Vinyl has once again led to a new trend in physical music sales, why people are buying physical music, and what this means for the music industry.
“although the news media had reported that physical music was going away, it seems that they were wrong. Vinyl has made a comeback when people were not looking. You always see record shops playing vintage music in every city in the UK, don’t you?” Paul, the owner of a vinyl shop on the second floor of Cardiff Market, said that.
Data published by the BPI, which operates the OCC in a joint venture with entertainment retail body ERA, shows that the data of sales of vinyl records in the UK is increasing, and by 2023, this number has exceeded 5.9 million.
“When I was in high school I liked to listen to music on my phone so that it was easy to listen to music that I could download at any time. But as I grew up I stopped liking that kind of stuff, the digital stuff made me experience less and I felt like I didn’t really have it. I need something real to stimulate me, I want to feel the world, and that’s why I come here to buy records,” said Madran, a customer who is buying records at Jacobs building in Cardiff.
People have less physical things in the digital age, and we do appreciate the convenience brought by digital music, whether it is in the departure lounge of an airplane or a person’s morning run, digital music does accompany people to one scene of life. However, the sound of digital music is more full of apathy than vinyl records, the same life scene, fixed with headphones, people are more and more eager to jump out of the fixed mode of life. The collection of vinyl records became a silent protest against the digital age.
“Imagine that you and your friends are preparing to hold a party at home, you slowly pull out your collection of records, gently placed on the vinyl record player, your friends hold their breath to watch your movements, the strong sound from the record player released at that moment, your friends because of this warm sound, you will not forget this night,” That’s something digital music can’t replace. Life needs to feel real and ritual, right?” said Ali, the owner of a vinyl record shop in Jacobs building, Cardiff.
“I started out repairing Musical Instruments, guitars and things like that. But I actually started collecting vinyl more than twenty years ago, but at that time the whole music industry was at a very particular stage, and even records were starting to decline, and people were mainly downloading their music. What we did. Of course, I don’t think even music streaming existed back then. But now collect physical music, whether it’s CDS or vinyl, or even cassette tapes these days. Tape has become particularly popular in the last two or three years. That’s what I’ve seen over the past two decades and why I chose to open this record store, “said Ali.
“Vinyl is also very collectible,” Ali said. “Even the usual vinyl will double the price if it’s an anniversary edition or if it’s signed by the artist. “There are a lot of people buying used records, maybe not for their own enjoyment, but for later appreciation, which is a good way to do it, and that’s one of the ways most vinyl stores operate.”
The revival of vinyl records has also re-colored the music market, which is no longer a digital industry monopolized by digital music, but gradually become a real economy. At the same time, it also led to the development of the printing industry, and record companies will increase the printing volume because of the increase in sales of vinyl records.
“The vinyl product creates a bridge between musicians and consumers, of course, this bridge needs to be built by the love of the audience, and this atmosphere of people’s nostalgia for music is gradually thickened with each record sale. I don’t want this to go away, I want people to keep paying attention to physical music, we need it, life shouldn’t be unreal, it should be accessible, “Mark Simon, a vinyl fan, said on Twitter.
Attention to physical music continues to rise, with a desire to derive warmth and nostalgia for their former lives from physical music, as well as a desire to reap the rewards of high quality sound rather than digital playback. In the process, consumers are also making new demands on vinyl record sales.
Ali said，”Selling music, especially in Substantial form, is a very different way to the rest of the retail industry. This is because everyone has different tastes in music, thinking that this store doesn’t have something for me because it doesn’t have a specific type of music. ”
“For the physical music sales industry. What I want to do is make sure I have enough record stock and enough range of music genres to make sure it doesn’t sound clich, but works for everyone. Well, that way, anyone who comes in will have something they’re interested in, even if they don’t like the music I like, or even if they like bands that haven’t been around for years, or even new music, “Ali said.
