Tesco the first UK supermarket to sell vinyl
Vinyl album sales grew by more than 50% in the UK in 2014, according to the British Phonographic Institute
Print31 August 2015
Tesco will become the first UK supermarket to tap into the growing vinyl music market next week, when it will sell the new album by British rock legends Iron Maiden.
Iron Maiden’s first studio offering in five years, The Book Of Souls, will be released on Friday September 4, with the triple LP format going on sale in 55 of the supermarket’s largest Tesco Extra stores.
Tesco’s move is inspired by the news that the vinyl album revival has been gaining momentum in the last few years, with sales up by more than 50% in 2014.*
Vinyl albums have bucked the decline experienced in the past year by other music formats, which saw CDs fall by 6.5% and downloads drop by nearly 9%. The only other music format in growth is streaming which grew by 78% last year.
Tesco music buyer Michael Mulligan said that in the last year the supermarket had started selling record decks with “very encouraging” initial sales, so giving customers some vinyl to play on their decks seemed “the next logical step”.
Mulligan is expecting high demand, as Iron Maiden’s last album reached number one in the charts in 28 countries, including the year.
“If this trial is a success then we would consider selling more vinyl albums before the end of the year,” he added.
After bottoming out at just over 205,000 vinyl albums in 2007, UK sales have grown every year since and in 2014 reached almost 1.3 million – the highest annual total since 1995.
Tesco will also sell Iron Maiden’s own brand of beer called Trooper; with fans able to purchase a 500ml bottle for £1 when bought with the LP or CD, instead of the regular retail price of £1.99.
What’s more, despite the decline of the CD market, Tesco will also sell The Book Of Souls in CD format in 850 of its UK stores and online at Tesco Direct. The three LP vinyl format will cost £24 while the two CD version will cost £9.
*(Source: All music industry data recorded by the BPI – British Phonographic Institute)
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