Vinyl records are back, but some things have changed

For the first time since 1987, vinyl records are outselling CDs, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade organization that serves as a watchdog for trends in the recorded music business.

Eighty-four percent of recorded music revenue comes from streaming and digital downloads, by far the biggest number on the scale.

The compact disc was new and in its heyday in the mid to late ‘80s, while record sales began to plummet to the point where close to 100 percent of the music for sale was no longer even being pressed on vinyl, which had been the industry standard since the 1940s.

Vinyl’s resurgence in recent years was not unexpected; the RIAA reports that vinyl sales have grown consistently since the late ‘90s. In 2022, it reported, 41 million records were sold (taking in $1.2 billion), compared to 33 million CDs ($483 million).

Online sales of physical media are, of course, significant, but brick-and-mortar stores are more than holding their own.

Locally, independent record stores owners agree they’re selling far more vinyl albums than CDs.

Sound Exchange general manager Erin Stoy perusing in the Pinellas Park store.

“To succeed here, you have to keep changing with the times,” said Erin Stoy, general manager of Sound Exchange, which has locations in Tampa and Pinellas Park. “Any business, you have to keep adapting.”

Sound Exchange was founded in 1987, when the CD was all the rage. “It used to be that everybody bought physical music,” Stoy said, “and so Christmas seasons were crazy at the stores, because everybody had CDs, records and tapes on their list.

“But that went away. Music stores are a niche thing. Instead of where there’s at least one in every mall in America.”

Used vinyl sales – including, of course, those “digger” boxes of $1 records ubiquitous at every media outlet, thrift store and flea market – are not counted by the RIAA. The report only includes new vinyl.

Record companies, always quick to react when there’s a buck to be made, are back in the vinyl business.

And they’re not selling Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Foo Fighters and Bad Bunny albums to the generation of buyers raised on Beatles, Stones and Zeppelin. “Some older people just have no interest in going back to vinyl – been there, done that,” Stoy says.

“Teenagers, and people in their 20s, have gotten into the physical media. And embraced it.”

It might be the novelty factor, many believe. An LP record packaging’s size – 12 by 12 inches – dwarfs the diminutive CD. The covers sometimes fold out, with pictures, booklets, lyrics and other goodies.

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In 1981, Tom Petty went public with outrage at MCA, his record company, for declaring they planned to make a guinea pig out of him by pricing his upcoming new album a dollar higher than the norm. List price for a sure-to-be hit was $8.98; MCA was putting a $9.98 price tag on Petty’s Hard Promises.

After the artist threated to re-title the album Eight Ninety Eight, the label backed down.

Those were innocent times. The average retail price for a vinyl album in 2023 is $35.

“Some of these new artists,” Stoy reports, “Lana Del Ray and The Weeknd, in particular, their new albums are always very expensive. So you’re not talking about $35 for a record; a lot of times with them you’re talking 50 bucks plus for a record.”

Big Daddy: Manny Matalon, aka Manny Kool.

Manny “Manny Kool” Matalon, of Daddy Kool Records, has been working music retail since the ‘80s – his first job was at Tampa’s late and much lamented Vinyl Fever.

Even the wholesale cost on those $35-plus titles isn’t cheap. “We will have a good weekend where we sell 200 or 250 pieces – where we sold one of each, and we have zero in stock. It’s all a ‘onesie’ game now. Maybe a ‘twosie.’

“It’s not like before, where everybody came in and bought that same Santana CD. If you had a box lot of Green Day or Offspring CDs on your counter, just watch ‘em fly out the door.”

Along with contemporary hip hop, rock and singer/songwriter albums, consistent sellers include Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 Rumours; Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon (1973) and Nevermind, the 1991 breakthrough album by Nirvana. These are all new pressings, not the originals, and they’re priced accordingly.

“With all those evergreen titles, I try to keep two or three in stock,” Matalon says.

The racks at Daddy Kool.

New pressings of the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Queen and the Doors are also big sellers.

“They’re classics and they’re great records, so they consistently sell,” offers Rob Sexton, owner of Planet Retro. “I think so far, for the year, Rumours and Dark Side are probably in the Top 20 for physical copies sold.”

Planet Retro, however, does most of its business in good-condition, quality used vinyl. “I’m more of a collector-driven store,” Sexton says. “Other stores in town sell to kids that are newly into it, and I have that stuff too.”

Music collectors may not be buying the new stuff, but they’re out there, with discerning eyes. “I sold a sealed, first press 1978 Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs pressing of Dark Side yesterday for $399,” Sexton says proudly.

The market for used vinyl is substantial, and most bay area stores maintain a healthy stock of genres and titles, for sale alongside the new material.

Matalon believes the declaration that CDs are “dead” is little more than clickbait. “We still have a CD market, and kids do still buy CDs for some of the artists they’re interested in,” he says.

“And also you have that affordability factor – if you can buy a new CD for $12, versus $35 for vinyl, you might go for it. As long as your parents gave you their old CD player.”

And the beat, to quote an old saying, goes on. Stoy describes the cycle: “The young kids come up to the counter, they’ve got three new records and they’re paying $150. The artists they’re buying, the new stuff, you don’t see it come back used very often because it’s still popular.

“It’s not that they wouldn’t buy used records. If they’re looking for Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino and Taylor Swift, that just doesn’t come back used – it does come in, but not often.”

The Disc Exchange, a.k.a. the Record Exchange. Photo provided.

Record stores in St. Petersburg/Clearwater

Bananas Records – In business since 1983, Doug and Michelle Allen’s St. Petersburg retail store at 2887 22^nd Avenue N. sells new and used vinyl, along with new and used CDs, etc. There’s also an alphabetized 6,500-square-foot all-vinyl warehouse nearby. “When CDs came out, we made the decision to buy records heavily, because everybody was getting rid of them,” Doug says. “It’s like when baseball cards were a big thing – we thought ‘These are collectible, and they’re much better than baseball cards. You get to play them instead of just look at them.’ We traded people new CDs for their record collections.”

Clearwater Record Shop – New and used vinyl, new and used CDs, collectible music, etc. Collector/dealer Casey Brown opened the spot at 1610 N. Hercules Ave. in 2015. “I consider myself a good dealer,” Brown says. “Because if you rip them off, and they have a cold feeling, they’re not going to tell their friends. Treat others the way you want them to treat you. That’s just the way I do business.”

Daddy Kool – 2606 Fairfield Ave S. (in The Factory St. Pete)

Kingfish Records – 26024 US 19, Clearwater. New and used vinyl.

Planet Retro – 226 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street N. At this location since 2016.

Sound Exchange – 8625 66^th Street N.

The Disc Exchange – “I was the Record Exchange for 18 years,” owner Nick Sorace says. “And during the CD era, somebody came in and said ‘I saw the sign and I thought you only sold records.’ So I thought I’d better change it.” Recently, he re-added the original sign, to let customers know he sells new vinyl, as well as used, and compact discs too. Soon to be 40 years old. At 6712 Central Ave.

Michelle and Doug Allen’s Bananas Records is the oldest music retailer in Tampa Bay.

Record stores in Tampa

Microgroove – 4906 N. Florida Ave. Vinyl and CDs.

Mojo Books & Records – 2554 E. Fowler Ave., close to the University of South Florida campus. New and used vinyl (and a lot of books).

Sound Exchange – 14246 N. Nebraska Ave.

Steelworker Records – 708 W. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street W. New and used vinyl since 2016, “a store dedicated to the adventurous side of record buying. Where finding something new and babbling about your old time favorites go hand in hand.”