Vinyl sales in Russia increased by more than 30% in 2025%

Vinyl sales in Russia increased by more than 30% in 2025. The main buyer is young people, who increasingly want to feel the unique analog atmosphere of the past. On May 7, Izvestia correspondent Pavel Matveev figured out the reasons for the popularity of vinyl and the technology of its creation.

The modern vinyl history of Russia has reached a new stage, with the release of its millionth record in Moscow. It is also noteworthy that it was made using Soviet equipment, which also adds popularity to vinyl.

"A thousand records, do you remember this song? But she's pretty old, and time flies pretty fast. And now it's not a thousand anymore, it's a million now. Well, for now, the first one, and then how will it go," Matveev said.

Technology around the world has not changed de facto since the 1970s. And what will you change there? It's an analog tube sound, it's not a number that should have been scrapped, but it didn't.

"You open the envelope, put on the CD, put on the tonearm, and the music started playing. And it's not someone else's somewhere on the web, but it's yours - you own it," explained collector Vyacheslav Placinda.

To create a record, the sound engineer "cuts" the necessary tracks. Then, with the help of nickel, the vinyl is given the desired shape. The result is also kind of magical. People throw away cassettes and CDs - sometimes there's just nothing left to listen to. However, people still pay a lot of money for gramophones and vinyl.

"Tell me, Uncle, it's not for nothing, is it? And it's really not for nothing. Each of these records costs 5-7 thousand rubles. Here's [rock band] Rainbow, for example, with the great Ronnie James Dio - 6.5 thousand rubles," said Matveev.

And again, the main question is why do people buy vinyl records?

"Probably one of the most important features and, in principle, the distinguishing feature of vinyl from all other formats is that vinyl is not listened to on the run. If you can listen to music from any source while jogging, cycling, or driving, then vinyl is a whole process," says Elena Raskolova, the store's manager.

Then why would artists who order music need it?

"Basically, we order records from artists who are broadcast on our radio, for example, on Rock FM radio. Therefore, it is rather more rock music - it is a kind of golden fund that many listeners buy," said Stanislav Semenov, mastering engineer at the Ultra Production vinyl record factory.

Sergei Mazaev, the guardian of the aesthetically beautiful "Moral Code", who communicated on equal terms with the Pink Floyd frontmen, was asked the same direct question by journalists: "Why do you need all this, is there a figure?" He replied that his grandchildren would have a memory that they could touch.

"The vinyl record was the first to appear as a mass media. It's just a work of art, apart from the fact that the sound is recorded there. We're talking about good records now — the sound is masterful, plus the cover is often a painting, and artists are working hard on it. As some world-class masters worked on wine labels, the same thing is here," said musician Sergey Mazaev.

At the same time, the vinyl listener is not aging, but getting younger. According to Ultra Productions, in just 10 years, the core of demand has shifted from 40+ to 25 years.

"The analog sound is different, and a person subconsciously understands that he is hearing something else, and he is interested in something else, and not something that he can open and listen to with two clicks. He's not really interested in it — that's the magic," said Igor Bogdanov, head of the Ultra Production vinyl record production plant.

Everything is back to magic again — the circle of the vinyl disc has closed.

Melody started releasing vinyl records again. Answers to the main questions

Russia's oldest recording company, Melodiya, resumed production of vinyl records on December 8 last year, decades after the cessation of production in Soviet factories. It was launched in 2024 to mark the label's 60th anniversary, but the first records were released in December 2025. The first releases were the cult Soviet autogenic training, the album by composer David Tukhmanov "On the wave of my Memory" and the records of the bands Zodiac and Dos Mukasan.

Karina Abrahamyan, First Deputy General Director of Melody Company JSC, told Izvestia that Melody plans to launch more than 20 releases in the near future. According to her, the first children's stories will be "Old Man Hottabych", "Captain Vrungel" and "Ali Baba". The company plans to release the albums Pesnyarov, a collection dedicated to Alexandra Pakhmutova, and an album with songs by Anna Herman.