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Vinyl Records Outsold Digital Downloads In the UK Last Week (adweek.com)

Posted by msmash on from the holiday-season dept.

Sales of vinyl outstripped those of downloaded music for the first time since the advent of digital downloads last week in the UK. From a report on AdWeek: The U.K.-based Entertainment Retailers Association, or ERA, said Monday that Britons spent 2.4 million pounds ($3.03 million) on the old-school wax last week while only doling out 2.1 million pounds ($2.65 million) for digital downloads. Vinyl Factory, a website dedicated to records, reported that those numbers represent a big change from the same week in 2015, when just 1.2 million pounds was spent on records compared with 4.4 million on digital downloads. That's a 100 percent year-over-year increase in vinyl sales and also the first time that vinyl album sales have bested digital downloads over a weeklong period in years, per Vinyl Factory. The surge in vinyl sales could be attributed to the popularity of vinyl as a Christmas gift and the growing number of retailers. You know it's a gift because, as BBC adds: But 48% of those surveyed said they did not play the vinyl they bought -- while 7% did not even own a turntable.

6 of 188 comments (clear)

  1. Only downloads? by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 4, Insightful

    By far the majority of digitally distributed music is streamed, not downloaded.

    Downloaded music is a niche market.

    --
    Eat the rich.
  2. Looks like the loudness war is being fought by sl3xd · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because of the Loudness War, Vinyl really does sound better, because it can't be abused the same way digital recordings can. There's only so much the needle will tolerate.

    It's not because Vinyl is "better" -- it's because the mastering on the digital formats is appalling.

    --
    -- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
    1. Re:Looks like the loudness war is being fought by geekmux · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Because of the Loudness War, Vinyl really does sound better, because it can't be abused the same way digital recordings can. There's only so much the needle will tolerate.

      It's not because Vinyl is "better" -- it's because the mastering on the digital formats is appalling.

      While I would be happy to find that the Loudness War is losing in some way, don't believe for a second the idiot hipster buying vinyl today is actually doing it because of shitty music quality.

      We're talking about a generation who thinks ear buds and YouTube make for an amazing music experience...

    2. Re:Looks like the loudness war is being fought by Verdatum · · Score: 3, Insightful
      I'm sure there are exceptions, but it's not like producers routinely do an entirely separate mixdown for vinyl when they release modern stuff in multiple-formats. They make one mix, and if causes the needle to skip over, they limit the entire track on the vinyl until it doesn't. The ratio between the amount of quiet portions and loud portions (dynamic range) doesn't change, it's just that the overall amplitude is reduced. Absolutely nothing prevents producers from making CDs with high dynamic range. Compressing the dynamics in order to up the loudness was done on CDs because they could, and because they were finding it helped sell more albums when you had more loudness to make you stand out over the competition.

      By all means, go buy an original vinyl album in good condition instead of a "Remastered anniversary edition", where, yeah, they tend to compress the mix and amplify the result. Or go buy a vinyl album because you are a DJ who actually knows how to spin vinyl. Or shit, go buy vinyl because you're nostalgic for the way things used to be, if that's what you're in to. But don't buy vinyl because you think it's gonna sound better than digital. That is, unless you group together the hiss of a low-quality hi-fi setup, and the clicks and pops from mishandling an record over time somehow improve the sound. And even if you do want that, There's an App for That.

  3. Re:A perfect Christmas gift... by pr0fessor · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I really miss speakers that are made with real wood enclosures they sounded so much fuller, crisper, and bigger. Then again I have a tube stack with a 4x12 oak slant back offset classic and greenback Celestions that sounds like it's a crisp 300 watts (it's only 200) compared to the new stuff anyway.

  4. Re:A perfect Christmas gift... by dlingman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Gee, look at that...Nordstrom is selling a fucking rock for $85.

    Just in time for the holidays...

    Your local jewelry store will sell you rocks for vastly more than 85$.