Vinyl Now Accounts for 9% of Physical Album Sales

[Anderton]

CDs are flat, and album downloads are down 10%. So does this signify that vinyl is coming back, or albums are coming back - as long as they're physical, and not downloads? Maybe there are some cracks showing in the "it's a singles world" wall.

[sailorman]

My stepson is an engineering student at Drexel University. He lived in a house with 8 other students. Helping him move in, I noticed a strange rectangular object in one of the rooms. a turntable. On the walls hung many album covers. In a 2nd room, the same thing. Now he's started telling me about how much better he thinks the vinyl albums sound than digital (he has a decent pair of Sony headphones). I was surprised by all this, especially since he never showed the slightest interest in the several hundred vinyl albums that I have in my collection. And I certainly never said to him that I thought my vinyl sounded better than his mp3's (though I admit to feeling that SOME of my vinyl is the best sounding of anything in my collection including CDs). I think they do appreciate the physical nature of the album cover as well.

 

I guess overall I what surprised me was that fact that the younger generation seems to be coming to vinyl in their own way, where as I had figured it was mainly older folks like myself that still enjoyed it.

[Geoff Grace]

The selling of music recordings is rapidly becoming a niche market. For example, James Taylor just hit number one for the first time after selling just 97,000 copies of his new release, but that number pales in comparison to Taylor's lower charting past releases. His 1970 album, Sweet Baby James, alone went Triple Platinum (three million copies sold)—over 30 times as many units as the amount that created a chart-topper for Taylor today.

 

The group that still buys albums is probably dominated by the group that grew up with vinyl, so I can see it's appeal. But rising vinyl sales within a diminishing market doesn't fill me with hope for the return of the market as a whole.

 

YMMV.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

[blue2blue]

There are a number of serious vinyl collectors -- guys who actually look into the provenance of the vinyl they buy to make sure it wasn't mastered to disk using the digital lookahead that all but replaced expensive lookahead decks in many facilities beginning around the end of the 70s. Needless to say, those guys tend to have serious playback systems (I have a pal with a turntable/arm/cart that cost about $18K new, although he's a bargain hunter and paid some thousands less by buying used. These guys tend to buy-and-try and often sell fairly quickly. My pal has a good dealer who keeps an eye out for particular bargains. His rig sounds very nice, whether the source is vinyl or digital -- he's not running a $100 CD player. Just between you and me, I like the CD playback better when we've compared. -- but that said, it can be VERY difficult trying to determine the mastering provenance of some releases that appear in both vinyl and CD. So one is never completely certain one is comparing apples and apples.)

 

But for many young vinyl enthusiasts, they're having fun, fad-following and, with regard to 'vinyl-sounds-better' may well be sincere but are nonetheless just parroting what others have told them that they accept on authority.

 

Because, one thing that is very predictable is that most of these young vinyl fetishists are almost certainly listening to turntables and carts of low quality and/or are grossly out of adjustment. Check out the turntable section at Target or Walmart next time you're there.

 

I can't tell you how many times I've seen plaintive posts at Gearslutz wondering why, when they plug their new turntable into the LINE IN on their powered speakers it sounds so thin, weak, and trebly. Phono preamp? RIAA curve? They never heard of it.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Vinyl may now have a larger percentage of the physical units that are sold, but IMO physical units are not about to make any huge comeback, regardless of which format we're talking about. Vinyl's resurgence, while growing somewhat, still represents only a relatively small percentage of how music is consumed today. Sales are flat or declining because people don't "buy" music anymore so much as "stream" it. Even download "purchases" are on their way out in favor of streaming. I certainly don't see vinyl becoming the primary and dominant distribution and playback medium again like it was in decades gone by.

 

Why would I want to pay $10 or $20 for one single album when I can play pretty much whatever albums I want for that same price? Why clutter up the valuable and limited storage space on my mobile device?

[Phil O'Keefe]

But for many young vinyl enthusiasts, they're having fun, fad-following and, with regard to 'vinyl-sounds-better' may well be sincere but are nonetheless just parroting what others have told them that they accept on authority.

 

Because, one thing that is very predictable is that most of these young vinyl fetishists are almost certainly listening to turntables and carts of low quality and/or are grossly out of adjustment. Check out the turntable section at Target or Walmart next time you're there.

 

I can't tell you how many times I've seen plaintive posts at Gearslutz wondering why, when they plug their new turntable into the LINE IN on their powered speakers it sounds so thin, weak, and trebly. Phono preamp? RIAA curve? They never heard of it.

 

 

Yup - you nailed it.

