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UK Vinyl Chart...


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Not sure anyone has discussed this yet. The UK vinyl chart launched yesterday; the blessing and curse of vinyl re-gaining more mainstream popularity. I'm not into this chart stuff, but there is quite an interesting table of UK vinyl sales by volume over the past 20 years - probably small numbers compared to US volumes:

 

http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/uk-s-first-official-vinyl-charts-launch-as-vinyl-sales-soar-in-2015__8906/

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On balance anything that means more records are pressed and in more variety for me to buy is a good thing though

 

Agreed, really looking forward to the variety that comes with increased demand and production.

 

Saying that though, wasn't there chatter around the boards relating to small independents getting pushed out of plants they've been using for years due to the larger companies muscling in? I don't know much about the industry so can't really comment, but it sounded worrying. As long as the smaller labels can still do what they do best I'll be happy - ultimately it's them that have kept the medium ticking.

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You're both in the UK yeah? Do your local HMVs have big vinyl sections?

Sheffield isn't bad, if it were all in one section I think it'd be easier to say. They have the chart stuff/best sellers strewn throughout the shop. The main section is maybe 8 wide, 3 rows deep? with about 6 - 8 crates underneath. They also stock dance/hiphop/metal and I think world, with probably 2-4 crates worth each. I've seen worse in HMV, and better.

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I have noticed one or two new 2nd hand vinyl shops opening when I travel about and seem to be selling 2nd hand hifi as well as 2nd hand vinyl but 2nd hand vinyl shops do seem to be getting more and more expensive.

 

The HMV's seem to vary and it doesn't seem to matter whether they are big or small or in big or small places just how much the manager reckons they can shift I guess.

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Right off the bat, what I noticed from the charts is that 3 records in the best seling top ten are reissues of records that are 40+ yo.

And that overall sales are on par with the year 1995 both as volume and percentage.

 

You would think that would indicate the demographic buying records but I'm not sure it does. You would think it's all old people getting back the records they sold or threw out but that's not what I see in the shops and that includes in that there London and the sleepy little seaside town where I live which if it wasn't for the cars on the road you'd swear was stuck in 1962

 

Edit

 

My comment doesn't account for online sales I suppose which means it could all be silver surfers who can't be arsed to go down the shops

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This chart doesn't really give the full picture. Only shops/stores which have chart track equipment for recording and providing sales figures to the chart company are feeding stats back into this. Most indie stores will not do this.

Also, releases will need a barcode for scanning, a lot of small runs or indie releases may not have this so these will go unaccounted for.

The fact is the majority of this vinyl chart is likely stats from HMV and maybe some of the bigger 'indie' chains like Rough Trade etc.

Also in true chart style most of it is pretty miserable reading but then the bottom line for this chart as with any other is: enjoy the music you like, buy what you like, charts don't matter.

 

It will be funny though when RSD releases take up pretty much every space on the chart next week.

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