Vinyl sales are at their highest since the 90’s. But who’s buying?
It’s not who you think. According to a new ICM poll, nearly 50% of vinyl buyers are under the age of 35. Approximately 16% of people buying vinyl records are aged 18-24 and 33% are aged 25-34.
Makes sense…sort of.
A growing population of young people are buying vinyl as a fashion statement. Indeed, some argue that this is merely the ‘trend’ right now (and that’s a big concern for prospective investors). Vinyl records are even for sale in the American multinational retail store, Urban Outfitters, now one of the largest vinyl retailers in the world.
Complicating matters is that 50% of people who are buying the records aren’t even listening to them. It’s easy to speculate that it’s probably this same, younger age group that doesn’t even own a turntable (or chooses not to play their LPs). The older generation see more likely to actually listen to their purchases (imagine that), especially given their attachment to the feeling of listening to analog sounds.
Then again, vinyl is one of the most expensive ways to consume music, so you would expect that the older generation, who generally have a higher disposable income, to spend on such products. But that sounds like more conventional wisdom, none of which predicted the vinyl resurgence in the first place.
(Image by Stacie DaPonte, Creative Commons, Attribution-ShareAlike 2.o Generic, cc by-sa 2.0)
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