In the UK, vinyl is well on its way to becoming the dominant physical music format: as early as this year, vinyl is expected to make more money than CDs. This is based on figures from the “Entertainment Retailers’ Association” (ERA), which in turn are based on balance sheets from the “British Phonographic Industry” (BPI).
The trend is crystal clear
As reported by the British industry journal Music Week, the compact disc ended up ahead of the record in terms of revenue last year. However, should the growth trend of vinyl continue on the one hand and the drop in CD sales on the other, music on wax will thrive by the end of this year: vinyl albums grossed £135.6m in 2021 (up from 23.2 percent yoy) compared to £150.1 million in CD sales (down 3.9 percent yoy). As far as the absolute sales figures are concerned, the CD with 14.4 million copies sold is still well ahead of vinyl with 5.3 million discs sold. However, a clear trend can also be seen here: while the CD recorded a decline of 10.5 percent compared to the previous year, the vinyl record increased by exactly the same percentage.
Vinyl has arrived in the masses – even “beyond the music fanatics”
Charles Wood of Sony Music UK also predicted to Music Week that vinyl will be the largest physical revenue generator for labels over the next twelve months, given the significantly higher price. “With the surge in interest in vinyl sales during the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen vinyl being bought by a wider audience, beyond the music fanatics and niche format obsessives who fueled the ‘vinyl revival,'” Wood said. Renaissance.
Exponential demand leads to supply bottlenecks
Chris Marksberry, managing director of vinyl maker Sound Performance, told the New Musical Express that the hunger for the black gold is a big, if welcome, stumbling block. “Vinyl grew as a format in general, year after year,” he explained. However, the growth was manageable – and although the lead times were longer than for CDs, the factories were able to cope with the demand.
“Then when the pandemic hit, people couldn’t go to concerts or spend their money on other things. So they started buying vinyl online,” Marksberry said, adding, “It was in February of this year that we suddenly saw an exponential demand for vinyl orders. In four to six weeks it went from 10 to 100 percent, and it kept multiplying. Lots that ordered 2,000 last year ordered 8,000 this year. Then lead times in factories started to increase – from four weeks to six weeks, eight weeks and 16 weeks. Demand has literally exploded in a very short time.”