Last year, for the first time ever, vinyl sales in the United States made more money than the music put on streaming sites. Figures showed the vinyl album and EP sales had their highest sales since 1988, increasing by 32 per cent to $416 million. Although sales have been on the rise since 2013 , 2015 is the first year that vinyl sales overtook music streaming revenue.

On the other hand, advertising revenue made from sites like YouTube or Spotify also rose, but by 31 per cent to $385 million – and there is a lot more music on those sites than there are vinyls. Streaming, however, has overtaken revenue made from downloads.

This shows some proof that fundamental market distortions are at play, and various technology giants are enriching themselves at the expense of people creating music.

The consumption of music is skyrocketing but revenues for creators have not kept pace. In 2015, fans listened to hundreds of billions of audio and video music streams through on-demand ad-supported digital services like YouTube, but revenues from such services have been meager  —  far less than other kinds of music services.

While Spotify declined to comment, YouTube released a statement saying “past comparisons to other audio-only, subscription music services are apples to oranges.”

To date, Google has paid out over $3 billion to the music industry – and that number is growing year on year.

This revenue is generated despite the fact that YouTube goes way beyond music to include popular categories such as news, gaming, how-to, sports and entertainment. And with the recent launch of the YouTube Music app, we now have a dedicated music experience that will deliver even more revenue to both artists and the music industry more broadly. Past comparisons to other audio-only, subscription music services are apples to oranges.

While the attraction of vinyls released by current artists is on the rise, VHS tapes are also making a comeback. However, instead of people releasing their über hipster films on the archaic format, it’s the collectors who are making them relevant. Two specific old-school b-grade genres are in the most demand, and can fetch up to £1 500.

But not many of these tapes exist. Obviously. As most of the tapes in demand are of the horror and erotica genre, many were banned quickly after release and never ever made it to DVD or Blue-ray.

It was hinted last year that old video tapes could be the next vinyl:

Many once unloved and discarded original LPs and singles are now worth significant sums. Today video tapes are considered just as ephemeral as records once were, and are fast disappearing from our homes.

But why these genres specifically?

These are movies that feel too cleaned-up on DVD and Blu-ray, as if they were never meant to look that good. You can see the mistakes they made and the bad makeup and everything. Watching them on VHS is closer to the old drive-in or grindhouse theatre, the way the director intended it to look.

How’s your collection looking? If you want a heads up, check HERE for the top most valuable VHS tapes. I wonder when cassettes will make their rounds?

[source: nme&independent&theverge]