[Sonnova]

On Tue, 8 Dec 2009 06:25:25 -0800, Arny Krueger wrote
(in article ):

"Dick Pierce" wrote in message


Harry Lavo wrote:

Sales of vinyl albums have been climbing steadily for
several years, tromping on the notion that the rebound
was just a fad. Through late November, more than 2.1
million vinyl records had been sold in 2009, an increase
of more than 35 percent in a year, according to Nielsen
Soundscan. That total, though it represents less than 1
percent of all album sales, including CDs and digital
downloads, is the highest for vinyl records in any year
since Nielsen began tracking them in 1991. "

The same source quotes 2008 CD album sales at 428 million
units, and song downloads at 1 billion units. So,
attempting to compare 2008 apples to 2008 oranges, that's
428 million cd album sales vs 1.6 million vinyl record
sales, making vinyl sales account for 0.37%
of the total album market.

The executive summary is that "A rising tide lifts all boats".

Put it in a slightly different perspective, that's about
1.43 CDs for every person in the United states, vs. one
vinyl LP for every 188 persons.

Another perspective: assume $5 per CD and $10 per LP,
that's 2.1G$
for CD, and 0.024G$ for LP.

Considering that many of us can remember when the LP had close to 100%
market share, 0.37% seems like a massive fall from "grace"

But this renewed interest, though small and certainly a niche market by any
stretch, does show that there is life left in the LP and it's far ffrom down
for the count.

How their data, as revealed, suggests that this is fueled
by purchases of the "iPod generation," is certainly a
stretch. Where's the breakdown by age, for example?

One irony is that there seems to be amazing amounts of interest in LPs among
people in their late 30s and early 40s. For many of us older folk, we
remember when the LP was all we had, and that can be amazingly effective
aversion therapy.

I remember, and I don't see it as "aversion therapy" at all. I have no bias
against vinyl and I regard it as just another viable source of music. In some
cases, I prefer it, in some I'd rather have the CD or other digital source.

Further, there's no breakdown on how many of those sales
constitute new vs. resale/preowned product (in either
case, to be fair).

Given how often we see gleeful posts about "Amazing LP Finds" found at the
local Goodwill store, it seems like recycled product is a bigger segment of
the LP market. One of the keys to any market for used product is people who
want to discard the product in question. Listening to LPs surely makes me
want to discard them if I have a viable alternative.

And Interview I saw on the local news last night with the owner of three
stores in the SF Bay Area dedicated to vinyl (but also selling CDs) indicated
that there was a LOT of new vinyl available. Certainly the latest catalogue I
received from "Music Direct" has page after page of new LPs. There is a store
near me that sells nothing but vinyl and record-playing equipment, he has had
to move into larger quarters to accommodate the increased vinyl catalogue. I
realize that all of this is simply anecdotal "evidence", but when a local TV
news program in a market as large as this one takes notice, it certainly seem
s that something is happening in this market.

But as I said in another post, I doubt seriously if I'll be buying much vinyl
from now on. I have thousands of records, mostly everything I want
(classical, film scores and some jazz), and when I buy music these days, it's
almost entirely CD/SACD.

But the noise in the CD data is larger by a lot than the
total LP sales.

One irony is that not too long ago, Vinyl was more like 1% of the total
market. Now its 0.37%. Where I come from, that's a 63% loss of market share.
Even though the actual numbers of product sold go up, the market share
appears to be continuing to all off a cliff.

Not really important. It's the sales numbers that represent profit, not
market share. And with CD sales tanking the way that they are (in favor of
MP3 downloads, I suspect) I'll bet that market share vis-a-vis CD will see an
increase. Vinyl, the music source that refuses to go away. I'm happy about
that because it means that I will have sources of turntables, arms,
cartridges and phono stages as far into perpetuity as I'll need.