This is fascinating and a stroke of brilliance by the embattled record industry. With everything going digital, their millstone was being taken away, stolen in many cases. After years of toiling with iTunes and then assholes like Spotify and Pandora, finally, they figured out a way to reinvent the industry to spur record sales growth.
They went retro. Don’t give me the absurd rationale that vinyl records sound better. I don’t think so. But, like old leather bound books, there is something artistic and unique about having a vinyl record collection. It says something about a person. It’s an expression of individuality, as well as respect for history and the art of producing records.
Anyway, that’s my take. I’ve been collecting old leather bound books for years and have thought about collecting vinyls for sometime. Believe it or not, sales of vinyl records are on pace to break all time highs, the zenith of sales accomplished in the 80s.
“Vinyl is no longer the preserve of baby-boomers who grew up with the format. It now also appeals to a new generation of engaged younger fans and millennials,” said Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive of BPI, the representative body for UK record labels.
Figures produced by the BPI show that LP sales between January and March this year increased by over 60 percent from the same period last year.
Demand for LPs has continued to grow uninterrupted for the last 8 years, with sales now at their highest level since 1995.
If sales continue to grow at the same rate, demand for records could equal that seen in the late 1980s when vinyl was at its peak, the BPI said.
Out of curiosity, how many of you collect vinyl?
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Collect vinyl? I still have every vinyl LP I bought since 1964. I am afraid to check the value because the only way this winds up with someone else is when they pry my collection from my cold, dead hands. And you would be amazed at how much of it was never remade digitally. As for sound, the only way it sounds better than digital is when it is played on *very* serious equipment.
I’ve only ever bought records during Record Store day- which I assume you knew was tomorrow… Its become a sort of a hipster pastime, but also an easy way to get a mother or Father’s Day gift out of the way
I don’t need to collect vinyl as I lived vinyl.
You should have written this post last year as I would have shipped my vinyls (some slightly wrapped) to you gratis.
They were tossed into the dump (along with 4,000 lbs of other crap).
Dave Clark 5, Herman’s Hermits, The Animals, Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane, Sinatra, Otis Redding, The Doors, etc.
“warped” sic.
“The thing that drew me to vinyl was the expense, and inconvenience.” My favorite job of all time was working at a record store for $7 an hour. That original building the record store was in is slated for demo next month for a parking deck. Those were really fun times for the type of music I was in to. Serato was the original device that kind of killed that entire thing. That’s about the time my interest level in dj’ing kind of fell off a bit, even though it was way more convenient. I maybe held on to 300 of my favorite records out of 1000’s, and had the rest moved to digital format.
Still have about 1700 CDs. Would rather not start over with vinyl at this point. Do you collect any autographed books as well Fly?
Grew up on vinyl. Its use was so limited compared to digital music. You could only play where there is a turntable – no cars, airplanes; no jogs or other activities.
If you like only one song on an album, you had 8 others on there that you didn’t care for (not every album was a Zeppelin masterpiece). The only reason to have a record collection is that somehow it makes your meaningless life seem pretentious or special.
In short, fuck vinyl. I’d no more follow that trend than I would follow the cool kids if they were trending back to living in unairconditioned sweat boxes.
100% agree except there was another reason to have a far out album.
And that would be to get a groovy hippie chick up to your dorm.
They would usually have one or two good songs on an album and the rest were after thoughts to make some $$ quick.
At least with a 45 (another story) only half (the flip side) was crap.
Vinyl rocked. Kids today don’t know what it was like to roll a joint on a double album cover. Still have Hendrix, Beatles, Who, Led Zepellin, Cream, Stones and others. Playing a new record while reading the album jacket was a rite of passage in the 60’s. Plus, there were some very cool record players back then.
You are an old man. All the cool kids are blowing coke off cd cases.
Har Har!
Except, if they were really cool they would be drinking Boone’s Farm and listening to Chicago on an 8 track.
Perhaps Fly just took a look at his annual SS statement and now realizes time
is marching on.
Fly’s next vacation may be to +55 active adult communities.
Mr Vamp, my ex, has a vinyl collection to drool over. Good thing I left him with a house built in 1925, built to last forever. Those vinyls are damned heavy and would buckle or collapse a modern second or third floor. He has the original album cover and album of Blind Faith’s only album among his thousand albums. I worry about it.
Do they sound better than mp3 on a good stereo system. Yes. Fuller, warmer. You’re brain is only hearing broken up pieces of the frequencies of sound in mp3 format and is actually working harder to listen. I have a dream to listen to a great sound recording on a great system before I die. I’d pay to do this. Live is sometimes great but a venue can suck. I should talk to the guys at Community Audio about this.
We share sensibilities so we are trying to be friends. He’s a music, art, literature junky. He has long legs and a shayna punim. I threw down for him once against a man who was going to sucker punch him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTJYkjrg594
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/blind+faith/cant+find+my+way+home_20172628.html
Cheers to Glenn Gould who besides being a musical genius, on piano, saw the future and the value of good recording and playback.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah392lnFHxM Gets livelier about 23 minutes in.
I have a ton of vinyls and an attic full of turntables. For a while I was digitizing them all, but that turned into a PITA.
I will add, some music does sound better on vinyl. It depends on how the music was recorded to begin with. To the average listener it really makes 0 difference. Considering most people buy very poor quality mp3’s, it’s clear most don’t care, or can’t tell.
Guess I should hold on to my VHS tapes in case those come back in style too.
I actively collected vintage vinyl from 1999 to 2007. It was fairly easy then, since my only competition was other vinyl nerds. I suppose it’s more difficult now with so much renewed interest in the format, but I wouldn’t know.
using my (limited) record collection to spur an interest in music with my kids – I believe that there is a value to physically being involved in the music that you are listening to, rather than hitting shuffle on the remote and letting things take happen without any involvement or connection.
Rather, choosing your music and then having to start the record yourself, flip sides etc – really getting into the music by making it more involving.
Also, limiting the selections to dozens rather than thousands, helps young ears get familiar and develop an appreciation, I believe.
Sitting and listening to music consciously rather than tuning out like we do nowadays with the TV.
Great post Dr Fly. Not having been through the vinyl age of music, I love these stories. All my top pick artists/cd’s or whatever…. are listen all the way through varieties.
Yes, definitely. Have a huge collection of Beatles vinyl from around the world and wrote a popular price guide and collector’s reference book on the subject. Nice historical pieces and, in some cases, true works of art.