Independent music retailers are predicted to take in £10 million over the weekend of Record Store Day 2024, according to a new survey from Ditto. However, despite the annual event being just around the corner, many independent artists still believe production costs are too high to justify releasing physical music. In a survey of 1,000 independent artists, only 12.8% were releasing vinyl despite the increasing sales of physical releases.
The same survey found that 54.4% believed the cost of production was too high as the reason they do not release vinyl. Meanwhile, 28.7% of artists said their fan base was not interested in the medium, and 9.9% claim that production times are too long. It was also found that just 8% of independent rap artists have released music on vinyl while 13.4% of electronic artists have.
Taylor Swift, a pop-star, has previously reigned the top 100 vinyl with three of her albums in the Official Vinyl Artist Albums Chart 2023 in the UK. In 2022, one in every 25 vinyl albums sold was a Taylor Swift LP. According to Ditto’s survey, 11.1% of independent artists aged between 18-24 release their work on vinyl while 34.4% of artists aged 50 and above are likely to release on the format.
However, independent artists claim that the costs of production are still too high to justify releasing physical music. In a survey of 1000 independent artists, only 12.8% of those are releasing vinyl despite physical releases rising in sales. 28.7% of artists said their fan base was not interested in vinyl whilst 9.9% claim that production times are too long. Either way, it is assumed that physical sales will continue to grow in the years to come.
Despite the popularity of vinyl sales, it remains a relatively niche market, with less than 20% of artists releasing their work on the format. Independent rap artists still lag behind most other genres with just 8% of independent rap artists releasing music on vinyl
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