Amazon stops CD and Vinyl orders due to COVID-19

The recent outbreak of the novel COVID-19 virus has a huge impact on the electronic music dance scene. Hundreds of shows around the world are getting cancelled and postponed, but this is not the only thing. Amazon, one of the biggest online shopping platforms out there is also taking special measures during these hectic times, they will be disabling shipment creation for non-essential product orders. The vendors that will be affected by this may vary, but one of the things included is CDs and vinyls. The postponement of these particular orders is set to last at least until 5th of April, but with the crisis situation still getting worse, it might extend if necessary.

The limitations that Amazon has applied will allow them to focus on household staples, medical supplies and other high demand products that people might need to get through the quarantine time. The company will be halting any orders of CD, vinyl and merchandise products from its warehouses for the time being. In a letter sent by Amazon to customers regarding the changes that they were forced to make they say:

“We are seeing increased online shopping, and, as a result, some products such as household staples and medical supplies are out of stock. With this in mind, we are temporarily prioritizing household staples, medical supplies, and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so that we can more quickly receive, restock, and deliver these products to customers.”

When a giant company like Amazon does something like this, we can be sure that the whole vinyl and CD industry will be affected. At the beginning of the year the RIAA was projecting vinyl of having a fantastic growth in the upcoming months. The retail dollar value of vinyl shipments in the United States last year grew by 18.7%, or $78.4m to $497.6m, but with the possible crisis that might happen due to coronavirus, nothing is set in stone anymore.

Image Credit: Eric Krull on Unsplash