Reports Suggest 26% Of 18-24 Year Olds Buy Physical Music To Collect & Not Play

A report released by research firm ICM has finally confirmed the belief that collecting music has been partly responsible for the recent rise in the purchase of physical formats.

The report shows that in the past 3 months 15% of people who bought music in a physical format did so with no intention of ever listening to it. Among these 53% bought vinyl, 48% CDs and 23% cassettes. Interestingly this seems highest amongst 18 to 24 year olds.

"There’s definitely a novelty value with cassettes at the moment – particularly as we suspect a high proportion of them are collectibles sitting on a shelf and never played. Although we can store our music on a PC or in the Cloud, a large proportion of music buyers continue to purchase physical formats with MP3 files as an add-on. Perhaps it’s a reaction to the digital world, but physical formats that we might have thought were relegated to history are being revived as fans and collectors opt for limited editions and promotional copies of their favourite music across a range of formats." - Maurice Fyles, ICM

Producers/musicians in India will no doubt soon take notice. Real fans will always defy price tags and buy limited edition physical formats, therefore suggesting more independent Indian musicians should release physically and not rely solely on bookings for income.