Vinyl sales up over 40 percent, album sales down in first half of 2014
Nielsen Entertainment recently published their mid-year music industry report for 2014. The study contained statistics regarding the top selling albums and singles (both physical and digital), and a slew of other numbers from the industry in comparison to the first half of 2013.
The main points found through the report revealed that album sales are down 14.9 percent from the first half of last year, while on-demand streaming services are up 42 percent.
Perhaps the most interesting statistic comes with vinyl sales having increased 40.4 percent over the first half of 2013's 2.9 million purchased units.
Senior Vice President David Bakula commented on the report saying “With On-Demand streams surpassing 70 billion songs in the first six months of 2014, streaming continues to be an increasingly significant portion of the music industry.” He continued, “Streaming’s 42% year-over-year growth and Vinyl LP’s 40% increase over last year’s record-setting pace shows interest in buying and consuming music continues to be robust, with two very distinct segments of the industry expanding substantially.”
How do you consume music? Do you prefer owning a physical copy? Or do you tend to lean more towards streaming services? Leave us a comment with your thoughts!
