In what has to be described as extraordinary, sales of the vinyl music format, what used to be called "records," has been growing in the UK for the last five years, and this year has surged by 13 percent in the first half alone.
When you consider that CDs are considered for the most part on their way out, to see a revival of vinyl has to be welcome news to the music industry.
What's even more amazing about the phenomenon, it's not being driven by the middle-age demographic, it's teenagers and students that are the prime movers of the product.
Selling of vinyl records has primarily been the domain of the oldies, as consumers have tended to look for stores or places on the Internet where they can buy a piece of their memories. That's not what's happening in Britain. There, it's the moving aside of the oldies so young customers can buy the latest single from their favorite artist.
An amazing two-thirds of all singles in the UK are now offered on the vinyl format, with sales now reaching 1 million. Leading the vinyl revolution is White Stripes' Icky Thump, the best seller so far.
While in their prime, vinyl singles would sell 1 million copies individually, this is still a pleasant surprise for the industry. This isn't just a blip, as I mentioned, vinyl sales have been increasing at a steady pace over the last five years in Britain.
Paul Williams at industry magazine Music Week said, "It's about the kind of acts that have very loyal fan bases that want everything to do with that act. They maybe will buy the download to listen to, but they get the vinyl to own. It's looked at like artwork."
It's interesting that Williams said that, as it was the first thing that entered my mind after learning of the growing interest in the vinyl format. It makes you wonder if a resurgence in phonographs will follow the growing trend.
I think this is great news for the industry if they can help build it up in the right way. One thing they've been doing right is releasing the vinyl singles in limited edition form, which creates scarcity, and of course makes them very collectible.
Another interesting thing about this, is vinyl records are starting to be considered cool by bands, artists and young fans. Along with that they're also starting to be thought of as a sort of art form. It'll be fascinating to see if the impersonal downloading of digital music has now spurred a new desire to have a very personal physical form of the music.
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