Vinyl is on a big high at the moment, with vinyl record sales surpassing digital downloads in the UK during December. Now a report by Deloitte, published in The Financial Times, notes that the vinyl industry (which including turntables) could break the billion dollar mark in 2017. With record sales set for double digit growth for the seventh consecutive year, this would be the first time it happened since the vinyl golden age of the 80s.

Locally, we’ve seen more and more vinyl making it into music shops, with quite a few second hand vinyl shops popping up. But in the UK, these records are also available in large retail stores such as Tesco (their equivalent of Pick ‘n Pay), allowing for a more mainstream shopping experience.

Despite this, vinyl record industry remains relatively small, with Deloitte noting that vinyl will account only for about 7% of what the global record industry should rake in during 2017.

The head of tech, media and telecoms research at Deloitte, Paul Lee, poured some cold water on hot vinyl sales by stating: “In 1981, over one billion albums were sold. In 2017 it will be around 40 million. This is not the resurgence that is portrayed. It is a blip.”

While he believes passionate music fans will continue to invest in more expensive vinyl (in the States you are looking at an average price of about $20, in SA around R250), he is more blunt over vinyl’s future prospects, stating, “My gut feeling is that it could peak this year.”

If you’re looking to start (or continue) building up a vinyl record collection, have a look at the following local online resources:
Mr Vinyl
Vinyl Café
Bidorbuy