Demand for analog music records surging

Nov 05, 2021 | News On Japan

Nov 05, 2021 (NHK) - Demand for analog music records has been surging in Japan, in contrast to declining demand for CDs stemming from growing online music distribution services.

The Recording Industry Association of Japan says production of vinyl records has increased 12-fold in the past 10 years.

The association says the value of analog record production once dropped to about 1.5 million dollars in 2010, while demand for CDs rose to replace them. But production of oldies came on track for recovery and reached about 18.6 million dollars in 2020.

The recovery is partly due to the increasing releases of new records by popular artists.

A Sony Group company resumed production of vinyl records three years ago for the first time in 29 years in Yaizu, Shizuoka Prefecture.

The company says the volume of orders it received this year is twice that of last year.

Aoki Isao at Sony Music Solutions said the factory is operating around the clock without holidays with a full three-shift system. He said production has been at its peak since August. He added that he is thankful for the year-on-year growth.

Another record manufacturer has also been operating at full capacity. It says demand is rising so rapidly that supply cannot catch up, adding that it sometimes takes four months to ship finished products compared to one month up to now.

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