Just found this, dated 2008, from a RIAA 2007 report:

According to the RIAA’s recently-released 2007 sales report, the American music industry sold 36.6 percent more Extended Play (EP) and Long Play (LP) records than it had in the previous year, increasing vinyl sales revenue by 46.2 percent. CD unit sales, on the other hand, declined 11.7 percent with revenue dropping 20.5 percent during the same period.

Good news, isn't it?

I don't want to sound ironic but it's good alright. It's just not "news" anymore.

I'd be interested to read what they report on LP sales for 2008.

Wouldn't it be interesting for the market to settle into
- download new music directly from the record company sites (for thoese who don't care for a medium)
- get the music on a nice large LP envelope with a vinyl and CD version (for those who do want to purchase a medium)

This is what TNT Audio's predicting:
"Selling a vinyl together with an online download key will be a very successful marketing choice. You can get the best of both worlds: the best physical medium you can get (LP) together with an easy to use music file you can store anywhere you want. "

THis is about the 2008 report:
http://www.tnt-audio.com/edcorner/april09.html

...prolly not new but while browsing in a record shop, um, music media purveyor. Spotted a new sealed Husker Du "Candy Apple Grey" that offered just that. A key to download the digi-file of the album. Neat, I thought before gagging on the price. :sigh:

screw the RIAA.. I buy used...

screw the RIAA.. I buy used...

Simi,
I was waiting for you to chime in on this thread!
Regards,
Jim

Just found this, dated 2008, from a RIAA 2007 report:

According to the RIAA’s recently-released 2007 sales report, the American music industry sold 36.6 percent more Extended Play (EP) and Long Play (LP) records than it had in the previous year, increasing vinyl sales revenue by 46.2 percent. CD unit sales, on the other hand, declined 11.7 percent with revenue dropping 20.5 percent during the same period.

Good news, isn't it?

It's good news for collectors of new vinyl. I'd be interested to see if the absolute numbers show that CDs are still outselling LPs by more than 100 to 1, though.

Edit: I found the report online. The RIAA reported 1.3 million LPs and EPs sold, vs. 511.1 million CDs, 2.6 million CD singles, 0.2 million SACDs and 0.2 million DVD-As. That puts the ratio of CDs to LPs sold at more than 390:1 in 2007.

Hmm, I thought I was about the only one who actually still buys CDs... :)

I wonder what percentage of the LPs sold are ever actually played? I know some younger people collect vinyl even though they don't own a turntable.

If you ask me, a decline in the overall sales of physical recordings is a very bad thing for music collectors. No one will be taking old downloads to Goodwill, they will just get deleted into oblivion when their owners get tired of them.