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MELBOURNE is not just home to Australia’s loudest and smelliest bands – it is also the ‘vinyl capital of the world’.
According to a recently-released study, the town Sydneysiders like to call Bleak City has 5.9 record scores per 100,000 residents, which compares favourably with Tokyo (2.3), London (4.9) and Berlin (2.9).
But it would be remiss of us not to point out that the study was conducted by the Victoria Music Development Office.
The study found that Melbourne has seen a 19 percent increase in stores since 2023 while national vinyl sales also grew to A$44.5 million – but none of the stores surveyed described itself as financially strong.
Furthermore, Victorian record stores reported that 25 to 50 percent of their stock was Australian, whereas only 8.4 percent of music streamed in the country was native to Oz.
In all, Victoria has 119 independent records stores which represents half of the country’s 239 stores. Of the non-independent stores, 43 JB HiFi outlets, three Readings and 19 QBD books outlets also stocked vinyl.
There are two pressing plants in Melbourne – Zenith and Program Records.
Twenty five to 30 million dollars worth of vinyl is sold in Victoria each year, a big proportion of the national total. Fifteen have opened in recent years, a reversal of the global trend of store closures.
Two thirds of the Victorian stores reported they were ‘doing OK’.
Kirsty Rivers, general manager of the Victoria Music Development Office wrote: “As global interest in physical music formats continues to rise, understanding Victoria’s position in this evolving market is essential. For the Record: Victoria’s Vinyl Renaissance aims to inform policy, support investment, and highlight the unique value of vinyl within the state’s broader music industry.”
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Johnny Diesel and the Injectors
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