Did vinyl sales just hit the proverbial brick wall?

@8th-note 1+ 

I have been collecting records since I was 4 years old. Happiness was getting a new record and the smell of a warmed up Zenith portable. It is part of what I am and I can not get rid of it. So, I will collect records for the duration and my wife will figure out what to do with them after.

@yoyoyaya , That would be wonderful but that is not what I have seen and as a family doc I spoke with a lot of young people. Record sales were bound to pick up as boomers got wealthy. The children of boomers had some exposure so there is some interest there.

@grislybutter , The population of a used record store is not representative of the population as a whole. You may see younger record buyers at a used store because us rich old guys do not go there, or any other number of reasons. The point is as far as the overall popularity of records is concerned your observation gives us absolutely zero insite. What will are the demographic popularity of records over a period of 10 years. If interest does not pick up in the Zoomers then vinyl will die. The other problem with vinyl is that it is not the greenest of industries. 

@grislybutter , my kids are millennials and grew up listening to everything and the only one interested in a turntable is my son in law. You see hardly any interest in Zoomers. A record store will give you a false impression because you have isolated record buyers from the rest of the population who are obviously not represented in the record store. You'll never find me in a used record store. I have records dating from the late 50's onwards that I purchased new. I have all the old records I need.

@yoyoyaya , sales may be growing for the time being but this is only a snapshot. You have to watch the trend over time. Right now they are growing because old guys like me need something to spend their money on and there is a modest interest in young adults. Both populations will decline over time and take the record sales with them. Zoomers are quite happy locked in a closet with their telephone and computer.

@bigtwin , I'll drink to that!

The resurgence was always going to end as the baby boomers fade out into history. Young people for the most part are only interested in music if they can play it on their telephone. They may progress to a streaming system as they get older, but I have a very hard time seeing them go for vinyl. There is absolutely no real benefit and a lot of expense and fiddling. 

The majors certainly are not interested. The few records they produce have been of low quality meaning they are not interested in investing in new equipment or facilities.