Vinyl is back but a record production shortage is threatening music sales and worrying artists

What's causing a worldwide vinyl shortage? ITV News' Kevin Ashford investigates.

Goodbye, Spotify? Vinyl is enjoying a phenomenal comeback among music fans.

An interest that had become the preserve of generations gone by and diehard collectors has once again become mainstream. 

Records are expected to outsell CDs as a musical format this year for the first time since 1987, as sellers explain interest is growing in physically owning music amid the digital streaming age.

However a shortage of materials and pressing plants means there are delays in getting records released to vinyl fans - affecting artists too.

Apparently even megastar Adele had to wait six months for her album to be processed, according to Variety magazine's recent report on the shortfall.

Vinyl has seen ebbs and flows in its popularity since records were first pressed.

But the latest figures reveal a resurgence, with a rise of almost one-third in sales in the UK  compared to last year, reaching £86.5million.

Some are predicting vinyls will outsell CDs this year for the first time in decades.

But the demand has led to a squeeze noticed by musicians who had welcomed devoted fans' interest in buying their records.

Low Hummer are up-and-comers who had a big break recently when they supported the Manic Street Preachers.

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But nine months of processing delays meant their new album on vinyl arrived two days after they performed.

That meant they missed out on potentially thousands of pounds of sales at their concerts.

The band's guitarist and singer Dan Mawer said: "Vinyl is a massive income now and it will be for the foreseeable, I think.

"To have that as part of your merchandise on the night can sustain you."

The fresh demand for vinyl is good news for a record shop in Buckden, near St Neots in Cambridgeshire - but it has meant a squeeze on supplies.

Ian Gosling, of The Vinyl Revival Store, told ITV News Anglia: "People are fed up not owning anything. People want something to physically own, buy, enjoy, have, collect.

“It’s all about home comforts. Everything’s screens these days, everything is digital, computerised. People want things to collect.”

The demand means newcomers are looking to get on in today's small scene of vinyl pressing plants in the UK.

David Todd, of Press On Vinyl, said: "The demand for vinyl from music fans has increased massively over the last five to six years but the global capacity hasn't increased with that so over the whole world there's a massive shortage of pressing plants who can provide the capacity for the labels and the artists."

Some music industry experts say the growing demand for vinyl may even be coming from people who are not listening to their records at all.

Proper Music Distribution's Gray Warner said: "Many people don't even have record players but even if people are buying this thing, this token, something that's showing to be representative of their fandom, that's fine for us, that should be fine for people.

"We just need to change our mindset to what it actually is - if it's a piece of art, if it's something that's just on a coffee table, it's all the same."