Is pricing killing the vinyl resurgence?

So I am glad now I grabbed Kate Bush "Aerial" on vinyl for 35 Euros a few years ago although it still was a lot of money at the time, but I am a collector and if I want to have some things I have to be prepared to shell out money while these things are available - or simply not have 'em - the waiting game for these items is very rarely working out in my experience.
And I don't bitch about that.

We had the same conversation regarding those DCC CDs years ago - back when CDs were still discussed - either you were prepared to shell out more at the time they were available or not and many regretted it later.

And I don't think more people would buy more LPs if they were priced less. Not in this day and age.

 

+1

i don't mind paying ~$30 for an LP. i haven't been burned by a bad one yet. granted i've only bought 4 since i got a turntable.

 

The ones I am referring to don't include CDs or MP3s.

 

Yes I have to also agree...if anything people want less physical products not more. They want everything to fit on a music player, or even moreso now, a phone. Physical media in all forms I'm afraid is dying a slow death. There will probably always be niche stuff, like Vinyl, but for most people they couldn't care less....its already dead.

I think it would a bit but probably not as much as you think. I think Vinyl is still really a niche product and Im not even sure a price drop, unless massive, would help it be anything more.

 

Lack of convenience is a huge downside to me. I have a vast part of my large CD collection also on my MP3 Portable player and also on one of my computers.

I can access any song outside of home, in my car and anywhere in my house, very easily, and randomly and with almost no effort.

When I used discs exclusively, it was tiring to feel in the mood for an album, listen a few minutes and realize I wanted to hear something else, and have to eject it, go get it out of tray, put in back in tray and back on shelf and then randomly scan hundreds of CDs....
Now I simply click on a name and it plays. If I get tired of it, click on another........

Convenience can not be overlooked for someone really into music!

 

I've virtually given up on used vinyl. Years ago you could find decent stuff for $1-$3 and take a risk. Now stuff that looks and sounds far worse are selling for ridiculous prices. I'm buying more new vinyl that has been verified to have great pressings.

 

I was at a place cash express today in paris, a sort of pawn shop resale store. They had a bunch of decent records there until I actually looked at the records. All in pretty bad condition. I saw a pink floyd meddle that looked like a hyena attacked it for 15 euros. Same thing for a bowie changes, 2 discs, at 25 euros. Then I saw some bearded guy come in and grab like 4 to buy without looking at the disc. I guess he just wanted some overly expensive artwork.

Then I was at fnac. A large store like barnes and noble and best buy mixed into one. They had 7" by bands like black lips that were 10 euros. I mean 10 euros for two songs is f###ing rediculous. I bought a bunch of 7" of local punk bands back in the mid 90's and they cost like 2 or 3 dollars new. I'm sure inflation hasn't gone up that much.

 

No, what's killing new vinyl is a lack of consistent quality control! I've seen more warped, dished, bowed LP's than I care to in a lifetime. Every LP / box set I've bought this year has had faulty LP's and curiously they all have exactly the same fault ie. the "dished" looked or bowl shaped. As a result I've now given up completely buying new vinyl but as I won't buy anymore second-hand Lp's due to every seller woefully over-grading them, I'm kinda done as far as Lp's are concerned. I'm not too enthusiastic for CD's anymore and yet I don't download either. The future is looking a little dark for me!

 

Most of the new vinyl I've purchased during the vinyl resurgence was LPs by a few of my favorite artists. In all cases I purchased both the vinyl and CD, just to throw a little extra cash their way as much as anything. When the LP is 200-300% higher than the CD, I have to go with the CD.

I have purchased a few of the ridiculously priced RSD releases because of the cool factor, but that's usually the 45s and EPs, rather than the $40+ LPs.

 

Been a while since I bought an LP with a free CD.That was a big thing in,like 2008-10,now most LPs come with a code for a free download,even cheaper to produce than a CD.

 

I love vinyl,and it is all I will ever buy for music,collectible or not.There is another thread going on about what records pressed after 2000 are really collectible.I think it will be a lot fewer than we think.I have eight records,out of at least a few hundred,I bought brand new since 2000 that now go for crazy money.If any were reissued on vinyl,the price would plummet.

David Bowie Heathen
Gorillaz Demon Days
Wanda Jackson You Know I'm No Good tri color 45,signed
Wanda Jackson at Third Man Records
Paul McCartney Chaos and Creation In The Back Yard
Paul McCartney Memory Almost Full
Paavo Jarvi Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Beethoven Nine Symphonies
XTC Skylarking Polarity corrected 45 RPM version.

There are maybe a couple dozen more really collectible ones,but not that many out of the thousands that came out,and as we get further into the 2010s,There are fewer still that are really collectible.

