Vinyl Records

This article was written by Music Mike, one of our dealers at The Antiques Warehouse in Setchey. With years of experience buying and selling vinyl records and CDs, Mike shares his insights into the growing demand for vinyl, the resurgence of CDs, and why physical music formats continue to attract collectors and music lovers alike.

Music Format Trends

Who knew that back in the mid-1990s, when vinyl had pretty much died and the Compact Disc dominated retail music sales, that this would be the complete opposite thirty years later!

However, not only is there a resurgent in vinyl, but I find there is now a healthy demand once again for back catalogue CDs amongst music lovers. Many of the major retail supermarkets use to sell a good range but slowly reduced this to just chart or new releases. Sales though have discontinued altogether. CDs suffered badly to downloads or streaming but, as I have found, old releases, specific genres or obscure artists are not always represented in online music libraries. Besides, you can never own a download to pass on to a family member, with a CD or record you can. Major high street music retailers [if you can find one], seem to have forgotten about selling a good range of back catalogue discs and concentrate selling a vast array of goods unconnected with music.

There is a rising collectors’ market of the CD. I have seen that to be true from increasing sales at my shop within the Antique Warehouse at Setchey, just off the A10, in fact I get asked to supply more choice. This is reflected in the demand at record fairs where CDs were hardly represented but nowadays are increasingly asked for. Being in the music industry, I have spoken to many about this, it seems that buyers want to own the product once again.

Many major labels are now focussing on big Anniversary and Deluxe Box Set issues, containing B-sides, radio performances and unreleased demos on multiple discs to satisfy the hunger.
It's now making sense to buy a good second-hand CD than pay for the full album download of a particular release.

As for previously owned vinyl records, I have been amazed at the variety of artists and genres that are now in high demand with my shop. I would never have guessed what is and who are coveted nowadays. Yes, of course, the likes of The Beatles, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Black Sabbath, Dire Straits, Queen to mention just a few, were best sellers in their day and are still very much sort after. Add Billy Joel, Frank Sinatra, Carpenters or ABBA as well as Grease and Saturday Night Fever soundtracks for example to be oh-so popular on vinyl. A decade ago, these artists would have in my bargain section. Not anymore. The demand for these artists and titles on vinyl has seen prices rise, as the younger generation have become interested in the format, encouraged by reminiscing parents. Many buyers are seemly wanting to acquire titles that were never released on vinyl in the last thirty years or if they were, they were produced in such small quantities it’s now astronomical to buy the original pressings.

At Antiques Warehouse you can see for yourself the wide variety of both Vinyl & CDs at very reasonable prices.

Written by: Music Mike