Vinyl records are making more money than ad-supported streaming

http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/vinyl-records-are-making-more-money-than-ad-supported-streaming/

By Ariana LaBarrie
Dec. 9, 2015

Streaming music seems to be the all the rage for music media. But the numbers tell a different story. Vinyl is making more money than the digital competition.

Vinyl record sales brought in $221.8 million in revenue between January and June 2015, a 52 percent year-over-year increase, according to the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA). Ad-supported streaming services brought in $162.7 million during that same time period, according to the September 2015 report “News and Notes on 2015 Mid-Year RIAA Shipment and Revenue Statistics.”

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Records labels are responding to this growing market by releasing both new and back catalog music on vinyl. Younger audiences who have never tried a turnstyle before crave the sound vinyl delivers.

“It’s a market that’s flooded right now because all of these record companies have realized that the only way for them to make money is to sell records,” said Scott Schaaf, owner of Pinwheel Records in Pilsen. “They are not making a ton of money from streaming on Spotify. The artists are certainly not making very much money with Spotify.”

So vinyl has morphed from the collector’s market in vintage records to new releases that provide a digital download with the classic vinyl record.

And about the sound. Vinyl enthusiasts argue that vinyl sounds better than digital music, which is compressed into small files that can alter the tones.

“You will hear different things. You can play [a song] on Spotify, and then we can play that same song on a vinyl record, and it will sound completely different, ” said Andrew Mitchell, co-owner of 606 Records in Pilsen. “I feel like the digital sounds manufactured and has piercing sound to it.”

You can hear organic tones on vinyl that you also would not hear on a digital file.

“For my ears it does [sound better than a download]. There is kind of a saying that analog is ‘warmer’,” said Schaaf. “I think there is something kind of romantic, you can hear that pop sometimes, especially in an older record, and even with those pops a lot of time it still sounds better to me than an mp3.”

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The physical appeal of vinyl is not limited to the record. Many people also prefer buying vinyl records in the store, even though they are readily available online.

“I try to buy them in a store because I think record stores are important. There is something about browsing through records, the smell of it, and everything else. The visceral and tactile feel of being in a record store is different than being online,” said gymnastics coach Charley Nelson, who was shopping at Pinwheel Records.

One reason people enjoy shopping in store is because of the hunt to find a particular title, especially in the world of vintage vinyl.

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Another reason that people enjoy shopping for records is the opportunity for discovering new music.

“I think you are going to find stuff in the store that you would never know about, like when you go to a record store you can find stuff that you wouldn’t necessarily find on your own. That is why record stores are great because people working there know a lot of music and they can show you stuff that you don’t know,” said college student Alejandro Zerah, who was shopping at Pinwheel Records.

The social aspect of going to a record store is also appealing to consumers.

“It is definitely a community vibe,” said Dave Hofer, a buyer at Reckless Records in Wicker Park. He describes record stores as a “great meeting place.”

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