Vinyl records outsell CDs for the first time in decades by over 5 million

[williamcll]

Optical Disks like the LD were thought to completely replace the antique vinyl for years. Turns out advances in flash storage and high speed networking made CDs the obsolete technology instead whereas analog audio development never quite ended.

Quotes

Quote

In 2022, 41 million vinyl units were sold compared to 33 million CDs, highlighting a "remarkable resurgence" of the physical music format, per the report released Thursday. Vinyl records made up a total of 70% of all physical music sales in 2022, bringing in a total of $1.2 billion in revenue, according to RIAA. Not since 1987 has vinyl led physical music sales, after the rise of the compact disc revolutionized the way Americans consumed music. And while sales of both formats took a nosedive in the early aughts thanks to streaming platforms like iTunes and Spotify, each has made a surprising comeback in recent years.

 

Though vinyl is making gains and reaching new generations, streaming still reigns supreme, accounting for 84% of total music revenue in 2022, per RIAA. Still, vinyl sales are on the rise even as supply issues and bottlenecks plague the industry and companies struggle to meet demand. "Everybody's in growth mode now," Alex Cushing, co-founder of record production company Hand Drawn Pressing, told Grammy.com in July 2022. 2022 vinyl sales were led by artists like Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, and Olivia Rodrigo, who held the top three spots in most-sold records, according to Luminate's report. Also in the top 10 were classic rock artists such as Fleetwood Mac and The Beatles.

 

My thoughts

I suppose the pursuit of the perfect audio quality means people needed to go back to analog for their audio source. 

 

Sources

https://www.businessinsider.com/vinyl-sales-surpass-cds-first-time-since-1987-record-resurgence-2023-3

[leadeater]

I can't not...

 

Isn't this the technology news section? Vinyl.... "new"? This forum just hit 88 MPH?

[BachChain]

I'll never understand people who simultaneously obsess over audio quality while fawning for a (by definition lossy) analog format.

[leadeater]

1 minute ago, BachChain said:

I'll never understand people who simultaneously obsess over audio quality while fawning for a (by definition lossy) analog format.

The feel of the music is lost in digital formats and digital conversion. 100% analogue is the only pure way to hear the real sounds

 

Spoiler

 

[spartaman64]

as someone who bought 6 vinyl records and 0 CDs last year i guess im contributing to this

[Avocado Diaboli]

That headline would probably carry more punch if CD sales didn't look like this:

 

Now I like vinyl a lot, I started buying a lot of vinyl stuff in my teens around 20 years ago. It was helped by the fact that the music I listen to is already mostly outside the mainstream and often revels in its underground nature, so releases on vinyl and tape have never stopped in that particular scene. My personal affinity for vinyl has nothing to do with audio quality or any other imagined benefit. I just generally enjoy using obsolete media for its own sake and vinyl in particular because I enjoy physical media and vinyl has some of the best default packaging. I love the big covers where the artwork gets to shine.

 

And I assume that - and the novelty factor for many younger people - is probably true for a lot of people. Many an audiophile would probably scoff at the cheap modern turntables people are using, especially if they're then streaming that data via Bluetooth to their speakers and headphones, so I doubt a majority of those buying vinyl these days do so for elitist reasons.

[starsmine]

 

Just now, Avocado Diaboli said:

That headline would probably carry more punch if CD sales didn't look like this:

 

Now I like vinyl a lot, I started buying a lot of vinyl stuff in my teens around 20 years ago. It was helped by the fact that the music I listen to is already mostly outside the mainstream and often revels in its underground nature, so releases on vinyl and tape have never stopped in that particular scene. My personal affinity for vinyl has nothing to do with audio quality or any other imagined benefit. I just generally enjoy using obsolete media for its own sake and vinyl in particular because I enjoy physical media and vinyl has some of the best default packaging. I love the big covers where the artwork gets to shine.

 

And I assume that - and the novelty factor for many younger people - is probably true for a lot of people. Many an audiophile would probably scoff at the cheap modern turntables people are using, especially if they're then streaming that data via Bluetooth to their speakers, so I doubt a majority of those buying vinyl these days do so for elitist reasons.

that peak in 2021 driven purely by kpop fans

[da na]

I know 4 people who own vinyl records and 1 person who actually has a turntable. A not insignificant number of people buy vinyls for the artwork on the sleeve and never use the actual record.

[jaslion]

17 minutes ago, Mel0n. said:

I know 4 people who own vinyl records and 1 person who actually has a turntable. A not insignificant number of people buy vinyls for the artwork on the sleeve and never use the actual record.

Thats me!

 

I do own a proper record player tho but if I wanna listen to music I just dock my ipod and hit shuffle

[trag1c]

I got a massive vinyl collection, mostly classic rock and metal that my parents wanted to get rid of. I also bought a fair number of new records over the last few years. 

 

I don't listen to them often as I still use streaming services but I enjoy collecting them for the album art and the unique audio qualities associated with them.

[manikyath]

i see a few things here:

1: CD's are almost as inconvenient to use as vinyl.

2: there's a certain collectible value about a vinyl that CD's just never took over.

3: even beyond the ramblings of an analog media, there is something unique about listening to a record. i wouldnt even dare stepping close to "better", but there is something interesting to the imperfection of analog media, the 'theatre' of the tone arm gliding along the record, etc.

[williamcll]

Also one more to add: modern high end portable music players use MicroSD, not CDs.

