Commentators Berate Biden’s Remark That Record Players Are Key to a Happy Home
Former Vice President Joe Biden took heat from journalists and social media for his 250-word answer to a question about segregation during Thursday’s Democratic debate that included this advice for how low-income parents can build a better home for their…
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school-age kids: “Make sure you have the record player on at night.” Though record players “still have cachet among the hipster set, they faded from most American households decades ago," wrote Marisa Fernandez on Axios.com, typifying other reactions. “It's one of those moments that can long outlive an election.” Debate-watchers will argue whether Biden’s record-player remark did him political harm as evidence of his difficulty connecting with youthful voters. But there's no denying the rebirth in component turntables and vinyl LPs, though the hardware numbers are expected to experience modest declines for 2019. CTA forecasts the industry will ship 957,000 turntables in the U.S. this year worth about $138 million in revenue, which would be down 4 percent in units, 3 percent in dollars, from 2018, emailed spokesperson Danielle Cassagnol Friday. RIAA doesn’t provide shipment forecasts, but says 16.7 million vinyl LPs worth $419.2 million were sold in the U.S. in 2018, up 7.2 percent from a year earlier in units, 7.9 percent in dollars. That compared with a 40.7 percent unit decline and 33.9 percent revenue decline in CDs. Physical format sales paled in comparison with streamed-music revenue, which climbed 30 percent in 2018 to $7.4 billion, said RIAA.