaffe a cofounder of the Making Vinyl conferencequotThe pandemic in a strange way has become a blessing for the industryquot Jaffee said quotEveryone is saying sales have increased dramatically which was totally unexpected over last year Because you39re spending so much time at home and you can39t go to live performances they39re looking for something differentquotVinyl39s comeback may have gotten a kickstart with classic rock titles and reissues sought by older fans but Jaffee says one of the most promising things about its future is that the top five albums in sales so far in 2021 have been from artists who appeal to the young Harry Styles Kendrick Lamar Swift and Billie Eilish whose forthcoming double album quotHappier Than Everquot is getting a lavish LP rollout July 30 and a 3498 retail price more for colored vinylThat Swift39s album got so many vinyl sales wasn39t an accident Kurtz says quotTaylor has done a lot in the background underneath the radarquotShe has seeded record stores with autographed copies of her album quotand I39m talking tens of thousands of themquot he adds quotThen she tells her fans to go out to the stores and buy them to support the stores That39s really been incredibly successfulquotClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or 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Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Foo Fighters Driving LP Vinyl Resurrection

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