[Eaglerino]

1 hour ago, leadeater said:

The feel of the music is lost in digital formats and digital conversion. 100% analogue is the only pure way to hear the real sounds

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

How many of you who claim this would successfully pass a blind test? Because for the most part audiophiles always fail blind tests

[trag1c]

18 minutes ago, manikyath said:

i see a few things here:

1: CD's are almost as inconvenient to use as vinyl.

2: there's a certain collectible value about a vinyl that CD's just never took over.

3: even beyond the ramblings of an analog media, there is something unique about listening to a record. i wouldnt even dare stepping close to "better", but there is something interesting to the imperfection of analog media, the 'theatre' of the tone arm gliding along the record, etc.

No 2. is actually a big point, some of the records I have are worth a pretty penny.  As an example, I have a sealed, original 1st pressing of Iron Maidens Number of the Beast in pristine condition that was going for IIRC a couple of thousand USD a few years ago. Though this has dropped since the reissued vinyl in 2022, now their a few hundred.

[leadeater]

50 minutes ago, Eaglerino said:

How many of you who claim this would successfully pass a blind test? Because for the most part audiophiles always fail blind tests

100% of course, we can all totally tell. But you must also spend at least tens of thousands on audio equipment good enough to be able to hear the difference. Directional pure silver cables are also required and the room must be exactly 25.2C at 52% humidity.

 

Spoiler

P.S. I thought the joke was obvious lol

 

[HenrySalayne]

5 hours ago, williamcll said:

Optical Disks like the LD were thought to completely replace the antique vinyl for years. Turns out advances in flash storage and high speed networking made CDs the obsolete technology instead whereas analog audio development never quite ended.

I don't think Laserdiscs were ever thought to replace vinyl. Video on vinyl was tried but didn't actually catch on.

 

BTW, vinyl is no longer a new trend it's already back in the mainstream. If you want to be on the frontier of trendiness get some cassette tapes and players RIGHT NOW. The next shitty format revival is already on the horizon.

[Dabombinable]

As long as laser record players take off it'll be nice. Considering you can (at great expense) get one - and they are analogue.

[Bananasplit_00]

9 hours ago, BachChain said:

I'll never understand people who simultaneously obsess over audio quality while fawning for a (by definition lossy) analog format.

The thing I like is that if you put on a record, you usually sit down and actually listen too it instead of just having it as background noise. But just like tube amplifiers, it's certainly not better from an objective reproduction of the master perspective.

 

*edit*

Also goblin brain says big disk with grooves good and must have more

[mr moose]

7 hours ago, leadeater said:

100% of course, we can all totally tell. But you must also spend at least tens of thousands on audio equipment good enough to be able to hear the difference. Directional pure silver cables are also required and the room must be exactly 25.2C at 52% humidity.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

P.S. I thought the joke was obvious lol

 

There is actually one difference between vinyl and CD, but it's not what most people think.  When we master a composition one of the things that has to be considered is the dynamic range and the level limits of he medium it is going to .  Vinyl, unlike cd, has a physical limit to it's dynamic range.  The more dynamic range you have the less overall recording space you have.  Therefore tracks being mastered for vinyl can sound different to tracks being mastered for cd and they might sound different again to tracks mastered for streaming.

 

You are definitely right about sound quality though,  CD beats vinyl hands down for fidelity every time.  There is just no way the physical movement of the needle across the vinyl can be as accurate.  

 

So when people claim X is better than Y, what is happening is that some people are actually hearing a difference in the master but don't know it, whilst others are hearing what they think they should be hearing from assumptions they have made about the gear they are listening to.

 

From my personal experience, I have a lot of Vinyl from the 80's, I love it, but the sound quality is definitely worse than CD (even worse than many streaming services), but the recording is different,  I could not tell you if any of these new Vinyls are mastered appropriately for Vinyl  or if they just compress the shit out of the songs and press them knowing that people will think it's better regardless.

 

 

TL:DR, vinyl is just trendy now more than anything.

 

[porina]

I find the LD reference confusing, as it is primarily an analog video format. Its applicability to music is kinda like buying a video of music, rather than for music itself. Don't know what the quality of it is supposed to be in absolute terms but I don't recall music being a major selling point of the format. I actually still own a player and some LDs. Wonder what condition they're in, as haven't used in a while. BTW When it comes to video formats, I probably have as much "music" on VHS as I do LD. Maybe more in DVD era but Blu-ray era was already past peak.

 

As for vinyl overtaking CDs, not too surprising. Vinyl as a mainstream format came and died. CDs came and died. Let's see what happens to streaming. The difference is Vinyl as a format is more interesting as a collectable. You have a large surface area to show artwork. A CD case isn't close, unless you put it in a much bigger box than needed. Without doing any research on it, so no evidence to back my statement, I'd guess most vinyl sales are driven as collectables rather than something that would be regularly used.

[Doobeedoo]

I take it most don't even use them but just collect.

[WereCat]

13 hours ago, BachChain said:

I'll never understand people who simultaneously obsess over audio quality while fawning for a (by definition lossy) analog format.

I've got tired of putting vinyl audio crackle effect into my lossless .flac so I switched to vinyl completely. I've done the same with going with low quality D-SUB old CRT as some movies and games don't have film grain effect.

[jagdtigger]

It could only overtake it because now both obsolete..... (/joke, at least in case of the cd)

[StDragon]

FLAC or bust.  PCM forever. Bonus if mastered in 24-bit deliverable.

[spartaman64]

13 hours ago, Eaglerino said:

How many of you who claim this would successfully pass a blind test? Because for the most part audiophiles always fail blind tests

i would vinyl is going to be obviously worse LUL but i have a turntable and vinyl records because i enjoy the "ritual" aspect