UK vinyl sales rise again (by 13.5%) to 6.7 Million, and CD sales level off (down by just 2.9%) to 10.5 Million.
Ladies dominate the album charts.
No home-grown talent in the UK Top 10 singles. Whatever a single is, nowadays.
I’m suprised vinyl sales continue to grow that much, given how prices have risen. I’ve certainly bought fewer new full-price releases. Thirty five quid for a single album? Are you ‘aving a giraffe?
I was in Resident, Brighton a few weeks ago. They took over and knocked through to the adjacent unit a few years ago to make space for a bit of vinyl which now takes up about two thirds of the space. Given that they sell a lot of books, CDs are now the niche item.
I agree about vinyl. Nice to have but not at that price.
I’m still doing my bit for CD sales, though it’s annoying that some releases are now vinyl only in physical format, and CD back catalogue is largely now the preserve of the secondhand market. That said, I’ve spent silly money buying CDs from Music Magpie and Discogs that I got rid of for a few pence only a few years ago. I suspect that one of my more obscure purchases from the Magpies was the very same copy I sold them only months before.
I poked my nose in Rough Trade in Denmark Street a few weeks ago. Had to chuckle at “Rumours” being knocked out for £25, “DSOTM” for £30, next to £80 Crosley Cruizers. Giraffes indeed.
Imagine what CD sales would be like if shops still sold CDs!
In other news, sales of Penny Farthing bicycles, last stocked in 1910, are also down by 2.9%.
It’s one of the greatest mysteries of modern times. Record companies and retailers arbitrarily deciding to stop selling CDs and thereby forgoing vast amounts of revenue in the process.
All the record shops I go into still sell cd’s but the likes of HMV have them less prominently displayed
I did go in there before Xmas to the one in Birmingham and in fairness they did have a wide ranging selection.
Their 3 for £60 vinyl campaign was good value for money although tended to be much more mainstream
Now I live in the sticks and it’s a long way to go to browse for records, I have just about given up on physical product. The cost of a new LP is, frankly, ridiculous and I am not going to take a risk on something that costs £30 or more without being sure that I already like it. So I usually stream stuff and since that sounds ‘good enough’ it usually means that unless the album is truly exceptional there is no point in making a 40 mile round trip or paying postage for the item to be delivered.
“music fans in the UK spent more on recorded music in 2024 than ever before, new figures show.
Streaming subscriptions and vinyl sales shot up, with consumers spending a total of £2.4 bn over the last 12 months.
That overtakes the previous high of £2.2bn, achieved at the peak of CD sales in 2001.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg7rl3z3jmzo
I’m the first to call out talent when I see and hear it, and I, for one, am so pleased I’m living in this Golden Age.
I bless the fact that I’m not currently in the middle of the 1960s.
We all know that would be awful.
Gotta go, I welling up, I’m so happy to be so happy. It’s triffic, it really is.
I think most of us would go back there if we could, but there’s no need to be angry about the fact that we are still alive, here, and now.
In other words, allowing for inflation, sales are now about half of what they were in 2001. And about 85% of current sales are subscriptions to streaming services.
That’s what I thought, too, without bothering to look up the inflation calculator.
Now I feel just terrible about all that home taping I did in the 80s..
Single-handed, you Killed Music.
What a rotter!
I just had an idle thought, it happens occasionally. I wonder how much the unit cost of physical product would rise if streaming suddenly ceased to exist? How much of a price rise would the major players consider acceptable to consumers as they looked to shore up their profits? As I said just an idle thought as it doesn’t look at all likely to happen anytime soon. I predict a noticeable uptick in CD sales at some point when the industry reaches saturation point with vinyl sales and they look around for the next cash cow.
I’m holding out for the return of the MiniDisc,,,
Apparently cassettes are also making a comeback – we’ll finally be able to see nests of shiny plastic in our hedgerows again, as nature intended. Why not bring back white dog poo, while we’re at it?
I used to really dig MiniDisc. Good quality, compact, recordable. It’s a shame it became redundant.
the players were often lovely pieces of kit, as well. The Sony ones were real quality. I loved mine.
I still have my Sony boxed and mothballed in a cupboard. I’ve got a few bits and pieces of kit stashed away. I must give some of it away sometime. I like gifting stuff.
I have 4 MiniDisc player/recorders. All in good working condition.
First bought was a little Sharp portable for recording from the radio and at live gigs with external mics. Secondly, I bought a Sony Minidisc deck for my “Hi-Fi” system, to play the discs I’d recorded.
Rashly bought myself a Sony portable, effectively at the death of the format, as an upgrade to the Sharp with the addition of a USB port. It was wasted money, as the Sony proprietory software was utterly rubbish and fairly swiftly discontinued. Should have just stuck with the Sharp portable.
Finally, when my brother died I got his old Sony portable which also works fine from a mains PSU but the rechargeable battery is knackered. It no longer holds a charge and that would be expensive to replace.
I have over a hundred MDs of radio shows etc. from 2002-2004 that I keep meaning to turn into computer files but never seem to get around to.
Andy Kershaw BBC Radio 3 shows, old Radio 3 jazz shows, Charlie Gillett shows from BBC Radio London and the World Service and a few other one-off things.
Not sure where one would get MDs at a reasonable price these days. There used to be a little backstreet wholesaler of recording media (blank CDs, MiniDiscs, Cassettes and reel-to-reel tapes) in Harrow that also sold small quantities over-the-counter. Long gone.
Time to start turning some of your recordings into computer files, as you planned – and reusing the emptied MiniDiscs.
I concur. Think of all the potential for bootlegged jazz gigs.