Music Week broke the news last month that physical music sales could be on course for their first year-on-year increase in two decades.
An increase has already been achieved at the halfway point of the year – Music Week analyses the performance of physical formats in the new edition of the magazine.
Here, BPI CEO Dr Jo Twist OBE takes a closer look at the physical sales performance so far this year including the “sense of emotional connection” with artists that fans get from vinyl and CD…
Physical unit sales are on track for their first year-on-year increase in two decades – how optimistic are you about the performance so far this year?
“The trend has been gradually heading in this direction for a little while now, so it’s not entirely surprising, but hugely welcome all the same. It makes us optimistic about a future for our music ecosystem characterised by even more choice – whether for the fans, who now have so many ways to discover and enjoy the music they love, or for the thousands of artists, who, with support from their labels, can give full expression to the music they want to create and release it in the ways that suit them most.”
CD’s decline could have bottomed out. How is this format performing in 2024 and how can the industry help to bring about a lasting revival?
“Vinyl sales have been on the up for quite some time, and if this year’s growth continues, it will be 17 straight years, but the big difference now is that CD’s decline has dramatically slowed and is even hinting at a return to year-on-year growth. Such an outcome would be truly astonishing given the many expectations that the format would become obsolete. But these had perhaps not fully reckoned on the extent of the complementary relationship that physical enjoys with streaming, nor on the rise of superfans, who are such keen collectors across an artist’s output. Or indeed of fans more generally, including younger consumers, perceiving the compact disc as such great value for money – at around £10 – and investing in it once again.
“We also have more indie stores across the UK and an HMV chain that is expanding again – so retail capacity for physical is clearly also on the rise – underlined to me by a recent visit to Utopia’s amazing new state-of-the art distribution facility with DP World in Bicester. Of course, it’s extremely unlikely that CD will become truly mass market again, but the format still accounts for close to 11 million sales annually and continues to play an important role in our music ecosystem. Our labels always put artists and fans at the heart of everything they do, so I feel sure that our record industry, in partnership with retail, will help to support and grow the market so long as there is viable demand.”
How important are initiatives such as Record Store Day and National Album Day for the growth of physical?
“Record Store Day and National Album Day – which sees the BPI partner with ERA to celebrate the art of the album and our collective love of the format – both play an important part in promoting album listening and purchasing, including among younger fans. There are other album platforms also, including The Record Club, Classic Album Sundays, Pitchblack Playback and others.
“Most of us as fans, of course, value streaming because it’s such a hugely convenient and versatile way to discover and enjoy music. But we still very much value recorded music on physical formats, especially the albums by the artists we love that we want to own and collect. We cherish the ritual of finding and buying albums; the tactile and interactive experience and, perhaps most of all, the authenticity the album represents, whether on CD or vinyl, and the sense of emotional connection this gives us to artists – something AI can never hope to replicate.”
“We really don’t see why there can’t be reasonable continuing growth in demand for vinyl
Dr Jo Twist
How much credit should Taylor Swift take for the physical music market performance in 2024?
“Taylor has played her part as an artist who inspires great excitement and loyalty among fans – The Tortured Poets Department is the year’s best-selling album so far across both vinyl and CD formats, while 1989 (Taylor’s Version), the biggest physical release of last year, is also one of 2024’s top sellers. Obviously, her current Eras Tour will not be hurting physical sales. But other artists across a range of styles, not least rock, have also been helping to drive demand. BRITs Rising Stars The Last Dinner Party saw more than 26,000 copies of their debut album Prelude to Ecstasy purchased physically on its way to No.1 in its week of release, a feat more than matched by Liam Gallagher & John Squire and also by Dua Lipa, while releases by Idles and Elbow, among others, will also have contributed to physical’s strong total.”
Can the vinyl growth continue, how strong do you expect it to be this year?
“We really don’t see why there can’t be reasonable continuing growth in demand for vinyl, for this year and the foreseeable future at least when you consider the quality of releases that are slated. However, we need to acknowledge that there may be a cooling at some point, even if we can’t be sure when that might come. But we know that fans, including among the next-gen, seem to love it, while record labels take great care to create beautifully presented and highly collectible albums, which record shops and online stores are more than happy to stock as their USP and make available to their customers.”
Finally, are there questions about sustainability that could impact sales of vinyl variants; should more be done to provide fans with eco-friendly releases?
“This is an important area that the industry is rightly giving urgent attention to, including through the Music Climate Pact, which just relaunched led by Roxy Erickson and is supported by labels and AIM and the BPI working together. The need to decarbonise and reduce the impact of manufacturing, distribution and consumption on our environment is a priority for us all, whether this means looking at current formats or exploring and developing new materials. For example, Coldplay announcing that the vinyl for their new album Moon Music will be made from recycled plastic bottles, along with eco-friendly formats for the recent releases by Billie Eilish and Liam Gallagher & John Squire. But let’s not overlook that conventional vinyl is made using a PVC compound, which is itself recyclable. It’s very encouraging that we are now looking at all these areas to better understand the best way forward.”
Click here to read our ERA interview on physical music.
Subscribers can read our full report on the physical market here.
PHOTO: HMV Oxford Street (Peter Nicholls/Getty Images)
FOLLOW 
