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The vinyl narrative is so whack.

https://www.riaa.com/u-s-sales-database/

At its peak, Inflation adjusted Vinyl Sales was $1.4billion in 1979. Then forward to the lowest sales in 2009 at $3.4million. So Vinyl has been so popular it grew to $8.5m by 2021.

That is just nostalgia, not cultural change pushed by the dystopia of AI.



Why is my 14 year old niece now collecting vinyl? I can guarantee it's not nostalgia. There's obviously more at play there even when acknowledging your point about relative market size.


Perhaps it is _anemoia_ - nostalgia for a time you've never known https://www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/post/105778238455...

In this case, it's for the harmless charm of an imagined past, but the same forces are at play in some more dangerous forms of social conservatism.


It's a very narrow subgroup.

But things can coexist. It's now easier to create music than ever, and there is more music created by more artists than ever. Most music is forgettable and just streamed as background music. But there is also room for superstars like Taylor Swift.

Things don't have to be either-or.


How many 14 years old do you know who collect vinyl?


The medium is the message. I know several people born post 2000 who are embracing records and tapes.


I started when I was pretty much exactly that age, ten years ago.


> The vinyl narrative is so whack.

"Revenues for the LP/EP format were $1.2B in 2022 and accounted for 7.7% of total revenue of $15.9B for all selected formats for the year"

Adjusted to inflation.

It's my understanding that LP/EP is vinyl as well. Not Just vinyl single.


This has to be it. Vinyl costs like 20$ per, and $8m is like 400k vinyl sales (users often buy more than 1 vinyl so it's a lot less users) which seems too low globally. At 1.2b, it is more like 60m sales which seems more reasonable.


I think a lot of people collect vinyl less for nostalgia reasons and more so to have a physical collection of their music. I think vinyl wins over CDs just due to how it’s larger and the cover art often looks better as a result.




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