Judging by the amount of love for vinyl these days you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d accidentally stepped through a time wormhole and landed back in the ’70s. The truth is that the love for records is at an all-time high, the industry enjoying a resurgence of unexpected proportions that will see it become a billion dollar industry by the time the clock strikes midnight on the 31st of December 2017.
The prediction comes from research by Deloitte reported on by FT, with sales expected to record double-digit growth for the seventh consecutive year. According to the consultancy a total of 40 million records will be sold during the calendar year, which added to the sale of new turntables, accessory and other related equipment should push the industry well beyond the $1 billion mark for the first time since the ’80s.
Vinyl sales are projected to account for 7% of the total global music market, which is expected to rake in a total of $15 billion in 2017. As far as the physical market goes, estimates see vinyl taking almost a fifth of the global market.
The UK saw over 3.2 million LPs were sold in 2016, a 25-year high. Meanwhile in the United States vinyl sales increased for an eleventh consecutive year.
Paul Lee, head of technology, media and telecoms research at Deloitte, said: “The ubiquity of music streaming services means that music has never been more accessible, portable and readily available for the consumer.
“Yet, despite that, consumers are choosing to buy something tangible and nostalgic and at a price point that provides record companies with significant revenues.”
He also added an interesting point, forwarding the possible limitations of vinyl as far as future growth is concerned: “Vinyl has a future in music, and an attractive one from a financial as well as an aesthetic perspective, but it is not, and is unlikely ever to be, its major growth or profit engine.”
Check out our selection of 10 artist vinyl collections that will make you drool.
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