Vinyl Sales are Outpacing Streaming Audio

Going old school is doing pretty well versus streaming music, sales wise.

Old school vinyl has made a comeback as far as buying new music. Which, for me, is great. Hearing the click and pop and white noise always sounds good when putting the needle to records. Three of my prized possessions are original Pink Floyd "The Wall", Michael Jackson "Thriller" and Steve Miller Band "The Joker" albums on vinyl. Growing up, my parents had a combo AM/FM, cassette and vinyl player. They owned about 30 vinyl albums from the Gatlin Brothers, Ray Price, Porter Wagoner and more.

When I got my first car, I had a cassette player. I still have about 50 or so cassettes from Metallica, R.E.M., Pearl Jam and more. CD's were just coming around in the early 90's but players cost three to four hundred dollars. CD's are still around but have, somewhat, taken a back seat to MP3's and such has been the evolution of playing music.

To run across this article makes me smile. And to run into younger (in there early 20's) friends at the store buying vinyl is pretty cool. According to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) vinyl sales have increased 52% or $222 million dollars in the first half of this year. Streaming revenue has increased but by roughly half as much, 27% or $163 million in the same time. CD's still take two-thirds of overall sales, too.

In short, get to the store and buy those round, black discs of sound, lay the needle down and enjoy some ear pleasure.