Vinyl record sales a mere blip on the music industry’s radar screen?
Don’t tell that to recording artists who pocketed more money in 2015 from the sale of 17 million vinyl albums than from all of the advertising on free on-demand music streamers like YouTube and Spotify, the music industry said in a report on Tuesday.
Sales of old-fashioned LPs, up 28.3 percent last year, accounted for $416.2 million in royalty revenue, the Recording Industry Association of America said in the report.
Free, ad-supported music services brought in a paltry $385.1 million, the group said.
Not all streaming services are light on the royalties. Paid subscriptions grew 40 percent last year, to 10.8 million subs. Revenue from that spike jumped 52 percent, to $1.2 billion, the RIAA said, thanks to the broadening of interest in Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal, among others.
The top-selling vinyl record of 2015 was Adele’s “25” — moving 116,000 copies, followed by Taylor Swift’s “1989,” with 74,000.
Also in the Top 10 are a slew of golden oldies from The Beatles’ “Abbey Road” to Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon.”
Canadian rapper Drake was the most streamed artist on Spotify, notching 1.8 billion plays by 46 million listeners.
Consumers are hankering for the unmistakable sound of vinyl records and have been encouraged to begin collecting again thanks to initiatives like Record Store Day, which this year falls on April 16.
Last November, Barnes & Noble introduced vinyl sections and began selling record players.