The Declining Market Of Vinyl Records Stores

Today people are drawn in to purchase vinyl mainly due to the experience of listening to a vinyl record. This experience feels more personal as compared to when listening to music streaming services. There is no liberty of skipping a song after popping the record onto that turntable. It is like being committed to the song being played presently.

The described experience feels ritualistic to many, causing them to start collecting vinyl. Some people also go on to say that listening to these vinyl collections makes them cherish these albums even more.

Different Than Before

Today, people no longer line up in record stores to grab their copy of the latest releases but rather stream the album through the internet. However, there are still some dedicated fans who purchase vinyl records of their favorite artists. 

When Billie Ellish’s grammy-winning album 'WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?' was released in the form of vinyl in three editions (lime green, normal, glow in the dark) -- all of them were sold out on her website.

It is thus clear that the reason for purchasing vinyl today is not the same anymore. New records are bought online and people usually search for used records on Discogs and eBay. This unfortunately has been bad for the record stores as the industry has seen a sharp decline of 9% in the years 2014 to 2019. The once total of over 6,000 records stores across the US is now down to around 2660 stores, a far cry from what it used to be during the golden era for vinyl.

The Future Of Vinyl

Is there a future for vinyl? A vague yes would be the answer. Today, when compared to other forms of physical music, vinyl is the only one to see any substantial growth in sales. Back in 2018, when physical music sales fell by 15.3% (CD sales dropping by 18.5%), vinyl sales were the only ones to show a growth of 17.5%.

Thus, one can safely conclude that vinyl is here to stay. However, their offline sources of purchase - the record stores will have to suffer. Supporting the local record stores will however make sure that they don’t go extinct in the age of the internet.

Are you looking for vinyl? On this occasion of Black Friday, we might have exactly what you are looking for. Find out more by following the link below.