LITTLE ROCK — Stace Levy is a self-proclaimed vinyl junkie. He owns close to 6,000 records at home and was sifting through piles of LPs recently at the Arkansas Record and CD Exchange in North Little Rock, looking for additions to his collection.
“I’m just a digger,” Levy said, adding The Wiz soundtrack to his pile of Ramsey Lewis, Weather Report and about a dozen other records. He comes to record stores such as this one at least three times a month. “I’m in love with that gritty, gutsy sound.”
But with the advent and dominance of the CD and later the MP3 format, LPs were in danger of extinction.
Yet long-play and 45 records have made a bit of a comeback in recent years. They are on track to grow 39 percent this year, according to figures released this week by Nielsen Soundscan.
Since 2008, vinyl sales have jumped dramatically. More than 2.3 million vinyl albums have been sold so far in 2011, and sales could reach nearly 4 million by year’s end - nearly four times 2007 figures - which would be the most records sold since Nielsen started tracking vinyl sales in 1993.
And that growth doesn’t appear to be a fad, said Chris Muratore, vice president of merchant services and emerging growth at Nielsen Entertainment, Soundscan’s parent company.
“When you’re having double-digit year-over-year growth, we should still continue to see this growth over the next couple of years,” he said.
But the growth of vinyl sales isn’t attributable to Amazon, Best Buy or other retail chains. More than two thirds is sold at independent record stores.
Though the vinyl market has long been home to oldschool audiophiles who dislike the compressed sound of digital music, vinyl sales appear to be driven by young music fans who didn’t grow up with the format. Just three years ago, the top 10 LPs were split between classic releases such as the Beatles’ Abbey Road and current releases.
But while Abbey Road tops this year’s chart so far, it’s the only album there originally released when vinyl was the industry standard. This year, it tied for first place with folkrock band Fleet Foxes’ debut Helplessness Blues. The list is predominantly indie bands such as Bon Iver and The Decemberists. Mumford & Sons’ album Sigh No More, another top 10 vinyl album, is the third best-selling album of the year among all formats.
“Our market is particularly vinyl-focused,” said Darius Van Arman, founder of Jagjaguwar, an indie record label that releases almost all of its artists on vinyl as well as CDs. “We’ve noticed how it’s hard not to sell some of our recent vinyl, which didn’t used to be the case. It’s just not because our artists have grown, or we’ve grown. There are more buyers out there.”
Despite the growth of vinyl sales, it still only accounts for about 1 percent of the music industry. But indie labels can have up to 20 percent of their sales from vinyl recordings. Those sales are typically from their more passionate fans, Arman said, because when an album breaks into the mainstream, such as the recent Bon Iver record, CD and digital sales dilute vinyl purchases to about 10 percent of all sales.
Many are looking for alternatives to the CD, which is increasingly viewed as an intermediary that allows consumers to upload music to their computers or iPods, Arman said. While many LPs include codes to download the album from the Internet, they don’t feel as disposable as a CD.
“Because digital music is becoming the standard for how people are consuming music, the CD format is devalued,” he said. “For those that want a physical thing in their collection, they logically prefer vinyl because it seems a little more timeless than the CD format.”
Bill Eginton, owner of the Arkansas Record and CD Exchange, has seen sales pickup 20 percent in the past two years, both in used, classic records and in new releases. But despite the renewed interest, the store is never jam-packed with customers.
“When Bon Iver came out, we sold a bunch of those in the first couple weeks - maybe 10,” said Eginton, whose store has more than 225,000 vinyl records and 20,000 CDs. “To me, a lot is 5 or 10.”
The largest increase in sales has come from teenagers, who often come in with their parents. “If parents drag their kids over, the kids walk in and say ‘Old gramps isn’t going to have anything I want,’” Eginton said. “But we have a rack full of the new records, and all of the classic stuff is still popular with younger people. I’m happy when I see someone buy an Of Montreal and a Ramones, or an Adele and a Zeppelin.”
Artists are increasingly looking to see their music released on vinyl to meet the increased demand.
“Everybody wants to be on vinyl,” said Travis Hill, owner of Little Rock-based label Last Chance Records. “It started with a nostalgia movement, and audio purists like me. But now young artists in their 20s and 30s see that kids looking for something tangible that sounds better are really driving the market.”
In addition to regular LPs, many of Hill’s bands release a limited-edition version of the records with a much smaller run - 500 instead of 5,000. The limited editions are either a striking color, bright red perhaps, or are in the heavier 180-gram format geared toward audiophiles. Those editions can sell out in less than two weeks through mail order.
“It’s a niche market, so you have to cater to what the market wants,” said Hill, who sells more LPs than CDs. “If they were just looking for the music, they could probably download it for free.”
Fans looking for merchandise after a show may clamor for vinyl, but Hill said bands need to remember that records have some drawbacks as well.
“If we’re ever going through the South in August, carrying vinyl in a van that might not have air conditioning may not be the best thing,” he said.
For up-and-coming bands, the cost of vinyl can be prohibitive. A CD costs about $1 per disc to produce, versus $3 to $6 for a vinyl record, which typically sell for only $2 more than CDs.
Little Rock-based Grand Serenade is releasing its third album next month, but it will be its first on vinyl. The costs were too high for the band at first, but for this album, Lake County, its record label pitched in. The results were well worth the expense, said Grand Serenade guitarist Jordan Trotter.
“There’s not quite a feeling like hearing yourself on vinyl,” said Trotter, who did not grow up listening to records. “To have our music come through a little needle on a record player is magical.”
Business, Pages 27 on 08/27/2011