Records Growth Sets Record

Tue., Feb. 21, 1995

New York Times

The record industry grew faster last year than it has in any other year since the Recording Industry Association of America started keeping track of it in 1952, the group says in a report released Friday.

A 13-year trend of increased revenue continued, with $11.8 billion in albums, CDs and cassettes shipped to retailers, a record-breaking increase of 20 percent over the previous year. Soundscan, the company that tracks sales of recorded music (as opposed to shipments from manufacturers to stores), reported a similar increase.

The difference between the two organization’s statistics is that where 1.1 billion pieces of music were distributed, according to the recording industry association, Soundscan reported 713.6 million were sold. But Soundscan does not cover every music retailer.

Only 1.9 million vinyl albums were shipped, compared with 662.1 million CDs, but that was a 58 percent increase for vinyl over 1993.

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