Today we’ve come across a fantastic post courtesy of Discogs, the marketplace responsible for moving over 27 million vinyl records in its lifetime.
Compiling the responses of key minds hailing from the likes of Third Man Records, Vinyl Me Please, Audio-Technica, Record Store Day and more, the post asks one question. What lies in the the future for vinyl?
After continued growth in 2017, players in the vinyl game are wondering if the bubble will burst. But according to the kings and queens of the market, it’s definitely here to stay.
Find a few extracts from the responses below. Ben Blackwell (Third Man Records) was particularly interesting to me, considering the way most take these sales figures as absolute truth.
“My response to Nielsen’s report of vinyl flattening is that their focus and metric is isolated and isolated from the entirety of the business… I mean, I’d venture to guess that upwards of 90% of seven-inch sales are completely undocumented in this country. That’s insane.” – Ben Blackwell, Third Man Records
“I work with indie record stores and they need to be profitable on what they buy and sell to succeed. Right now, they are stocking more vinyl and are selling more vinyl than before. They are also buying and selling more turntables than ever before.” – Michael Kurtz, Record Store Day
“Two years ago we finally admitted to ourselves that the turntable bubble was not going to burst and would be a viable category for years to come. We expect to see a levelling of growth over the next three to five years, but believe it will remain in the double digits.” – Bob Peet, Audio-Technica
“Every house and apartment should have records and record players in them. Things would be better.” – Henry Rollins
Find the full post up on Discogs.
