After almost 30 years, Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) will resume pressing vinyl records, looking to keep up with demand from nostalgic audiophiles.

Sony is setting up a new production line for vinyl records in Japan's Shizuoka Prefecture. Production will start by March 2018.

Sony Music installed record-cutting equipment at a Tokyo recording studio in February, enabling it to produce the master discs from which vinyl records are copied.

The new vinyl album lineup will include mainly older Japanese music but also latest hits which Sony hold their rights.

Orders will also be accepted from outside record labels.

Vinyl sales outpaced digital music sales at one point last year in the U.K. In the U.S., 17.2 million records were sold last year, with consumers 35 and younger accounting for 70%.

Japanese sales of vinyl records have reached the 800,000 units in 2016. Sony and Panasonic rolled out new record players last year, while Lawson HMV has opened three Tokyo stores specializing in records since 2014.