New vinyl album sales for 2012 v 2011 – the story so far

I’ve been asked for a few quotes recently especially as the documentary Last Shop Standing is being shown in Edinburgh in December so I thought I had better ask for the latest figures as I was being asked about the resurgence of the independents and vinyl. Don’t shoot the messenger. The figures speak for themselves so I’ve made no more than a short comment

2011

Specialists        119,394 units      £1,919,894  value

Independents   115,171 units      £1,852,000  value

Totals                     234,565               £3,771,894 

2012

Specialists        151,324 units  up 26.7%       £2,417,342  value   up 25.9%

Indies              107,350  units  down 9.3%    £1,714,866  value   down 9.2%                          

Totals                       258,674  (up 10.3%)              £4,132,208 (up 9.6%)

Specialists are HMV, Amazon etc basically not supermarkets or download sites. In 2011 the indies (49.1%) and the specialists (50.9%) were neck and neck. So far in 2012 even with the massive RSD sales included the indies trail by 17% (58.5 v 41.5) to the point that they haven’t only lost market share but have in fact lost sales not gained them.