Sony Music to Produce Records for the First Time in Nearly 30 Years
After several years of surging vinyl sales, today Sony Music Entertainment announced that they will begin producing their own vinyl records for the first time in nearly 30 years.
Sony is scrambling to find older engineers familiar with the manufacturing process and plan to open their new vinyl production facility in Tokyo, Japan in March 2018.
Ironically, the first CD was released in 1982, released through a partnership between Philips and Sony. Seven years later, in 1989, Sony cut in-house production of the vinyl record.
The decline of vinyl was only made worse by the proliferation of digital music downloads including MP3s, and more recently, streaming music services like Spotify, Pandora, and Tidal.
Today, streaming is king, but Deloitte forecasts that as many as 40 million new vinyl records will be sold this year alone. In revenue, this comes out to around $900 million and could account for up to 18% of all physical music revenue in 2017.
While this is still far from the peak of vinyl sales, it’s the largest the market has been in decades. Spearheaded by Millenials who find the sound and nature of vinyl listening appealing, paired with Baby Boomers who grew up with the format.
Sony did not provide details about which music they will release on vinyl, but with a hefty lineup that includes artists from vinyl's heyday including Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, and Jimi Hendrix, along with contemporary artists like Daft Punk, The Chainsmokers, Adele, and Future, there is plenty to choose from in the catalog.
SHOP OUR COLLECTION
