The Music Industry’s New Growth Business: Vinyl Records

It it well known that the music business is changing.  The once popular CD and digital music downloads are beginning to fall by the wayside, and streaming music services are now becoming the new industry standard.

Things are not so cut and dry though.  Even though there are new streaming music services subscribers and revenues are increasing, many are not yet seeing profits with streaming services.  Although this may be the future of music, it isn’t clear to many how to profit from the streaming music business model.

This is, however, not the case in other areas of the music business that are experiencing rapid growth:  old-fashioned vinyl records.

According to the latest numbers from Nielsen Soundscan’s mid-year report, released last week, vinyl record sales in the US were up more than 40% in the first six months of 2014, with 4 million units sold. In 2013, vinyl sales hit their highest level since at least 1991, with 6 million units sold. At the current pace, this year’s sales are on track to beat that again quite easily.

So, what does this mean for the music business overall? Well, it means that there is a place for albums in the future of the music business (especially for fans of indie rock and nostalgists), even if it is only considered a niche market.  Despite existing challenges in the music industry, and questions on the profitability and sustainability of  Vinyl record  sales…Vinyl don’t appear to be going away anytime soon.