Nielsen
Music just released their 2019 Mid-Year
Report [link – registration required] detailing music consumption in the
U.S. during the first six months of the year. The bottom line is that revenue
and usage are up compared to the same period in 2018.
According
to Nielsen, on-demand consumption of “Album Equivalent” audio and video files
was 351.6 billion units between January 1 and June 30, up 15.7% compared
to2018.
The
news was even better about individual song streaming. On-demand streaming of
audio files was up 27.8% and On-demand streaming of video files was up 39.6%.
Fans of vinyl records know the "platters" have been around for
over 100-years. Today their popularity continues because of their
clear, rich sound, deep archives at labels and the experience of taking a disc out of its sleeve.
Overall
consumption of vinyl was up almost 10% in the first six months of 2019 compared
with 2018. 7.7 billion units were sold so far in 2019.
The
Nielsen report cites these factors:
•
Record Store Day 2019 scored an all-time high with a record 827,000 vinyl
albums sold industry-wide during the week ending April 18. 733,000 vinyl albums
were sold during the same period of 2018.
•
Independent stores benefited from exclusive pressings of albums by iconic rock
acts such as the Grateful Dead live in San Francisco, October 1980; a test
pressing of Bob Dylan’s Blood On The
Tracks, Green Day Live at Woodstock
in 1994 and Pink Floyd’s groundbreaking A
Saucerful of Secrets.
• Public
radio “music discovery” stations also are adding music on vinyl to their secret
sauce.
 |
Stacy
Owen, PD of WFPK in Louisville told Spark
News:
“Our morning drive host
airs a feature each morning called “Vinyl Lust.”
I think vinyl is on the rise
because there's a romanticism around owning a great LP that's attractive across
all generations.
The nostalgia for people over 40 and the curiosity for
young music lovers who only grew up in the digital age.”
Bruce
Warren, Chief of A lot of Stuff at WXPN added:
“We do play vinyl. Our
hosts definitely make it a point of saying so when we do. Each Sunday afternoon
one of our hosts, Julian Booker, does a feature called “Drop The Needle” on an
album side or two that is very popular.”
Brad
Savage, PD of Alt Rock/AAA hybrid WAPS The Summit in Akron said vinyl records
create excitement with their listeners:
YES - we do use vinyl.
And we frequently see strong positive feedback about vinyl. I enjoy the
"theater of the mind" that it creates. It is a powerful moment when
you can say, "we're playing this Traffic deep cut off vinyl, I found it at
a thrift store yesterday... it's a little scratchy but it's from 1971."
We definitely let some
songs fly that have some surface noise. I think it makes the sound and
experience more real and authentic. I love playing old 45's as well.
We usually do an
"all vinyl day" during our Pledge campaigns.... where we literally
only play vinyl selections.
 |
| The top 10 vinyl "albums' so far in 2019 according to Nielsen Music's 2019 Mid-Year Report |
Sometimes we play new
music and new indie releases off vinyl but I'd say that more of what we play on
vinyl is library material, or unusual rarities and b-sides that only ever
appeared on vinyl. But we have gotten good response to certain "Record Store
Day" releases on vinyl too.
Interesting note:
excitement over giveaway CD's at events or for members is waning. BUT,
excitement over vinyl giveaways is at a frenzy level - and that includes
turntables!
Chris
Wienk, VP and PD at AAA WEXT The Exit and Classical WMHT in Albany said vinyl
is one of the station’s most popular pledge drive premiums:
“While we don’t often
play vinyl, we do give it away in contests. It has become more sought after
than CDs we’d give out. So, for big events, we are doing that more than CDs.
It’s quite interesting. While CDs were popular, we’d see mostly our older
listeners get excited. Once we gave some vinyl, everyone got jazzed.”
“It’s still mostly
anecdotal for us, but it feels like in engagement opportunities, vinyl is a big
deal.”
NPR NEWS STATIONS ARE
STABLE IN SPRING 2019 RATINGS FOR DAYTON, HARRISBURG & OMAHA
WYSO
continues to be the top noncom station in the Dayton area.
Earlier this year
WYSO formed its own 501c3 organization and left the governance of Antioch College.
WVXU’s
repeater station WMUB is having trouble getting traction in Dayton.
Maybe they
would do better if WMUB had its own local, live presence. Hint, hint.
There
is no “news fatigue” for the listeners of WITF in
Pennsylvania’s capitol city.
WJTL
is an excellent live and local CCM station that appears in the ratings for at
least 3 Nielsen Audio markets.
NPR
News and Jazz KIOS continues to lead Omaha’s noncom ratings. It is too bad
Classical KVNO doesn’t subscribe to the Nielsen Ratings.
You
gotta love the consistent performance of Alt Rock KIWR The River.
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