Indie Record Retail Up A Tick For December, Delivery Remains Chief Problem

The COALITION OF INDEPENDENT MUSIC STORES (CIMS)' new Executive Director ANDREA PASCHAL, checked in from THINKINDIE DISTRIBUTION in BIRMINGHAM, AL, with a survey of indie music retail.  Here are some of the findings:

Indie retailers' estimates of sales from DECEMBER 2018 and DECEMBER 2019, ranged from down 16.3% to up 12% for an average of a 2% gain overall.

Vinyl sales ranged from down 15% to up 21% for an average growth of 7%.
CD sales dropped an average of 13% from last DECEMBER to this.
Big winners in the music retail space included socks (!!??), followed by stickers, turntables, vinyl accessories, toys, candles, classic rock vinyl, dishtowels and, yes, oven mitts. Sales throughout the holiday year were impacted by direct store delivery issues, the shorter shopping season and lack of big titles, though the generally milder winter weather didn't hurt.

Retailers griped about CD and vinyl releases being coordinated with digital, allowing all formats to be treated equally, lower LP prices, which would allow CD sales to stop cratering.

Summarizing the report, PASCHAL writes, "We are still seeing a decline of CD sales, but vinyl is still growing. Most stores overall had a good year. The number one question I have heard from the stores and the one I am asking myself is: 'How much better could the holiday and the year overall have been if we were not battling the issues of getting product onto the shelves?' I guess that would be the number one new year’s resolution for 2020."