Sales Numbers Show That Vinyl Is Getting Its Groove Back

By Mark Taylor

DENVER (CBS4) - It was Saturday morning at the Twist & Shout record store in Denver and Billy Schultz was looking for new music, specifically on vinyl.

"I was looking online and saw a record player and figured I'd check it out and fell in love with it right away," Schultz said.

Although he falls into the millennial age group, Schultz prefers vinyl over digital.

"It really changes the way you appreciate music," Schultz said.

He is just one of a growing number of people turning away from the download and towards the turntable.

"Vinyl has come back in an enormous way," Paul Epstein, the owner of Twist & Shout Records said. "In the last year it's completely overtaken our sales in CDs, and we've had to give more and more space in the store over to vinyl."

According to Epstein, vinyl album sales make up 50 percent of his stores sales revenue. Less than a decade ago CDs made up 85 percent of his revenue. Open since 1988, Epstein has watched music technology evolve from vinyl, to cassettes, to CDs, to digital and back again. Epstein has always preferred vinyl.

"I have always said I own a record store, even when we were primarily a CD store."

The trend is happening at record stores across the nation. According to Nielsen's end of year report, 12 million vinyl records were sold in 2015, which marked the 10th straight year of vinyl sales growth. In addition, CZ Media, the world's largest producer of vinyl albums pressed 25 million albums last year. That's up from just 300,000 in the 1990s.

"I'm really happy that people have rediscovered the physical act of listening to music," Epstein said of vinyl's comeback.

The store owner believes the act of listening to music is a return to that of a shared experience, rather than a solitary one.

"People sitting together in a room and talking and sharing and enjoying each other's company instead of having headphones in," Epstein said.

As for music fans like Eric Schultz, he says it brings the music listening experience to a new level.

"It's kind of getting people back in touch with the essence of music," Schultz said.

According to Nielson, vinyl sales still only make up about 5 percent of all albums sold.

LINK: Twist & Shout Records

Mark Taylor is a weekend morning anchor and reporter with CBS4 news covering a wide variety of stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkTaylor_TV.