The vinyl market - France (2025)

1.2 The global vinyl market is growing again

The global vinyl market has been enjoying a renaissance in recent years. Indeed, vinyl, a historically important product, is making a strong comeback, despite the rise of digital music-listening media. Traditionally, these records were used as the main medium for commercial music production, but today they are gaining in popularity with the new generation of artists. Music collectors, audiophiles and disc jockeys (***) regard vinyl records as a precious commodity, and increasingly use them for concerts, shows and music recordings. What's more, these records also represent an important part of pop music history and heritage, considerably increasing their demand in the contemporary music scenario.

Thus, as we can see from the chart below, the global vinyl record market will beworth US$*.* billion by ****. The market is expected to continue growing, reaching a value of $*.* billion in ****, at an average annual growth rate of *.*%.

Global vinyl market growth World, **** - *****, in €M RIAA

In terms of sales, the market has been growing steadily for the past ten years:

Evolution of vinyl sales  

Between **** and ****, vinyl sales grew steadily, from *.* million to **.* million units sold, an increase of over ***%. The most significant year in terms of sales growth was ****, when sales climbed from **.* million ...

1.3 France's vinyl market rises from the ashes

The French vinyl market is experiencing the same boom as the world's other major recorded music markets. Indeed, after years of decline due to the emergence of digital media, vinyl is enjoying a second lease of life.

Vinyl sales in France France, **** - **** SNEP

The vinyl market experienced significant growth between **** and ****. In terms of volume, vinyl sales rose from *.* million in **** to *.* million in ****, an increase of almost ***%. In terms of sales, the market has also grown impressively, from ** million euros in **** to ** million euros in ****, an increase of ***%. This steady growth over the period indicates a renewed interest in the vinyl format.

2.1 Profile of vinyl fans

Age of listeners

"In the last ** months, have you listened to music via vinyl? " France, ****, in % Source: ****

Vinyl seems to be more popular with young people: **% of under-**s and **-**s have listened to music at least once on vinyl in the last ** months. This is the case for only **% of **-** year-olds.

This observation is confirmed by the profile of vinyl buyers:

Distribution of vinyl buyers by age France, ****, in Source: ****

Almost **% of vinyl buyers in **** were under **.

However, the vinyl turntable is very rarely the device with which these same young people listen to the most music, as the following graph shows:

Device most often used to listen to music France, ****, in % Source: ****

In fact, the turntable is one of the most frequently used devices for listening to music for only **% of the under-**s and *% of the **-**s. The age group for which this mode of listening is most widely used is the over-**s. By way of comparison, the smartphone is declared to be one of the most widely used devices for listening to music for **% of under-**s.

Socioprofessional category of listeners

Share of vinyl music listeners by professional category France, ****, in Source: ...

2.2 The habits of vinyl music listeners

Generally speaking, the profile of physical music listeners does not differ greatly from that of French music listeners as a whole. Nevertheless, certain trends can be observed:

Among those who listen to music on physical media at least once a month (***)[***]:

- **% of respondents currently play an instrument or sing, compared with **% of the French population as a whole.

- They listen to an average of * hours and ** minutes of music every day, compared with * hours and ** minutes for the French as a whole.

- On average, they use * different media each month to listen to music, compared to * for all music listeners.

- **% have attended at least one concert in the last ** months, compared to **% of all music listeners.

- **% have attended at least one festival in the last ** months, compared with **% of all music listeners.

Overall, we can see that physical music listeners are more passionate than French music listeners as a whole.

Among the reasons for wanting to listen to music on physical media, we find the material aspect:

"What are the main reasons why you listen to music on physical media (***)? " France, ****, in % Source: ****

Indeed, **% of those surveyed said they liked to own the physical medium ...

2.3 Vinyl demand drives physical sales of recorded music

While physical sales are struggling, vinyl sales have been booming in recent years.

Trends in physical and vinyl sales France, **** - ****, in % and in millions of euros Source: ****

Physical sales have been declining steadily since **** (***)

3.1 Structure of the recorded music market

3.2 The vinyl production revival

The upturn in demand for vinyl records has led to a revival in the production of "black wafers", in France as in most of the major music markets (***).in Europe, only a few major players share the cake: Germany's Optimal Media, the Czech Republic's GZ Media, a number of factories in England and the Netherlands, and France's MPO.

by way of example, MPO (***)

3.3 The role of record companies in the vinyl market

Although streaming is still largely in the lead, the revival of physical music is well underway: vinyl is stabilizing and now accounts for **% of physical sales [***]. This is forcing the major labels to reinvest in vinyl and update their catalogs.

In ****, the Universal group decided to reposition itself on the vinyl segment, while at the same time carrying out a marketing action. The group decided to launchThe Vinyl Projecta promotional campaign concerning the reissue of certain "rare and out-of-print" albums in vinyl format. The aim is to include consumers in the re-mastering process: the record company has announced that it intends to use crowdfunding to finance a vinyl reissue service, with mp* downloads and personalized sleeves. In another interesting example, Sony, which had definitively stopped pressing vinyl in **** to devote itself to CDs, decided in **** to mark its return to the vinyl segment.

3.4 Vinyl distribution, between independent distributors and the rise of online platforms

Looking at the physical market for recorded music as a whole, we can see that record stores have a small market share. In fact, as can be seen from the graph below, specialized superstores (***) remain the main distributors, with **.*% of sales, while independent distributors account for just *.*%, a figure that is declining steadily.