In the long run,I do not believe most post 2000 reissues,like the Led Zeppelin,or Beatles,or whatever will ever go up in price like the originals did.I am guessing the people who buy these reissues are split between speculators,and those who just want to have the records on vinyl to listen to,and not bother with the hassle and expense of seeking out original copies,however rare or common they may be.

Nor do I think any of the reissues for Record Store Day will ever be that collectible.I see a lot in the current resurgence in vinyl that is very similar to how greed and phony collectibility crashed the market for comic books and baseball cards in the 90s.This is what has ruined Record Store Day,IMO,but that's a topic for a different thread.

 

New Black Keys, new Robert Plant, new Echo & the Bunnymen, new Nine Inch Nails, ...

 

Yeah, I would love someone to convince me Neil Young's vinyl prices aren't a money grab.

 

I'm not a vinyl fan but my opinion why it costs more is the fact it is being marketed as an audiophile product these days. The word audiophile seems to translate to big $ all the time, including hardware.

 

I think you live in a fairy tale.
The music industry has a massive history and stereotype as being as corrupt as a blown hard drive. Music has been a huge money grab for a long time.
Much of musics history includes organized crime.
That not everyone is taking part in the money grab is of little consolation.
I know very well what it takes to record and manufacture music, from personal experience of all elements of it.
I wouldn't say that vinyl is a huge moneygrab now, being as it just isn't popular enough that it could be and it is a fragile market.
But make no bones, there are folks making some nice bucks from it.
And there are likely many still in the industry for one reason. Money.

 

This is really true as you get old. I don't have the energy or the time to mess around with keeping a vinyl situation going, not on the grand scale my music habit is.
I do minidiscs and CDs. Vinyl is just too much bulk to move around and the inconvenience of dealing with a turntable and all that.
The older you get the more you appreciate time, because getting the neccesities of life done far outweigh pastimes, and getting those things done takes much more time and sap a lot more energy than when you are young.
So convenience rules.

Also, I have hundreds, perhaps thousands of albums. I have a lot that I have found used in great shape over the past few years that I want to listen to, but man,... when it comes time to put some music on it is just so easy to pop a CD into whatever room system I am using. And letting it play through without having to get up every 17 minutes to flip it over...
And having two albums edited down onto a CD or MD so that it plays for 80 min without me bothering with it.

 

I see the online codes on most album cover stickers that I see. I think the code is a smart move since many people would not have the time or know how to rip a vinyl LP. Back when I still purchased records in the late 70's and 80's, I read a Bob Seger interview to where he recorded new albums on the first or second play to make sure there was no quality loss. When I read that (I did not know any better then), I used his method. I recorded R2R and Cassette of an LP at the same time. So basically, I had hundreds of LPs only played once. I listened to those LPs on R2R at home. I always purchased clear plastic storage sleeves for all my LPs. Between blank tapes, storage sleeves, etc, I had lots of money tied up in vinyl. I basically sold everything in the late 80s in favor of CD's.

 

I agree, not a money grab at all. But when you can pay $18-24 for a great new record seeing prices at 35-40 for a single LP does seem excessive

 

So why do you have them and why do you keep buying them if you don't listen to them? Do you just buy them to record them so you can put them on CDs and MDs? Either way, why don't you give them or sell them to someone who will appreciate them?

 

it's the exact opposite for me. as i have gotten older i've learned to slow the hell down and enjoy the finer things in life. sure, i still have tens of thousands of songs in digital form, but nothing makes me feel better at the end of a long day than to crack open a brew and put the needle on the record.

 

Wow. How OLD are you? To much trouble to flip an LP over!?! Just kidding man! Personally I MAKE the time to relax and enjoy my music. I prefer vinyl and always have.
Sometimes you have to SLOW down and take some time for yourself. It's good for the soul. Granted, I don't have the time I used to but I always make time every week for some down time.
Vinyl rules!

 

I don't know what effect it has had on the value of your original, but "Music On Vinyl" reissued Bowie's "Heathen" some time ago and it is still available at a not unreasonable price.
Sounds excellent too.

 

I started my current record collection in 1979.I have maybe 10-15,000 records,zero CDs.I don't do digital.I bought vinyl heavily in the mid. 80s to early 90s wehen people dumped their collections for CDs.Incredible bargains in rare records could still be found up until about the turn of the decade from the 2000s to the 2010s,both on ebay,and at the local thrift stores and yard sales.All of that changed in the last three to four years.What has spolied things for me,is not so much the prices of new vinyl,but the prices of older used records.Granted,I have moved up into the higher,but not top,levels of collectible records,but even so,prices are often three to five times higher than they were a few years ago.

 

Makes sense....more people are coming back to Vinyl and looking for those classics. Also there are people with maybe more money than sense willing to pay, its going to drive prices up unfortunately.

 

Maybe not. But, it's always possible that the people who already buy LPs would be buying more of them at lower prices.