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Vinyl records outsell CDs for first time since '87
If you've listened to any music recently, it was likely from a streaming service such as Spotify which accounts for the vast majority of music consumers. But, if you want to own a copy of the music, vinyl records have made a comeback that's more than 35 years in the making. FOX 26 Business Reporter Tom Zizka explains the nostalgic comeback.
HOUSTON - If you've listened to any music, recently, it was likely from a streaming service, like Spotify, which accounts for the vast majority of music consumers.
However, if you want to own a copy of the music, vinyl records have made a comeback that's more than 35 years in the making.
In 1987, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev were playing diplomatic chess, the Minnesota Twins won the World Series, and Bon Jovi released "Livin' on a Prayer". It's also the year the vinyl record album lost its fight against the CD, until now.
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On a warm spring day, there is steady traffic in Houston's Cactus Music, with people flipping through the thousands of old and new albums, looking for music they might like to own. Cody Ortiz says he's working on building his record collection, "I love the idea of having a physical representation of the music I love."
More and more, the choice for that 'physical representation' is the age-old vinyl LP.
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The Recording Industry Association of America’s latest year-end report finds vinyl sold more units than CDs in the U.S. last year. With more streaming options, and fewer retailers selling CDs, vinyl was primed for this.
"I think what you see is there's a return of the 'bookshelf' mentality," explains Cactus Music owner Quinn Bishop, "People stream everything. They might stream the tracks, but the stuff that's really great...if it's a statement from the artist like a new album, they have to own the whole thing."
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As a new generation of music lovers discovers the experience of putting an album on a turntable and setting the needle down, it seems more than nostalgia. In an era where parents and grandparents relied on compact discs, the album is the preference of younger music lovers. "It warms my heart to see young people get interested in that, and really digging into the heart and soul of what music was, and has become now," says Bob Wicker, who is thrilled to see vinyl's resurgence.
The RIAA report says vinyl accounted for 70% of all physical music sales, worth $1.2 billion, last year. While that's still just a fraction of streaming music revenue, it may be enough to lure more album manufacturers, which largely left the marketplace, to return and feed the new demand.