 

 

The things you're talking about here could make for an interesting article. You should write something up about "5 Things Vinyl Newbies Should Know" - if you'd like to do so, I'll be happy to post it here on HC.

 

[Anderton]

There's no doubt streaming is the future. But vinyl's popularity is telling us something about the importance of the experience. Some people are willing to pay more money and endure more inconvenience to have a personal investment in the music...that's the takeaway. In this case, the medium is indeed the message. Marshall McLuhan was right

[Dendy Jarrett]

But is there this much of a difference?

Is Vinyl better?

 

I reference the article by Chris Marion and wonder where we draw the line between music lover and audiophile?

 

http://www.harmonycentral.com/articles/making-a-big-bang-in-an-ear-bud-business

[MDMachiavelli]

I might have said this in another thread, I'm not really sure. I very seldom buy an entire album anymore. When I hear a song I like I do try to download it legally, usually iTunes. Lately though as a Amazon Prime member I have been using Prime music and if the song isn't available in Prime I will pay for it.

 

That being said, as a musician I try to support the musicians that I really like and always have. Therefore to support them I will buy the entire album even knowing that I don't like but maybe a couple of songs off the album and I could just download those and save money. To take it even a step further lately is I buy vinyl's versions of the album from Amazon, and when you do Amazon provides you with a free ripped version of the album. Pretty awesome and its like the best of both worlds. You get your hipster vinyl and you also get the didgital version to listen to on your portable device.

[blue2blue]

 

 

Yup - you nailed it.

 

 

The things you're talking about here could make for an interesting article. You should write something up about "5 Things Vinyl Newbies Should Know" - if you'd like to do so, I'll be happy to post it here on HC.

 

It's a flattering -- and tempting -- offer, but sooner or later it might come out that I haven't had either of my turntables set up in 12 years.

 

That said, I was thinking maybe I could get something going with my audiophile buddy that might be worth reading. He's had a pretty amazing audio journey. When I first met him in high school he was listening to a $40 Radio Shack portable stereo. (Their cheapest -- and every bit as brutal on the ears as it was on the disks. And that was brutal. Not, mind you, that that brutish force translated into any recognizable tone below about 400 Hz...)

 

Anyhow, I'll talk to him, maybe we can come up with something interesting.

[davd_indigo]

There's a guy around the corner from me who does a side business buying and selling vinyl. Mostly ebay I think, but every 3 or 4 months he has a weekend album sale on his backyard patio with several thousand albums in crates. Anyway, once (within the last 2 years) he told me there's a small "retro" market for cassette tapes. What's old is new and exotic I guess. I think it's totally goofy.

 

And by the way, on NPR maybe a year ago, I heard a piece about people who use film cameras for the excitement and wonder of picking up their developed photos and being surprised. I'd just love to pick up developed photos and discover blurry or overexposed photos of scenes that I cannot capture again.

 

I don't think the vinyl album resurgence is the same thing. The fact that they can be played 50 years after they were released is a big plus. I have maybe 400-500 albums, many which I bought in the late 60-70's. I don't expect I'll buy any new ones though. Still on my list of stuff to do - buy a turntable.

[Beck]

9% is a big slice of the pie in the grand scheme of things. If nothing else it's a hopeful sign that so many people care enough about listening to music that they're willing to go to the trouble.

[blue2blue]

Well, don't forget that's 9% of physical sales. Physical and digital sales/streaming were tied for revenue in 2014 after digital rose 6.9% for the year, tying with physical distro for 46% each. So that's a little over 4%. Nonetheless, that's still really 'surprising' in that vinyl was below 2% for some time -- and, not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if it had dipped below 1% at some point globally.

 

Stats source: http://www.ifpi.org/facts-and-stats.php

 

I'm pretty sure that resale figures are not calculated in such totals, since, in the US and many other jurisdictions [though not in the EC], there are no licensing fees on music (or video) resales, just as with books. In the US, the record resale market is something of an underground economy -- and has been in the shadowy nether-reaches of the record biz for decades -- even more overtly so in the form of often-unbooked transactions in distribution cut-outs and other gray/black market deals, as was reported in an investigative reporting series by the LA Times in the late 70s..

