Sony is going back to vinyl for the first time in 18 years

Sony Music Entertainment Japan is taking advantage of retro being the new cool.

The Japanese imprint, which operates independently from its New York-based sister company, will manufacture vinyl at a factory south-west of the capital Tokyo from March.

This is a canny move in a territory which is still a major market for physical copies of music.

Music Business Worldwide reports that "according to IFPI stats, physical music sales represented 73% of total record industry revenues in Japan last year – making it the world’s biggest physical music territory."

"Globally, revenue from vinyl increased in 2016 by 23.5% to over half a billion dollars (US $563.6m) as unit sales increased from 31.7m to 37.5m."