Streaming Might Be Helping the Music Industry, but Vinyl is Here to Stay

It’s easy to be cynical about the way the music industry is going. Since the mid-2000s, there has been a decline in the purchase of music, leaving record companies at a financial loss. Although downloads have become a preferred method of  music sales for many, they never caught on financially the way CDs had in the 1990s, and continue to be a loss for the industry.

However, for the first time in nearly two decades, the music industry is earning a profit. In the first half of 2016, record company profits were up 8.1 percent from the same time last year.

This boost is due to the growth of paid streaming services, which also saw a bump in the first half of the year. Revenue from Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Pandora and more has now reached over 1 billion dollars.

Though sales of physical mediums are down in the first half of the year, including vinyl, which had been seeing a significant resurgence over the last decade, it’s also not stopping record companies and artists from producing the physical medium and fans from buying it. There are more titles being released on vinyl than there have been in years as contemporary artists are beginning to press their music. Many are even creating exclusive deluxe editions of their albums that make them a must-have for any fan or collector.

While streaming is good for music discovery, nothing feels like having the album in your hands. That’s what has made the vinyl resurgence grow so rapidly. There will always be a demand for physical music, old and new.

And there will always be a demand for record shops. Parents are sharing the experience of going to the store and looking through the shelves with their children, helping to instill a love for music early and to let them know that music isn’t just a file on a computer.

It’s great that the record industry is finally making money again. As the way people listen to music has changed, the music industry has begun to embrace it and reap its benefits. However, that doesn’t mean that physical mediums are dead. Far from it, there will always be a need for physical albums and record stores. The vinyl resurgence isn’t going away any time soon.

Come see why vinyl will never go out of style at Vinyl Bay777. With new and classic titles from your favorite artists of all genres, Vinyl Bay has one of the largest selections of vinyl, CDs, cassettes and more on Long Island.

Long live vinyl!