Vinyl Outsells CDs For the First Time in Decades

I was the same way (I just played them) before getting rid of my collection. I did get to the point where pops and clicks bothered me, plus I’m not the type of person who sits in solemn focus as an album plays. I’m usually doing some other task. The price of new vinyl (compared to the quality) is really what ended my purchasing of lp’s.

 

LP's I buy are generally not that expensive. Generally.

Plus I've noticed that CD new releases have been slowly creeping up in price. When the CD is $13 and the LP is $18...that's not a huge premium anymore.

 

I tried to get into vinyls but I just can’t. I had a few that I still kept, but I remember as a kid I flung my Dad’s vinyls like frisbees, so I had my boy do the same to mine. It was awesome!

 

Yes, vinyl produced more revenue than CDs (a noteworthy thing, since that had happened in 33 years), but more CD units were sold than vinyl LPs, maintaining a 33-year streak.

And this is just a half-year report, so both sets of figures might change in the second half of 2020.

 

I agree. I only buy physical media if I can’t find the artist on Qobuz, like some of Elis Regina’s albums.

 

YouTube comment: "I just can't believe that after all that accuracy he put the record back into a sh##ty paper sleeve."

 

Are they going by actual units of cds and vinyl or by price? if that's the case and average of about $35 for a vinyl album versus a $10 cd, then vinyl is probably gonna win.

 

I've not convinced that he wasn't just trolling us.

 

Had to check what country you were in...thought it might be Australia (I know their LP prices are insane).

In the US? Not as much. That's assuming one is not buying some audiophile repress, I mean a new release. And they meant price btw...for units sold CD's still higher than LP's but the gap is closing.

 

No.

 

I'll tell you what. I'll keep the revenue and you keep the numbers. We will both be happy.

 

The article in conjunction with the linked RIAA information shows clearly that it's about dollars and cents, but when you get down to units sold, it's about 10 mil for CDs and 8.9 for vinyl, so even in terms of units it's VERY close. And if CD sales continue on their present trajectory, LPs will quite probably outsell them in units sold by next year. The common argument that it's all about how LPs are priced has never meant less than it does now.

(Average price of an LP is not $35 either, I'd say it's more like $25)

 

Yeah I just threw out $35. I know they usually run between $20 to $35 depending on if it’s a double or special edition or whatever. LoL
I tend not to buy new LPs very often anyway. Unless it’s something I have to have.

 

Well, they *sort* of give us this information in the RIAA stats. If you divide revenue by units, LPs average $26 and CDs average $12.25. Of course, this isn't what a single LP or CD title costs on average - factored in the RIAA numbers are all the box sets and mega sets, which probably drives the price of the CD down a bit. I'd say the average price of a single new CD is about $15, and that of a single new LP is $23-$25.

 

Meanwhile digital downloads are smarting b/c no one seems to appreciate they continue to generate more revenue ($353.1 million) than either CDs ($129.9 million) or vinyl ($232.1 million), even though vinyl is more expensive.

 

That's not really the point. If someone says that record X outsold record Y, the assumption everyone would make is that the metric involved was units, number of albums sold, not the revenue generated by each.

So if you are going to say that LPs outsold CDs, that language should only be used when LPs sell more units, not make more revenue.

 

I definitely don't think that people make that assumption, but it'll all be moot by this time next year, anyway.

 

The sourness of some people here is dispiriting. If you go back and see my posts on the subject I have celebrated both LPs and CDs because they represent Albums which I want to preserve. Much streaming is of songs not albums. However many here just want to play gotchas with CDs vs LPs. It is something positive that LPs are saving physical media at this time. If people who like CDs want them to survive then they need to make the same kind of advocacy and sales support that LP lovers made to rescue them.

I hope you don't think that the labels making CDs are impressed that they have the numbers still but not the revenue.

 

Sourness? LOL, I like CDs and LPs and couldn't care less which one outsells the other - which I doubt is true of many around here. I just like accuracy. And as of now, it is inaccurate to say that LPs have finally outsold CDs during a given time period. They just haven't. They have generated more revenue for the first time in eons, and that is important and noteworthy - the last time it happened, Michael Jackson was about to unleash his "Bad" album on the world and Motley Crue and Poison were two of the biggest bands in the world, but that's the language that should be used to describe it.

 

Why do you prefer the LP at all?

I just checked prices here. CD albums currently in the charts are around 15 EUR +/- 2, LPs are in the mid-20s +/- 5. Yes this seems like CDs are going up again, they used to be around 10 EUR a few years ago. There are still a lot of bargains with older albums though.

It's odd how when CDs were new the ratio was reverse. Chart LPs were between 15 and 20 DM, CDs between 30 and 35, and it stayed like that until about 2000. (Price comparison here is doubly handicapped by inflation and the currency transformation we had ... official rate 1 EUR = 1.96 DM, but after 20 years of inflation they nearly feel on par now ... )

 

I don't dislike vinyl, and of course I'm not bothered by others liking it, but the fact that they would outpace CD at one point feels like technology is going backwards. Sign of the times?

 

The hope for improved sound quality. More hit than miss, enough that it still keeps me purchasing.

Not the CD's aren't great SQ because they can be. Only that the last 25 years have been hard on the CD, in that area.

 

The trend continues, I just bought some early Joni Mitchell LPs.

 

If you like navigating websites with that retro 20th-century feel.

 

Assuming your computer still has a disc drive