Record Store Day Sets Sales Spinning

It's vinyl time again. Saturday, April 16 is Record Store Day. The first was held in 2008, with the goal of building traffic at independent record stores.

Today, vinyl has become very sought-after around the world, for the sound and for the retro authenticity, as well as the album art and liner notes. The entire experience contrasts with the click-to-download music experience of the past decade.

Slowly, steadily, vinyl sales are back from the trough and increasing worldwide. And with high-profile events like Record Store Day, labels are timing many new releases to take advantage of higher interest and stronger store traffic.

On social media, look for #RecordStoreDay, #RSD16, and @RecordStoreDay. The official Twitter feed has 150,000+ followers. The official FB page has nearly 390,000 likes.

Newbury Comics, always strong on vinyl, is promoting special pressings and collection-worthy LPs. Yet not all indie vinyl retailers are participating.

Vinyl's Amazing Comeback

Over the years, technological advances in music recording almost made vinyl LPs disappear. Yet vinyl has made an amazing comeback, despite the ubiquitous availability of downloadable music.

By the time 2014 is over, 8 million LPs will have been sold--making this the best year for vinyl sales in quite a while. Black Friday was a banner day for vinyl, second only to Record Store Day in LP purchasing.

Nostalgia is one reason for the comeback. Another is tangibility: LPs come with jackets and liner notes, artwork and written material. Yet another reason is sound quality.

Independent stores are profiting from the comeback, as well. Much of the inventory they carry is used (pre-owned, vintage, etc). Yet big-box stores are also riding this wave, selling new vinyl issues of old LP content. And bands that have loyal fan followings are reissuing LPs in special collections to satisfy demand--and extend the product life cycle.

Will vinyl's comeback continue in 2015?