There’s been a lot of speculation as of late with regard to the future of digital music, but judging by the results of a recent report by Nielsen Soundscan, music sales have only increased this past year.

According to the report, sales were up 2.1 percent in 2009 from 2008, with consumers snagging 1.16 million digital tracks (an 8.3 percent increase from ‘08) and 76.4 million digital albums (a 16.1 percent bump). In fact, 40 percent of all music purchases in 2009 were digital.

The top-selling artists this year were fairly predictable: Michael Jackson, Taylor Swift, The Beatles, Lady GaGa and Susan Boyle came out on top, signaling that pop culture trends (and Internet sensations) really do drive sales.



In addition to the burgeoning digital music market, record sales increased this past year as well — 33 percent. That’s 2.5 million records taken home by vinyl enthusiasts. But here’s the cool part: Two out of every three records were snapped up at an indie music store. And take a look at the top sellers:



You’ve got bands like Animal Collective and Bon Iver right up there with Jackson.

Record sales have been steadily increasing over the years as CD sales decline, indicating that we’re entering a time during which people buy music online for the sake of convenience and storage, and pick up records as mementos.

What do you prefer: Digital music, records, CDs or (if you’re super old-school) tapes?

http://mashable.com/2010/01/07/the-rise ... he-record/

I have abandoned cd's entirely. Ripped my collection, only keeping the ones I really dig, and now only purchase vinyl.

Vinyl with included access to .mp3s.

i'm currently poor and my apartment is kind of at maximum LP capacity, so for the most part I stopped buying records, but I do have a fond attachment with newer albums that I bought on vinyl.

Even finally having a good iPod, I can't bring myself to abandon CDs entirely.

With stuff I've downloaded that I really, really like, I still want a physical copy, and I don't always want to pay inflated vinyl prices for some stuff. Is it just me (or stores near me), or has new vinyl gotten more expensive over the past couple of years? One would hope that with a rise in popularity, print runs would be larger and prices would start to drop. I don't ever want to pay $18 for a single LP.

I have a lot more mp3s than I thought I ever would, but unless it's in the car (which has a USB port) or on an mp3 player, I'm still listening to CDs and vinyl. Space is definitely an issue, but I do like having the physical product.

I could see possibly getting rid of the CDs at some point as long as I have the technology to listen to lossless files through quality equipment, but the vinyl will stay around.

Pretty much where I'm at as well. I play most of my music through my Ipod and use whatever device available to play it in my car/office/living room etc. but I still will go to the record store to buy a cd of something I really want. I still play cd's in my truck and at home too.

I like vinyl and do buy some of it from time to time but it's pretty limiting. You can't play it anywhere but home. The bands that provide a download of the album with purchase of the vinyl is a nice touch but not all do that.

I'll probably continue this way until technology dictates that I can't anymore. I absolutely HATE buying stuff from Itunes due to the restrictions on burning and sharing. So much that I've had about $125 in Itunes gift cards for over a year and haven't used them.

I actually find it disheartening to read some of the people on here going completely digital. I mean, if music geeks go totally digital what hope do indie record stores have outside of selling vinyl? I've said it before but I just love going to the record store still.

Some download but not much. I love the physical product. So much of what goes into packaging is nice to have, and can make the album a bit better to me somehow. That being said, I buy mostly tapes (probably 65% or so) as a result of what I primarily listen to, 3" (10%), Vinyl (10%), CD (10%), maybe 5% download. However, I hate to say it, but I don't get much at any record store, I pretty much stick to mail order directly from label, so though I still buy hard copy music, I'm not really contributing to keeing the local record store alive unfortunately.

I've been buying almost exclusively from Amazon MP3 because its DRM free and they routinely have really good deals on new releases - e.g. I got Major Lazer for $4 the week of, Grizzly Bear was the same.

They also have at least 50 albums for $5 each month with usually some good "indie" picks (this month its like 800 across a variety of genres). For instance, yesterday I bought White Denim - Fits for $5.

That said, I think I'm getting a record player next month for my birthday.

You mean cassette tapes?

Honestly, I hate my music habits right now. It's so easy to download an entire album online, and if I like it, I burn it to cd so I can listen in my living room or in my car. I keep mp3's on a player for exclusive use when at the gym. It's embarrassing, but the last cd I bought would probably be Madonna's 2 disc "greatest" package back in Oct/Nov. To me, at least, with the proliferation of digital music, it's made me lazy and ambivalent about a lot of it. But I'm still of the mindset if I like something enough, I'll buy the actual cd. Don't have any cassettes left over (that I'm aware of), and all my old records (which there aren't many) are in storage in Atlanta. Every once in a while, I'll take a couple of hours and really peruse the cd shop to look for used gems.

As for vinyl, I'd love to get a player again at some point. The friends I have who do buy vinyl go to the indie stores fairly regularly (weekly, I'd say).

I agree with you, Derris, on how sucky iTunes is and going completely digital.

If its between vinyl and a cd, I usually pick the vinyl record. But like Drinky said, sometimes the vinyl is high-priced and not worth it. I've found LPs have gone up in price, but 7"s have decreased. Weird.

I don't think there are restrictions anymore Derris. I bought all of Tommy Womack's albums off iTunes and shared and burned it around considerably with no problems.

Also, I just bought $60 worth of vinyl at the local used joint. I can't believe the stuff I find there. I bought two Three Dog Night albums today!

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I seem to find the best vinyl deals on Amazon. Same record at Insound is usually $2-$3 more.

Forced Exposure is great too.

It's also sometimes cheaper buying directly from the label.

For used, ebay and a radioactive records in Ft. Lauderdale are aces.

Yeah, direct is best but even then its incredible how jacked the price can be. For instance, the newest Sonic Youth record on Matador. For 180g, its $30some dollars. That's a pretty penny to spend on a regular long-player. Heck, the reissue boxsets of Goo, DN, and Dirty cost only a few dollars more, and those are multi-disc sets. But, like I said, I don't mind when it comes from a label I know spends some time on the packaging and when I know that it was mastered correctly.

I keep my eyes peeled on Amazon as well. Insound is the biggest ripoff, but sometimes its a necessary evil because they handle a label's pre-orders. FE has been a source since I was in high school. I also use Gemm quite a bit for older albums. We've got some good record store/thrift shops around here that sell old vinyl really dirt cheap. Have found some great stuff.

I found a Frank Zappa Warner Bros. test pressing with note to art dept. here for $3. The bookstore didn't know what they had.

...and as I was saying, I just went to see the pre-order on the Spoon record. $18.98 for the LP. Huh?