After the annus horribilis that was 2020, it in all probability got here as no shock to Canadian music lovers that gross sales of vinyl information took a dive over these 12 months.

When the official year-end numbers had been tallied by MRC Knowledge, gross sales of vinyl in Canada had been down by 12.9 per cent in 2020. This was the primary decline in vinyl’s fortunes for the reason that starting of the format’s resurrection in 2008.

READ MORE: Bored with accumulating regular vinyl information? Alan Cross has some irregular choices for you

Some vinyl followers — together with me, by the way in which — had been afraid that the period of the LP was as soon as once more over. And there was loads of blame to go round.

COVID-19 needed to be a offender, after all, with lockdowns, closed shops, and music followers caught at dwelling. Streaming was way more handy and cheaper. On-demand audio streams elevated by 16.1 per cent over 2019 to greater than 88 billion.

Customers continued to shun CDs with gross sales falling by 48.4 per cent for the 12 months. Vinyl gave the impression to be caught in the identical downdraft.

Fingers had been pointed at document labels for charging approach an excessive amount of for brand spanking new releases. Who of their proper thoughts would cost $35 or extra for a single vinyl album? The identical album on CD value lower than half that.

Shopping for patterns had been disrupted when the annual File Retailer Day in April was postponed and moved to a number of different dates later within the 12 months.

By late summer time, vinyl gross sales throughout Canada had been trending a whopping 26 per cent beneath the place they had been a 12 months earlier. A number of File Retailer Days, Black Friday, and the Christmas season had been in a position to erase greater than half that deficit however we nonetheless ended up shopping for much less: 899,931units in 2020 vs. 1,033,582 in 2019.

Was it attainable that after greater than a dozen years of double-digit, year-over-year progress, the marketplace for vinyl was saturated? The place Canadians had been tapping out? It certain felt prefer it.

2:27
Vinyl information stage a comeback

On the identical time, although, one thing wasn’t fairly proper.

Whereas Canada misplaced floor, vinyl gross sales continued to rocket increased in each the U.S. and the U.Okay. In reality, when all the cash was added up on the finish of the 12 months, income from vinyl in these two international locations was increased than the quantity spent on CDs. There have been many rapturous year-end articles marvelling at vinyl’s continued power with music followers. In Britain, gross sales had been the best for the reason that early Nineties. American gross sales had been one of the best since a minimum of 1991. Why would Canada be so totally different?

It might be that the largest downside was with the manufacturing pipeline.

In February 2020, there was a fireplace at Apollo Masters Corp., the California manufacturing facility accountable for creating 80 per cent of the world’s want for the lacquer masters required for urgent information. With out this important part, document urgent crops confronted super manufacturing delays and even utterly shutdowns.

READ MORE: Alan Cross on why there might be powerful instances forward for the vinyl document enterprise (from February 2020)

The catastrophe left just one different manufacturing facility, a a lot smaller producer in Japan known as MDC, to choose up the items. Demand was far larger than MDC may meet. Orders began to again up. Shipments of recent vinyl had been delayed many weeks and generally many months. Large-volume territories just like the U.S. and the U.Okay. took precedence when it got here to getting lacquer masters, leaving Canadian urgent crops and document labels to scramble for what they may get.

Deliveries slowed. Inventories dropped. Gross sales sputtered and fell. Fingers had been wrung and spirits drooped. It appeared that was throughout however the crying.

Besides that it wasn’t.

Primarily based on gross sales stats for the interval ending final week, Canadians are gobbling up vinyl once more and at a livid price. MRC Knowledge says that as of the week ending Could 6, vinyl gross sales are up a whopping 62.2 per cent from a 12 months in the past. After I first noticed that quantity, it was so massive I assumed it was a typo. To date this 12 months, 338,529 models have been bought in contrast with simply 208,754 at this level in 2020.

Extrapolating issues by way of the tip of the 12 months, vinyl is on observe to promote someplace properly past 1.2 million models in 2021.

If vinyl costs maintain (they are going to) and CD gross sales proceed to drop (they usually’re down 13.8 per cent to this point this 12 months), Canada may find yourself in the identical class because the U.S. and the U.Okay., the place revenues from vinyl will exceed that of CDs.

What modified? Once more, I’m going to say that it has to do with provide chain points. After the Apollo hearth, the whole vinyl trade assessed the scenario and moved to regulate.

The Apollo manufacturing facility remains to be offline and received’t be again anytime quickly, if ever. However the hearth did deliver the trade collectively within the type of a brand new group known as the Vinyl Data Producers Affiliation of North America (VRMA) which has vowed to not let one thing like this ever occur once more. Some 50 corporations from all through the provision chain are concerned with certainly one of their prime targets being to extend the variety of North American lacquer manufacturing crops.

One other constructive change was using direct metallic mastering (DMM), a method utilized by some corporations that entails chopping masters into copper plates as a substitute of lacquer. They’ve been in a position to choose up a number of the slack.

The online results of these two initiatives is that manufacturing has elevated, shipments to all territories are up, and individuals are shopping for once more. Seems the demand in Canada was nonetheless there in spite of everything.

It appears to be like like 2020 will develop into a mere blip within the historical past of vinyl in Canada. We are able to all stand down from DefCon 1.

—

Alan Cross is a broadcaster with Q107 and 102.1 the Edge and a commentator for International Information.

Subscribe to Alan’s Ongoing Historical past of New Music Podcast now on Apple Podcast or Google Play