Vinyl might be too mainstream.
Vinyl sales experienced an approximate 32 percent increase from 4.55 million units in 2012 to 6 million units in 2013, according to Billboard.
Meanwhile, CD sales experienced a 14.5 percent decrease.
Digital track and album sales decreased for the first time since 2003, according to Billboard.
Two percent of total album sales in the United States is vinyl.
But the significant increase in sales paired with the decrease in CD sales can be seen as an indicator of where the music industry might be headed.
This most recent rise of the vinyl did not go unnoticed by local record store owner Andrew Schaer.
Schaer, the 37-year-old owner of Hear Again Music and Movies! located in downtown Gainesville, said he has seen a major increase in the store’s vinyl sales within the last year.
He said he sees the increase as people recognizing that vinyl albums are the best way to experience music.
“All the little nuances in the album just come to life,” Schaer said.
Schaer said listening to vinyl is eye-opening because the listener is able to experience all the details that get lost when a song is digitized and compressed.
Caleb German, 26, an employee at Hear Again, also prefers LP records to other means of listening to music.
“Unless,” he said, “I’m driving down the road.”
Schaer said he noticed consumers’ movement away from CDs and toward vinyl when he moved Hear Again to its current location at 201 SE First St. in 2009.
During that move, he donated most of his CD inventory and switched to primarily carrying vinyl albums.
“I went from having a sinking ship to having a lucrative business,” Schaer said.
Schaer and German recognize that the price of new vinyl albums, which is generally higher than that of a new CD or digital album, does affect sales.
German said vinyl albums’ high costs are mainly a result of their fairly niche market and high shipping costs caused by a lack of vinyl pressing plants.
However, Schaer said because new vinyl albums often come with a digital download of the album, the younger generation is attracted to vinyl because they can have both a digital and an aesthetically pleasing physical copy of the album.
Schaer said that people purchasing a physical medium of music at an increasing rate means a path is being set that will lead to greater financial support for musicians.
To him, an increase in vinyl album sales reflects an increase in fans who care about the artists.
Neither Schaer nor German said they think this spike in LP sales is going to be a fading trend.
Schaer said he doesn’t believe the LP will lose prominence anytime soon.
He said the record format has managed to stay around after each new technology introduced to the music industry faded away.
“I’m glad to see it (vinyl) back and people focusing on quality over convenience again,” Schaer said.
A version of this story ran on page 7 on 1/16/2014 under the headline "As vinyls make a comeback, locals notice the popularity"
