Tesco will become the first UK supermarket to tap into the rapidly growing vinyl music market when it stocks the triple-vinyl format of Iron Maiden‘s latest album which will be released on Friday 4 September.
Maiden‘s first studio offering in five years, ‘The Book Of Souls‘, will go on sale in 55 Tesco Extra stores, whilst the CD format will be sold in 850 of Tesco‘s UK stores and online at Tesco Direct.
Tesco‘s move comes at a time when vinyl album revival has gained recent momentum, with sales up by more than 50% in 2014.
Meanwhile other music formats have seen a downward sales trend with sales of CDs falling by 6.5% last year and downloads declining by nearly 9%.
Tesco‘s Music Buyer, Michael Mulligan, said: “In the last year we began selling record decks in our largest stores and initial sales are very encouraging so giving our customers some new vinyl to play on those decks seems like the logical next step.”
He continued “And there can be no better way to launch this trial than working with one of rock music‘s most iconic bands and their eagerly anticipated new album. We are anticipating demand for The Book Of Souls to be high as Iron Maiden‘s last album was the band‘s most successful to date, reaching number one in 28 countries including the UK. If this trial is a success then we would consider selling more vinyl albums before the end of the year.”
Charlie Brown
