The Return Of The Vinyl Record

The Return Of The Vinyl Record.

The vinyl ranking has been officially added to the Top Of The Music by FIMI / GfK Italia since January 2016. In this way the first FIMI (Italian Music Industry Federation) press release of 2016 places emphasis on the unstoppable return of vinyl, which after a total silence lasting more than a decade began to grow again in 2007 and has never stopped since. Is it possible that in a world that has almost completely dematerialized music we still talk about vinyl? What is the perception of buyers and what is that of professionals? The numbers: vinyl is a niche, but you can feel it.

Those who live on bread and technology have no weapons, they really don't have the mindset to understand the foundations of the comeback of vinyl: how can you spend 40 euros for the same content, and moreover inconvenient, that can be found on Spotify for 9 euros a month? Who knows how many times the teenager on duty has asked himself this question while watching the forty-year-old buy The Dark Side of the Moon on double vinyl.

Yet LPs exist, they are there and they make significant numbers in every part of the world: the big chains like Media World, Trony or La Feltrinelli all have an area dedicated to LPs and the very few record shops that have survived liquid music have decided to dedicate a good bit of space to good old records, in the hope of returning to the glories of the past. Obviously the market data tells us that vinyl will no longer be what it once was, but this is a given: we are talking about 4% of the Italian record market (which includes physical media and digital downloads) but with constant growth percentages and growing attention from enthusiasts and operators. In November 2015, vinyl recorded a notable +74% in Italy alone compared to last year and we won't be surprised if it reaches 10% of the market in a few years.

In other parts of the world the situation is similar or better: in the USA, a market that generates numbers much higher than ours, vinyl accounts for 9% of total sales of physical media. It is difficult to compare it to our 4% which also includes downloads, but the data is at least comparable: Nielsen has just released its annual report, where compared to a 93% growth in streaming compared to last year (there is no doubt that this is the music of the present and of the future, with 317 billion songs listened to), vinyl recorded a +30% and, as Nielsen itself states, stayed strong during the year with 12 million albums sold. Rock is the absolute dominator with 68% of all LP sales, and those who have benefited the most are the small independent record shops who have obtained 45% of all sales.