Perspective - What the vinyl resurgence really looks like

Yep, U2's Rattle and Hum CD cost me $19.99 in 1993. I would say around 1995 when we got a Best Buy in our area is when I was able to get CDs cheaper than in dedicated music stores. Best Buy really undercut stores back then by selling CDs for way less.

 

Well, we can't all work in "the financial sector."

Cheers on being one of the most hated people on the planet.

 

It never fails to amaze me how these threads stir up such hard feelings. Even if this bump in commerce, regarding a medium that was long presumed dead and gone, turns out to not amount to much in the bigger picture - so what?

There really is an underlying bitterness and malcontent that dwells here. Perhaps the OP was trolling by starting this thread, but it begs the question: why is this type of trolling so successful? What's the deal with you people?

 

The sales of new vinyl are amazing considering it is 2015 and the Digital Era but even that those figures don't take in the sale of USED vinyl! There are tons of old albums in thrift shops etc moving around now that were stagnant junk for years. No one knows how to count that factor.

 

I remember friends on mine pitching a fit about CD's back when they first came out. They were serious record collectors. They had the same complaints then as people do now about the digital sound quality. Some were forced to convert primarily due to record companies not pressing vinyl versions of new music released at the time.

I, like you, purchased them(CD's) because I was mostly listening to music in my car and not so much on my home system. For that purpose, they were wonderful and easier to use than cassette tapes. If they hadn't completely dumped the vinyl format, we might have had a cottage industry for vinyl albeit much less than at it's peak.

 

oh ffs, not this again.

look, i'm a music lover. i can get ALMOST ANY NEW RELEASE on vinyl. was that true 15 years ago? 10 years ago? no, it was not. those with an agenda can try to minimize vinyl's resurgence all they want, but one trip to my local record store (actually i have about 15 local record stores) proves them dead wrong.

 

People might poo-poo a checkers championship or tournament as nothing significant. And that may be so in one corner of the world. But in another corner, checkers is a big thing.

 

It sounds like you make more money nowadays than in your "industry" days. Congrats on that. Yet it doesn't ring true when you say it's something good that happened to you, as you really seem to resent people who are doing well in the business of physical media these days (or those who have disposable income and enjoy vinyl). It's understandable, though; I'd never trade my record store job for work in the "financial sector"

 

I agree, it's always puzzled me. It's like people feel that they were promised a vinyl-free future when they bought their first CD player, and a couple million LP's being sold a year and a handful of people being happy about that is screwing that all up.

The irony about the OP is that it seems to me he was trying to troll the vinyl advocates - "Hey, there's supposed to be this bug resurgence of vinyl but look at this graph" - but the graph isn't really that bothersome to anyone who likes vinyl. No one expects LP to sell in the tens of millions and become dominant. It isn't necessary.

 

I've come to the realization that even if everything I think I know about vinyl turned out to be false, the bottom line is I still like to listen to records. Yeah, it's weird.

 

I'd be a malcontent too if I was a CD lover, and every used music store I walked into was plastered from wall to wall with vinyl, and only a small bin in the back for used CD's and cassettes. That must be very scarey for some people, as the medium that has graced this planet for a hundred years continues to supplant their medium of choice, and also forces them to question everything they once thought was fact. Historically speaking, every music medium has proven to be a fad when compared to the longevity of vinyl / records. God bless it.

 

Why would any "CD Lover" be malcontent with the resurgence of vinyl? This thread & others has its fair share of people who are "vinyl lovers" and trying to ridicule people who like digital media and want to stick with it (like me). To even think people be scared that vinyl is back and to "question everything they once thought was fact" is such hyperbole it's ridiculous. There are more CDs to be bought than ever and I've never gotten so many as the last 2-2,5 years. About 2 a day, both new and used. With newer and better converters they sound better than ever if you just avoid the worst compressed ones.

I can buy Steve Hoffman-mastered Audio Fidelity for $10-12, still sealed, how great is that? Got "In the wind" by P,P&M on the way from the US and I payed a little over $11 (with shipping it ended up costing just a little over an ordinary release in Sweden). Phil Collins "Face value" for $9. Why on earth wouldn't I be happy for all others getting great music without breaking the bank, be it CD, vinyl or something else? That's the only real threat I can see for vinyl staying power, that the industry gets greedy and hikes the prices beyond reason. If CD had been better priced in the '80 and '90s, I'd probably bought 3-4 times the amount, but the industry got greedy and due to that I jumped on the downloading bandwagon for a while. But, when the record industry felt the pinch, and after the terrible copy protection disaster, I'm back buying CDs like never before. Don't underestimate the pricing factor, even for vinyl.

In my view, vinyl belongs in a museum, and I'm no curator, so digital is my media of choice. Does it bother me that other music lovers can chose their media of choice, like vinyl? Not at all, i fact I embrace it and are very happy for them. In the end, the proliferation of great music is all that matters.

Can't we just focus on our love for music?

 

The CD is not a fad.

 

This forum has always been about quality (audiophile) sound of the music.

 

I think I'd take surface noise over tape hiss.

 

During the years that the CD was aging popularity, I recall getting a strong impression that the record industry seemed intent on eliminating records. The first plug they pulled was the 7 inch 45.

Or, was it the record store chains (Tower, Music Plus, Wherehouse, etc) that pushed it over the edge by declaring they wouldn't stock vinyl due to declining sales? I guess the goal was to carry more CDs...while still maintaining floor space for music t-shirts, cassingles, rock posters, bongs, incense, cassette storage racks? Let's not forget the rise of the DVD that demanded it's own retail territory.

So I guess, over the next decade or so, the labels willingly conceded...as they calculated that the greater profit margin is the final deciding factor - and CDs are much cheaper to press.

 

Yes, I was surprised to recently read of the labels' instant delete strategy (but also thought it's absolute proof that the charts are still manipulated bollocks).

And I recall the sales terminology "cannibalize" justifying the elimination of the single.

Perhaps this thread isn't the best one to declare that there's a certain collector's passion for the art/style/conciseness/commerce of the 7" 45 rpm single, with or without the picture sleeve, that must be declared.
But I will.

 

Once again,retailers had no choice.Neither did the consumer.The decline in LP sales to near zero was manufactured by the manufacturers.

 

It certainly wasn't for me and my friends. We chose to stop buying LPs and embraced CD, and still do. It suprises me that there seems to be a need to explain the earlier demise of LP for other reasons than lack of interest by the consumer. As I said, around here it wasn't a conspiracy, we just liked CD better.

 

It's called evolution folks.

 

So vinyl is as popular now as it was in 1989... if you ask me that's a pretty incredible feat considering the state of music consumption today.

 

Agreed. And look after your CD inlays.

 

Here's my real question... will this resurgence keep up 5-10 years from now or will this fade away when the current young generation that's buying vinyl gets lulled into say high resolution digital audio or something else? I'm not trying to undermine the resurgence I'm glad vinyl is making a comeback but now to me it's a matter of if this will keep momentum or is this a passing fad?

 

How so? Please explain.

 

Folks at the hardware dealers told me they sold quite a number of TT's over xmas . A growing trend apparently