Much like the concept of people recalling their first concert, those who grew up in the age of vinyl records or compact discs can almost always recall the first tangible music product they purchased.
The origin story of the vinyl record and tangible music products dates back to the 1870’s and the first phonograph.
It wasn’t until 1948 when Columbia records released the first commercially accessible long-form vinyl that its rise to the top began. But when CD’s, ipods and eventually streaming came along it killed the golden age of vinyl.
But vinyl bounced back in 2010, and the resurgence continues today.
In March, the ARIA annual statistics showed total digital sales last year was sitting at $655,987,408. This was an increase from the dollar value of digital sales in 2023, which finished at $676,052,271.
The ARIA Yearly statistics are compiled from ARIA Members – including the major labels which have then been grossed up to estimate the overall market size in each category.
The digital sales far outweigh the physical sales, but an interesting point is that vinyl records/albums are the most popular by a significant amount.
Store owner of Sauce Records Jannali, Shane McGlinchy said that buying and collecting records has definitely become more mainstream.
“There was always that little hardcore group that never gave up their records, the CDs died, then records became a bit more of a thing,” he said.
“You have a little crate of records, and everyone comes over and has a drink and puts a record on.
“I think it’s got more of that appeal.”
In his own collecting journey, Mr McGlinchy recalls searching for vinyl records at garage sales and second hand stores where vinyl records would sell for as little as $1.00.
“Fifteen years ago, if you walked into Vinnies or something, if I paid over a dollar for a record, then I really wanted that record.
“That’s just what records went for, no one was buying them.”
It’s a stark contrast to the selling price of brand new records – the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Harry Styles and Taylor Swift – which would typically sell for around $80.
To provide a canvas of the timeline in popularity and sales of vinyl records, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has provided detailed data of the revenue of the sales of all music formats.
It shows the rise, fall and resurgence of vinyl – although not at the peak of where it once was, the sales has grown over the last 20 years.
Although based on statistics from the United States, this demonstrates the path of records and its growth in popularity, accounting for a whopping $1.4 billion dollars in revenue in 2024.
But why has the past 20 years witnessed a resurgence in vinyl?
Sutherland Shire musician and vinyl record collector, Ricky Dicampli said that it is the experience of playing a record that makes it more special than listening to songs from his streaming service subscription via his phone or a speaker.
“I like how the actual needle touches the actual vinyl and creates a physical sound that has been crafted from somewhere rather than it just being something uploaded to a cloud,” Mr Dicampli said.
“The groves of the vinyl record actually creates the sound so I like the fact that its tangible and physical and legitimate rather than it just being some kind of thing that’s played on spotify, it’s a legitimate sound coming from as legitimate source.”
The idea of the ‘tangible’ rather than digital, has been explored online with sources also hypothesising that the rise can be attributed to factors like record store day, nostalgia and collectability.
For Mr Dicampli there is also a strong family connection with his vinyl collection.
“’Thriller’ by Michael Jackson is one that my dad went to the shops and bought when he was 15-years-old, and I’ve got that exact copy that he bought from the shop for $1.50 at the time,” he said.
“The same with the best hits of ABBA, and there’s also an Italian native folk record that I have from my Nonna and Nonno.”
The sales of both digital and tangible music in Australia in 2024 came to $717,135,499 – a 6.1 per cent rise from sales in 2023, with digital representing 91.5 per cent of the total market.
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University of Wollongong professor Dr Timothy Byron and University of Sydney professor Dr Jadey O’Regan in their research for The Cambridge Companion to Music in Australia have highlighted that the way that music charts now measure songs has shifted from sales to streams.
In a recent interview with UOW, Dr Byron used the example of Ed Sheeran’s success of having 15 top songs at once – stating this would not happen in the vinyl or CD eras, when companies focused on promoting singles.