Vinyl Sales Plummet by 33% in 2024 After A Decade of Rapid Growth

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The kids have lost interest.

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Far too bloody expensive.
The rippoff merchants have spoiled it for themselves .
Quality is poor too.
Heavy vinyl packed with heatshrink and packaged too quick so many warps.
:-1:t2:
IMHO :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

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I was talking to the person who owns a record shop, here where I live. He showed me a flyer from one of the big record companies. They probably know that the mass market for vinyl is about to nosedive. The next big hype is the super CD, with upgraded CD sound quality. The marketing goes like this: consumers have got used to high vinyl prices. They will persuaded that the ā€œSuper CDā€ is better than vinyl. Rinse and Repeat.

I followed another link to an article about Chi Fi. Pretty much proves my hunch that it is better to buy from brands with a history like Naim or Sennheiser, as the stuff is often unreliable and after service is zero.

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Surely 33ā…“% ? :thinking:

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This appears to be about the US market. I wonder if it is the same in the UK and other markets?

Erā€¦ the what, now?

I knew that if I quietly stuck to listening to CDs on an actual CDP (as I am doing this very moment) for long enough, Iā€™d end up at the cutting edge of cool. And, without having spent a dime on vinyl since 1990, Iā€™m richer too.

Tra-La-La.

Mark

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If youā€™re generally agnostic between vinyl and cd, then the cost differential between the two formats (often a factor of 3) is always going to be an issue.

Follow that up with availability (lack of availability) of back catalogue stuff, and again thatā€™s tough.

Of course: this could spur them on to make records more price competitive?

Yes, all those old chestnuts like Dark Side of the Moon are going to be released on this new improved CD format. I saw the publicity for the Jazz releases. So expect a new super duper Love Supreme release.

The Guardian, the UK Hipster bible, had an article some weeks ago, about how young people were switching to CD, because record prices were going crazy.

So get ready to rebuy your record collection.

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Iā€™m actually asking seriously: exactly what is a ā€˜Super CDā€™? Do you mean SACD? Blu-Ray Audio? Or something else Iā€™ve never heard of? Google has nothing.

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I just saw some publicity blurb about upcoming releases on a new improved CD format. Probably has not been made public yet, but those in the music retail sector have been made aware.

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I was born in 1979. And I remember when CD replaced vinyl.
I was too young to really understand and appreciate the 80s. So for me this is actually kinda cool.
The 80s are here again! Sort of. Stranger things have happened.

I never stopped bying CDs and vinyl. The thing I never bought in to was MP3.

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My dealer recently advised keeping all my cdā€™s as streaming services will start to restrict access to content. Perhaps whole catalogues, or more likely, key tracks from albums.

Good time for the industry to present a new physical format then.

G

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Most probably you will have to buy your 10 000 compact discs again.

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Where did you see this ā€œpublicity blurbā€? Can you share it with us? Because I work in the industry and nobody I know - in retail, in the media, manufacturing or at the labels - seems to be aware of any new upcoming format. Or are we all just dangerously ignorant/ill-informed?

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Damn I could have been sitting on a fortune.

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I thought it was probably because forum members have now largely completed their libraries.

I saw a email flyer that was sent to a record shop owner by one of the majors. It was announcing a series of Jazz reprints on a CD with superior sound quality. It seemed to imply a new type of CD, in the way it was worded.

No I do not have a copy to share, but I can only relate what I saw. Time will tell.

Probably we are talking about SHM-CDs (short for Super High Material Compact Disc), which has been used for releases in Japan. Link, to an article.

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As always. Iā€™ll believe it when I hold one in my actual hands.

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Those vinyl sales figures are apparently open to serious question according to extensive discussion on the Hoffman forums. For definitive figures you supposedly need to wait for the end-of-year summary from the RIAA.