Vinyl Fan? Columbia House Rises to Wreck Vinyl Movement

However, Lippman’s plan to target millennials may have trouble considering that, as the Journal points out, only a third of the demographic knows what Columbia House is. It later shifted its focus to CDs and by 1996 hit a peak with $1.4 billion in revenue.

Lippman put FEI, Columbia House’s immediate parent, into chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August with $2 million in assets and $62 million in liabilities.

Lippman, 41, has controlled the brand for the past three years.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Lippman bought the company at auction for about $1.5 million.

Long ago in the 1980s, whenwas bought and sold exclusively on petroleum-based artifacts and people still read mail-order catalogs, Columbia House was king. He is hoping to tap into the vinyl craze and added, “For a category that is meaningful and growing rapidly, you don’t see a whole lot of choice”. Instead of simply offering a catalogue of available records, Columbia House could use a business model in which suggested albums are sent to customers in the style of mail-order book clubs.

According to the Recording Industry Association of America, vinyl says were up 52% in the first half of this year, but the format still makes up just 7% of the overall music market.

On a website labeled Columbia House Record Club, the launch is hinted at with an image of a vinyl record on a turntable and the caption “coming soon”. In some cases it takes up to four months for record labels to get their vinyl orders back.

Columbia House will likely drive these trends forward to a certain extent, but the company has no intentions to unseat the established streaming and download market.