A spokesman for the retailer HMV has said the company is planning on stocking a larger quantity of vinyl this year after experiencing an increase in demand for the traditional format.
“A lot of customers have been asking us to increase the amount of racking we dedicate to music instore and we’re pleased to say we’ll be doing a lot more of that soon – in fact we’re also planning to significantly increase our range of vinyl in quite a few locations as well,” the spokesman told NME.
The future of both HMV and the physical album has been much discussed recently, with a further drop in sales reported earlier this month for 2011. However, with that trend for declining sales seemingly inextricably linked with the struggles being experienced by retailers such as HMV, the spokesman has insisted there remains enough demand for high street chains to flourish in the future.
“We’re seeing a gradual shift both to online and digital channels, which we’re a part of as well and we see multi-channel as definitely being the way forward,” the spokesman continued. “However, we also believe there’s a bedrock level of demand for physical music product that will continue to ensure there is some kind of high street offer for some time to come.”
The drop in album sales was highlighted again today when industry publication Music Week confirmed sales of just 24,000 had been enough to secure Bruno Mars‘ record ‘Doo Wops & Hooligans‘ the UK number one spot yesterday.