By Rajdeep Jheeta
RECORD SHOPS in West Yorkshire are dreaming of a black Christmas as music fans make it a bumper year for the return of vinyl.
While downloads and CDs still hold sway with the music-buying public, there’s been a resurgence in people buying records, especially as the festive season gears up.
Steven Goodall, a sales assistant at Vinyl Tap in Huddersfield, said: “It has started already. I have seen people coming in buying new decks and gifts for people. It is busy everywhere and we are expected to double sales over this time.”
Vinyl has become increasingly popular over the past few years with the British Phonographic Industry saying vinyl album sales exceeded the one-million mark in 2014 – the first time since the Britpop era of the 1990s.
Steven said: “It’s hard to say why vinyl has become so popular again, I think it is more of a generational thing of people aged around 40 to 50 passing it down to their children, and kids are old enough to realise what is good these days.
“I don’t think the market for vinyl will ever collapse as there will always be hardcore vinyl fans.”
John Formaniuk, manager at Relics record shop in Leeds, said: “Relics has been running for 26 years and it’s always been successful and easy to sell records. There is a huge market for vinyl and it has become increasingly expensive.”
He said there is a massive youth market for it at the moment, but predicted it could easily collapse as trends come and go.
Scott Gamble, a buyer at Crash Records in Leeds said: “In terms of the Christmas period there is always an increase, people like to buy gifts.”
He added: “There are lots of different products, and a range of choices you can buy, such as CD’s, Blu Ray, DVD’s, online music, and box sets. But whatever business you are in, you will always get vinyl records.”
Research specialists Futuresource Consulting, released a report in September, saying: “A research survey from July 2016, indicates that 22% of 16 to 35 years olds have bought a new or second-hand vinyl record in the last six months across the USA, UK, Germany and France combined. 85% of these buyers are buying new vinyl.
“Nonetheless, sales have been so good that in the UK and Germany there has been the launch of the first dedicated vinyl charts.”
Although vinyl still remains a niche product, accounting for just 2 per cent of the UK’s recorded music market compared with a 10 per cent share for the fast-growing audio-streaming sector, sales of the much-loved physical format have shown a remarkable fivefold increase since 2009, and show little sign of slowing down.