The UK’s biggest supermarket, Tesco, is getting into the vinyl game.
The retailer will become the first UK supermarket to stock the format later this week, as part of a special promotion for the new album by British rock legends Iron Maiden.
Maiden’s first studio offering in five years, The Book Of Souls, will be released on Friday (September 4) via Warner‘s Parlophone. The triple-vinyl LP will go on sale in 55 Tesco Extra stores.
It’s a timely move by Tesco: total vinyl album unit sales reached 1.3m in the UK last year.
In what may be the most appropriate percentage calculation ever to appear in an Iron Maiden story, that 1.3m was up 66.6% on the 780,000 vinyl units sold in the UK in 2013.
In fact, 2014 provided the most annual vinyl albums sales in the UK since the heady Britpop days of 1995.
“If this trial is a success then we would consider selling more vinyl albums before the end of the year.”
Michael Mulligan, Tesco
Meanwhile, CD sales fell by 6.5% in the year, as downloads dropped by close to 9%.
Tesco 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.
“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.”
Mulligan added: “The trend for vinyl doesn’t seem to be confined to one particular age group. Parents are getting their old vinyl albums down from the loft and teenagers are discovering the joys of the 12 inch record for the first time.”
“It was a proud moment when the UK’s biggest supermarket created a landmark opportunity for us to present our fans with this one-stop-shop.”
Dave Shack, Iron Maiden co-manager
Tesco is using the album launch as an opportunity for a special promotion on Iron Maiden’s own brand of beer, Trooper. Stores will sell 500ml bottles of the booze for £1 each when bought with the LP or CD, instead of the regular retail price of £1.99.
Iron Maiden co-Manager, Dave Shack commented: “It was a proud moment when the UK’s biggest supermarket created a landmark opportunity for us to present our fans with a one-stop shop for our brand new album and award winning Trooper beer.
“We have put a lot of energy into all our formats of the new record but the vinyl has to be one of the most impressive packages I have ever seen.
“It’s a triple gatefold sleeve housing six sides of premium 180g vinyl and incorporates some unique, quite spectacular artwork across the whole package – something that can only be done with vinyl due to the space this format offers.
“Celebrating the release of this album with a special price on our Trooper beer felt like a great way of saying cheers to our fans. We sincerely hope they like both!”Music Business Worldwide
