Vinyl Revival Helps Shop in Springfield, MO #vinyl #news #nowplaying #audiophile

Springfield, MO) — In an age of digital music and portable players, vinyl records are making their way back onto the turntables.  Music listeners who want to throw on a new LP or who prefer the cracks and pops of an old record are browsing music shops for their favorite artists.  Record shops are seeing a resurgence of people who want to see the grooves.

The owner of Stick It In Your Ear in Springfield, Wes Nichols, says people are buying more vinyl from his shop.

“Five years have tripled, quadrupled, quintupled,” Nichols said.

He says listeners browse the stacks of records in his shop everyday, to find their favorite tunes.  The sales are helping his business make up for dwindling CD and t-shirt sales.

“Just having something in their hands that they can say ‘oh that’s what’s going on’,” Nichols said, referring to one of the reasons people buy vinyl.

Although listeners are paying for older albums, like Beatles records, many people are buying newer music.  For example, Radiohead was last year’s best selling vinyl artist, according to Nielsen.

“We have people that are 13, 14 years old to 70 that come in here,” said Patrick Houtz, a manager at the shop.

And stores across the country are noticing the same.  Marketing and media information company, Nielsen, shows listeners bought 33 percent more vinyl last year than they did in 2008. And they picked up two thirds of those from independent music shops

“But with CD’s, you know, they’re the one’s to be pitied right now,” said Nichols, who also sells CD’s. “Sales have dropped and I think people are going back to a collectable mentality.”

And although people are less interested in some products in the shop, the company is bringing in business because customers are sticking to the grooves.

“Unless something drastic happens vinyl is back,” said Nichols.

Vinyl still makes up a small part of total music sales. Nielsen data shows people bought about 2.5 million albums in the format last year.

However, listeners downloaded digital albums more than 30 times as often.  Companies that make vinyl are taking notice of those sales.   New records often come with a free digital download.