Distribution of recorded music France, ****, in M€ (***) study on the situation of independent record stores in France (***)

(***)

represents at least **% of their sales in **%

Proportion of independent record shops whose main product is vinyl France, ****, in % study on the economic situation of independent record shops in France

After a sharp drop in the number of active independent record shops, which lasted several years due to the development of CDs and then digital media, this number seems to be stabilizing. In ****, there were *,*** independent record shops in France , compared with just *** in ****. Nevertheless, the revival of interest in vinyl seems to be revitalizing independent record shop activity: there are now *** across France. number of record shops in France France, **** - ****, in numbers study on the economic situation of independent record shops in France From a financial point of view, it's interesting to note that independent record stores are ...

3.5 The development of online sales

Online vinyl distribution is also beginning to take off. The rapid success of the Discogs platform illustrates the development of this new practice. Launched in ****, the platform lists electronic music and vinyl record productions. In ****, just over * million productions were catalogued.

Since ****, the site has also had an online marketplace, called Marketplace, thanks to which it has become a major player in the music industry market. In ****, more than $*** million worth of CDs and vinyl were sold via this platform. The following graph illustrates the success of such a platform: in ****, the platform saw almost *.* million new users.

In ****, the most popular physical music format on the Discogs platform was vinyl: in fact, vinyl sales crossed the threshold of **.* million discs sold on Discogs, up **.**% on ****.

Number of sales on Discogs, by format World, **** - ****, in thousands of units sold Annual report ****

4.1 Types of vinyl

the ** rpm (***)

Discs spinning at ** rpm were generally ** cm in diameter, sometimes ** cm, and contained * to * minutes of recording time, or one or two songs per side. ** rpm records replaced the cylinder. Their manufacture ceased in the ****s, and today they are sought after by collectors for their historic recordings. Today, powerful computer tools are available to "clean" and "refresh" these old recordings.

The ** rpm

They turn at ** */* rpm and are generally ** cm in diameter, or more rarely ** cm. The **cm (***).

The ** rpm

Discs spinning at ** rpm were generally ** cm in diameter and contained one song per side (***). A few super **s with a diameter of ** cm were issued, mainly for classical music.

At the end of the ****s, the super ** rpm (***) linked to disco and funk music, which were then exploited in discotheques.

The ** rpm

Discs spinning at ** rpm did not enjoy great commercial success. They were mainly intended as a medium for spoken word. They appeared in ****, and came in different diameters: ** cm, ** cm and ** cm for recording literary works or plays for the blind and visually impaired. Most electrophone manufacturers had included this **-turn speed on their machines, but given the very low commercial production of these discs, ...

4.2 The vinyl manufacturing process

Cutting

The first stage is the production of the first disc, which will serve as an imprint. This is done in a mastering studio equipped with an engraver. This machine is used to engravecutter"a disc made of a special material calledlacquer. This is an aluminum disc coated with a nitrocellulose lacquer. Machines capable of engraving these discs are very rare, and are hardly ever made these days. We find Neumann & Scully machines, but also Presto, Rek-o-kut and many others. Contemporary workshops such as Flokason or MyShank are at the cutting edge of vinyl today.

This stage transposes audio information contained on another medium (***) into a three-dimensional form, which will be reproduced on all records: the groove.These first discs, technically known aslacquer masters,are generally engraved on one side only. They are very fragile and difficult to preserve. A single reading on a turntable can alter their integrity. These masters are used to make dies forstamperfollowing a galvanizing process. Another mastering technique isDMMstands forDirect Metal Mastering. This no longer involves engraving on lacquer, but directly into metal - usually copper - which allows us to skip a step in the next process, galvanization. The principle remains the same: engrave a ...

4.3 Vinyl album sales rankings

The vinyl format appeals to listeners with a wide range of tastes, from hip-hop to rock and pop music. Here are the top ** best-selling vinyl albums of ****:

Source: ****

5.1 SACEM, at the heart of the regulatory framework

the Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique(***) is a French copyright collective founded in ****. For each work, the amount due to the beneficiaries is determined according to different distribution keys.

PERFORMANCE RIGHTS

For radio, television, concerts, balls and any public performance of works, the distribution key is statutory and does not vary.

for a published work, */* is paid to the author, */* to the composer and */* to the publisher, for unpublished works, all royalties are paid to the creators, with equal shares going to the author and composer.

REPRODUCTION RIGHTS FOR BROADCASTING ON RECORDED MEDIA

For works broadcast on radio, television, in discotheques and in public places with sound systems, the distribution key for the share of reproduction rights is statutory and does not vary.

for a published work, **% of rights are paid to the author, **% to the composer and **% to the publisher, for an unpublished work, all royalties are paid to the creators, with the author and composer sharing equally. This key also applies to private copying.

MECHANICAL REPRODUCTION RIGHTS ON RECORDED MEDIA (***)

The distribution key is contractual. It is based on the agreement between the creators and, where applicable, the publisher of the work. This distribution key ...

6.1 Positioning the players

• Warner Music Group
• Boulanger
• Universal Music
• Sony Music Entertainment France
• Moulages Plastiques de l'Ouest MPO
• Cultura
• GZ Media
• Optimal Media
• Believe
• Discogs
• Balades Sonores
• Superfly Records
• Media industrie
• Vinyl Me, Please
• Diggers Factory
• Music On Vinyl
• Bigwax Records
• Toolbox Records
• Betino's Record Shop
• dunk!pressing