This will be music to the ears of audiophiles — vinyl records are spinning up more profits for the music industry than every ad-supported streaming service combined.
In the first half of this year, vinyl records brought in $60 million more than streaming services like Pandora, Spotify, Vevo, and YouTube. From January through June, vinyl not only accounted for $221.8 million in sales, the revenue was up 52% over the same period from the year before–recording nearly twice the growth of streaming music.
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Vinyl’s rapid growth easily out performed every other segment of the music industry, which, overall, turned a one billion dollar profit in six months for the first time ever.
Permanent downloads through services like iTunes still account for the music industry’s biggest chunk of revenue — about 40%.
Musicians, like Kevin Kadish, have been critical of the business model behind streaming services. He co-wrote the hit “All About the Bass” and last week told the Tennessean that music streamers paid him only about $5,700 even though the song was streamed 178 million times. Apple Music has just launched its streaming service, but the billions of streams will not necessarily equal fair market rates or a fair playing field, according to Recording Industry Association of America.
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The triumphant return of vinyl can offer hope to musicians resigned to the fact that online services too often stream–and fans too often download–their tunes without lifting a needle to pay for it.
(Photo: Knipsermann, CC, Story Tip: Chris Smith)
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