According to Nielsen SoundScan...

[scottheisel]

...1.88 million LPs were sold in 2008, an 89% increase of 2007's totals. This is still less than a half-percent of recorded-music sales in America (the other 99.5% coming from CDs and digital music sales), but it definitely shows a renewed interest in the format.

One thing to keep in mind is none of the records Vinyl Collective sold this year (minus the Gaslight Anthem 59 Sound LP pre-order) were reported to SoundScan, so I imagine that's easily another 15,000-20,000 LPs that were not included in that tally. (The reason why Virgil doesn't report to SoundScan is that it costs quite a bit of money to be a part of.)

[jhulud]

And how many of those were Alkaline Trio records?

[flood]

soundscan numbers are just majors, and bigger independents (most of whom are secretly owned/controlled by majors anyways)

i mean shit.. we sold a couple thousand LP's in 2008.. and none of those will be counted in the totals ... and theres at least a dozen labels of our size on this board alone.

[dreamover]

i'd say those numbers don't account for half the actual number of records sold. maybe not even a third. those only consider places most of us probably wouldn't buy them from. I.E. amazon or best buy.

[troymess]

Agreed...and Nielsen sound scanning is a joke. Most labels report somewhat false numbers anyways. Believable numbers, but always padded.

[dante3000]

1.5 million of those are the "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" 12" re-release

[hickey]

So SoundScan numbers come from the labels and not stores?

[vittywatt]

1.5 million of those are the "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" 12" re-release

if there was a pootie tang LP out there i'd buy it

[scottheisel]

So SoundScan numbers come from the labels and not stores?

SoundScans are reported both by retail outlets and record labels. For example, when a band sells albums on tour, they fill out SoundScan sheets of what they sold that night, get it signed by the venue owner/show promoter to verify it, then fax it to their label, who in turn submits it to SoundScan to be counted in the album's sales total

Retail stores typically have their checkout scanners wired into SoundScan, so when you buy a copy of an album at Best Buy, it's instantly submitted to the company. This is where things get weird, because obviously not every independent record store uses a computer scanner, so mom-and-pops that do are "weighted," meaning one copy sold at Jim's Records might register with SoundScan as four copies sold, if there's three other record stores in the area that don't report. SoundScan assumes that if one reporting store can sell a copy, then it's not an unreasonable conclusion that each of the other, non-reporting, stores also sold a copy.

This is why SoundScan can be crazy inaccurate at times. Labels figure out which record stores are weighted, which is why those record stores will frequently have in-store performances/signings, as every CD sold during one of those is probably worth 4-5 SoundScans. I vaguely recall Vagrant Records getting into trouble a few years back because they were buying copies of the new-at-the-time Alkaline Trio album from some weighted store nearby to send to people to push its numbers higher. (That might just be conjecture, so don't hold me to that.)

I do think vinyl SoundScan numbers are more accurate, however, because obviously it's still not the predominant format for physical product, CDs are -- lying about vinyl SoundScans serves no real purpose.

[danalive]

So SoundScan numbers come from the labels and not stores?

stores report them but i think labels can report some from like sales at shows.

[hickey]

So SoundScan numbers come from the labels and not stores?

SoundScans are reported both by retail outlets and record labels. For example, when a band sells albums on tour, they fill out SoundScan sheets of what they sold that night, get it signed by the venue owner/show promoter to verify it, then fax it to their label, who in turn submits it to SoundScan to be counted in the album's sales total

Retail stores typically have their checkout scanners wired into SoundScan, so when you buy a copy of an album at Best Buy, it's instantly submitted to the company. This is where things get weird, because obviously not every independent record store uses a computer scanner, so mom-and-pops that do are "weighted," meaning one copy sold at Jim's Records might register with SoundScan as four copies sold, if there's three other record stores in the area that don't report. SoundScan assumes that if one reporting store can sell a copy, then it's not an unreasonable conclusion that each of the other, non-reporting, stores also sold a copy.

This is why SoundScan can be crazy inaccurate at times. Labels figure out which record stores are weighted, which is why those record stores will frequently have in-store performances/signings, as every CD sold during one of those is probably worth 4-5 SoundScans. I vaguely recall Vagrant Records getting into trouble a few years back because they were buying copies of the new-at-the-time Alkaline Trio album from some weighted store nearby to send to people to push its numbers higher. (That might just be conjecture, so don't hold me to that.)

I do think vinyl SoundScan numbers are more accurate, however, because obviously it's still not the predominant format for physical product, CDs are -- lying about vinyl SoundScans serves no real purpose.

Thanks, Scott!

[scottheisel]

I should also say that I certainly am not an expert when it comes to SoundScan, so please don't assume my word is 100% correct -- there are probably some label/retail people on here who can explain it better than I can.

[recordsofthedamned]

[monk0nuggets]

Good news for us collectors (for the most part), as more records are bound to be pressed and repressed!

[von]

If you are posting on this board then I kind of feel like you shouldn't even care about nielson numbers. Sure it is interesting to hear, but for the most part it has no bearing on how we all feel about records and artists we care about.

[scottheisel]

If you are posting on this board then I kind of feel like you shouldn't even care about nielson numbers. Sure it is interesting to hear, but for the most part it has no bearing on how we all feel about records and artists we care about.

I just posted it because it was a quantifiable way of proving how big the vinyl niche market has grown in the past year, and it provokes discussion.

[aarondanger]

If you are posting on this board then I kind of feel like you shouldn't even care about nielson numbers. Sure it is interesting to hear, but for the most part it has no bearing on how we all feel about records and artists we care about.

i kinda care.

I think its good to know people are getting into vinyl.

[scottheisel]

What's really cool is this is the biggest sales total for vinyl since SoundScan was implemented in 1991. We were all a part of history!

[jawbroken]

hooray for us!

[mclz]

[forgeagain]

Flood, the records you sold very well could have been recorded by SoundScan unless all of them were via mailorder. Anything sold via normal retail outlets COULD have been SoundScanned....you just don't hear about it unless you fork over the $. I wish I had free access to some SoundScan. It's fun looking stuff up.

[Guest kylewilliam]

i worked at a weighted to 10 soundscan store for like 5 years, we had instores atleast once a week, consistantly, so people could drive up their record sales.

[steventangent]

soundscam.