[protected-iframe id=”31464b6c4fd58e13fb9e84d99682f2b0-60970621-23283947″ info=”https://player.cnbc.com/p/gZWlPC/cnbc_global?playertype=synd&byGuid=3000446725&size=640_360″ width=”640″ height=”360″]
Some people say Jack White is to blame for this vinyl resurgence, some say it’s the highly popular vinyl holiday Record Store Day, but the true answer to the vinyl rise – millennials. With all the ways this generation can easily access music online, whether they’re paying for it or not, vinyl is the only source that seems to be steadily rising in numbers.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America, 13 million LP vinyls were sold in 2014 and the first half of 2015 saw more than 9 million vinyl records sold, which we learned earlier this fall. But what we didn’t know is that half the people purchasing these vinyls have been consumers under the age of 25, mostly men. The RIAA says the last time they have seen vinyl sales this high was 1989 when almost 35 million records were sold. The following year saw a rise in CD and cassette sales and a decline in vinyl sales.
Josh Friedlander of RIAA tells CNBC “In an increasingly digital age, vinyl records can provide a deeper, tactile connection to music that resonates with some of the biggest fans.” As a huge fan of vinyl records I can relate to this Josh’s statement, you can’t create a connection with an album stream but give someone you care about a vinyl record and that connection will be remember forever. But who knows, with more and more bands releasing their albums on cassette tapes, maybe we’ll see another “vintage” audio format comeback soon.
(via CNBC)
