Vinyl Record Sales Are Not Down, Luminate and Warner Respond

the ecoustics podcast

For the last 18 years the vinyl record industry in the U.S. has sustained a continuous uptick in sales. So when a report last month by Luminate, the leading music industry source for tracking music consumption, indicated a precipitous 33% drop during the first half of 2024, it caused quite a stir. Since then, Luminate has retracted its original report, and followed up with a corrected report saying vinyl sales were actually up 2.2% in 2024.
To find why this happened, we speak with Chris Muratore, Director at Luminate and music industry insider Billy Fields from Warner Music Group.
Ultimately counting record sales isn’t as easy as it may seem. Although Luminate gets accurate accounting of record sales from major online websites and big box retailers, sales from independent record stores (“indies”) are harder to come by. That wouldn’t be such a big deal, except for the fact that an estimated 40% of record sales are from indies in the U.S. So with only a small fraction of indies reporting vinyl sales, Luminate has always estimated the indie portion in its reports. But how they estimate matters.
A small change in Luminate’s estimation algorithm caused a dramatic turn of events. But there is more to the story of vinyls resurgence, so we hope you’ll tune in to take a deep dive into the vinyl music industry.
Thank you to our sponsors SVS and Q Acoustics!
For more information on these stellar brands, please click the links below:
https://www.svsound.com
https://www.qacoustics.com
Related links:
https://luminatedata.com
https://vinylalliance.org
https://www.riaa.com/u-s-sales-database/
https://www.ifpi.org
https://www.wmg.com
https://www.discogs.com/digs/collecting/vinyl-sales-up-in-2024/
Panel:
• Mitch Anderson, Host & eCoustics Podcast Producer
• Brian Mitchell, eCoustics Founder & CEO
• Chris Muratore, Director, Luminate
• Billy Fields, VP Sales, Warner Music Group
Credits:
• Original intro music by The Arc of All. sourceoflightandpower.bandcamp.com
• Voice Over Provided by Todd Harrell of SSP Unlimited. https://sspunlimited.com
• Production by Mitch Anderson, Black Circle Studios. https://blackcircleradio.com
Keep up-to-date with all the latest Hi-Fi, Headphone, Home Theater and Music news by visiting:
https://www.ecoustics.com
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