Just Who Is Buying Vinyl Anyway?

Vinyl record sales are up 38% this year with projected total sales of over 8 million units, up over 200% since 2008. But just who's buying these records anyway? MusicWatch did a survey and this is what they found.

• 56% of all vinyl purchases are made by men

• Surprisingly enough, just under half of vinyl buyers are under 25 year old, with 13 to 17 year olds making up 21% of buyers and 18 to 25 making up 26%.

• The 26 to 35 age group makes up 25% of buyers

• 36 to 50 represent 14% of buyers

• Even more surprising is that baby boomers don't buy as much vinyl as previously thought, coming in at only 13%.

So how did the vinyl resurgence start? Most media watchers trace it back to Record Store Day in 2008, which has gone on to becoming a major retail event in not only the US, but Europe, Canada and Mexico as well. Many labels and indie acts prepared special releases for this day, which helped launch the event.

Another factor is that with vinyl being more in demand, record labels are releasing more vinyl as well, which helps prime the pump for more sales. Most labels now are confident that they can sell at least a small number of units (anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000) to justify the expense.

That said, vinyl still is only a blip on bottom line of the industry, although that blip is growing a little every year. As of December 7th, vinyl accounted for only 3.4% of US album sales and 6% of physical album sales.