[Mandolin Picker]

And by the way' date=' on NPR maybe a year ago, I heard a piece about people who use film cameras for the excitement and wonder of picking up their developed photos and being surprised. I'd just love to pick up developed photos and discover blurry or overexposed photos of scenes that I cannot capture again. [/quote']

 

Can't say much for dropping off pictures and waiting, but in my high school years I used to develop my own film and prints. Never did color, only black and white. There is something to be said for the darkroom experience, as it is very neat to watch a plain piece of paper placed in a tray of clear liquid and suddenly you notice an image begin to take shape. You also had a degree of control over the print and at least I found it enjoyable. Don't know if you can find that stuff anymore (the chemicals are probably on a banned terror watchlist anyway).

[davd_indigo]

I just googled the following which Ansel Adams is supposed to have said. So yes, I'll agree with you. I was really thinking of picking up an envelope of developed photos from someplace like Walmart.

 

About Ansel Adams::

 

"50% of the Creative Process Occurred in the Dark Room"

 

And the following description is in the same article;

 

"He pioneered the zone system, which we all loosely know today as burning and dodging. He would paint onto the enlarger the areas of the photo he thought should be darker or lighter than others."

[grungehack]

I got into vinyl by way of discovering the EDM scene in '99, '00 and started buying 12" singles to mess around with for fun. I have a decent collection of LP's too (that came much later) - some hand me downs from the parents and some bought new. It's kind of annoying to me if people are really buying albums just because it's a 'fad', but they can do what they want with their money. At least they're not pirating it (I hope). Aesthetically speaking I do love the appeal of a gatefold vs. a CD though and find the surface noise gives some music more character. For the record, I'm definitely not an audiophile.

[Anderton]

For the record' date='[/b'] I'm definitely not an audiophile.

 

Now that's a great play on words!

 

 

[blue2blue]

I got into vinyl by way of discovering the EDM scene in '99' date=' '00 and started buying 12" singles to mess around with for fun. I have a decent collection of LP's too (that came much later) - some hand me downs from the parents and some bought new. It's kind of annoying to me if people are really buying albums just because it's a 'fad', but they can do what they want with their money. At least they're not pirating it (I hope). Aesthetically speaking I do love the appeal of a gatefold vs. a CD though and find the surface noise gives some music more character. For the record, I'm definitely not an audiophile. [img']http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/core/images/smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

 

I stumbled into this thread over at GearSlutz and instantly thought about this topic.

 

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/moan...l-dealers.html

 

The upshot seems to be that many of the people currently record bin diving are not there to find rare old music or supply their turntablism requirements but simply as mercenary speculators on 'collectibles.' But keep in mind it's a bunch of guys sitting around in a forum intentionally designated The Moan Zone, basically the last circle of hell for downgraded discussion topics.

[grungehack]

I skimmed a few posts on that thread, it's b.s. that people are doing that. I use discogs for most of what I buy and amazon for new stuff. Hot Topic () used to have some good deals on new releases, haven't checked their site in awhile. I'm as much a fan of the physical aspect of a new LP/single whatever as the music. Thanks to TS here, I haven't posted on HC in ages (since the changeover) and this thread brought me out of lurking.

[Anderton]

According to the Consumer Electronics Association, the last time a million turntables was sold was 1984. But for 2015, they’re projecting 69,000 turntables. That’s a long way from a million, but also a long way from zero And there’s probably a decent used market as well.

[AetherRoots]

My last 5 purchases have been vinyl. It's nice to hold something substantial in my hands. I guess it takes me back to when I first started buying music in the early '70s; a sense of connection to the band through the art, the liner notes and the whole process of taking out the record, cleaning it and dropping the needle. Heck, I just bought a cassette....

[davd_indigo]

My last 5 purchases have been vinyl. It's nice to hold something substantial in my hands. I guess it takes me back to when I first started buying music in the early '70s; a sense of connection to the band through the art' date=' the liner notes......[/quote']

 

I was wondering if these 5 albums are new music or old classics ? This question triggered a memory of a record store in St. Louis called Vintage Vinyl (I lived there a couple of years around 1990). I googled them and at the bottom of their page is a promotion for a new release "Oliver Sain - St. Louis Breakdown-Best of Oliver Sain". He was a local St. Louis giant kind of like Ike Turner I believe. It's $15 for a vinyl album.

 

Anyway it occurred to me that vinyl could possibly find a niche market with runs of 500 or 1000 copies for local/regional consumption. Kind of like craft beer. Just a thought.

 

http://www.vintagevinyl.com/

 

[Anderton]

Anyway it occurred to me that vinyl could possibly find a niche market with runs of 500 or 1000 copies for local/regional consumption. Kind of like craft beer. Just a thought.

 

Great analogy, and yes, that makes sense.

 

 

[techristian]

I think that vinyl is just a NOVELTY for kids. It is something different and new.

 

Dan