Is pricing killing the vinyl resurgence?

I just paid $34.00 for a "used" copy of the 1st Rolling Stones UK version(high dollar for me). Not a 1st pressing either. So if you are able to buy a new copy of your special records for under $25.00, you are getting a bargain. Unless, you like mainstream 70's music that you can pick up decent copies for 1 or 2 bucks, the really good stuff is hard to find and expensive now. That's just the way it is I am sorry to say.

 

You were smart/lucky. Bought at the right time, and continued to buy. I wish I bought more years ago. Today's market is the exact opposite. CDs, including rare ones, are cheap. LPs expensive.

 

I basically put a $25 cap on vinyl. Anything over $22 gets a sideways glance. I might go up to $30 for something difficult to find but not often. Most of my buys are under $20.

The retailers have a little more control than they let on, as well. My favorite spot prices new LP's about 10-15% lower than the other shops in town right off the bat. Then routinely give their regulars (I'm one) another 10% which essentially eliminates sales tax. So, for example, I just bought the new Shakey Graves LP for $18 after tax , passed on Endless River for $24 (good price IMO) and snagged a VG / VG+ copy of Animals for $14.

Still more expensive than used CDs but not totally insane.

 

I'm talking from my personal experience and standpoint. It's very real!

I produce music in Jamaica and sales are not super big to say the least. The prices I'm selling my products at are in line with other records give or take a couple of dollars. But for small runs the cost per unit is so high that I barely repay my pressing and mastering expenses. Production costs are rarely paid back with sales of physical products. I give thanks to the Lord I have a huge online catalog generating money to spend foolishly on new projects and a day job that gives me enough disposable income to pay for projects and keep my wife and kids fed clothed sheltered and put through college...

 

It isn't a matter of slowing down. It is a matter of maintaining it. Hundreds of albums that you continuously add to require work to maintain.
And, I am not merely old, I am somewhat disabled. So at times getting out of a chair is something that requires planning.
When I am busy working in my shop, if it is a bad body day and I am not functioning well then I want to put on a couple hours worth of music and not have to fool with it again.
And I sure as hell don't want to build any more racks to store albums in, or spend time putting them back away and keeping them in alphabetical order and all that. It is far easier to do with CDs.
Considering I am a working musician, build almost everything I need ( I build my own furniture, have enough of a shop set up that I can machine replacement parts for things in disrepair rather than the headache of trying to buy them in phone hell, and still do the mundane daily routine maintenance a human body requires, I simply don't have the energy to have things more complicated and labor intense than they need be.
One of the things about being disabled is that you have limited time to do things in. Because my body is what it is and I have to accomodate it, things such as walking require more work than for someone with a perfect bod. Which means that what is a 20 hour job for many can end up being a 60 hour job for me.
Age doesn't help matters. I simply cannot put in 20 hour days like I did when I was young.
Owning things is nice, but it is also a liability. I also do all of my own plumbing, electrical, and auto maintenance, as well as gardening.
So again, eliminating things that aren't absolutely necessary is important to me.

Hence, the vinyl takes a back seat, it hasn't the sound quality of CD and MD , is bulky to own and maintain, requires more care in handling, and requires interruptions while listening to it. It is the easy one to give up.

 

I wouldn't touch vinyl now. Same problems you had in the 80's. Off centre pressings, warped records, dented cardboard sleeves and over priced as hell to boot.
It's just a fad right now that will pass in time.
I love this time for Compact Discs however.. Great Cd's can be found for $2.00 at the Goodwill and you don't have to be around a bunch of bearded hipster snobs while music shopping!

 

I have said the same thing all along. One thing that I know for sure is that the pressings today are way nicer quality than those of the past. Much more quiet and less warp-age from my experience. Just a better product all the way around and that has to stand for something.

 

I never had a big problem with bad vinyl, I would get a defect now and then but considering the huge amount of albums I was buying it was to be expected.
But I agree with you about CDs. I still find some great music for 50 cents. And I gobble it up. I can get 40 albums for what I use to pay for just one if the wind is blowing right and there are no sunspots, and I find a bunch of 50 cent CDs.

 

I would.

 

I don't know what you have as a disability,but I have mitochondrial disease,among a number of other things.I have been on SSI since I was a teenager.I have never had a job,so I have lots of time.I know enough not to play records,or even CDs,if I had them,on my bad days.

 

If there wasn't a market for the vinyl at this price, they wouldn't produce or would price it cheaper. Jack White came out at around $30 and sold 40,000 first week.

 

Indeed. Have been for at least a decade. CDs should be inside of $12.

 

Have to agree with this one wholeheartedly.

 

I have always been working, be it working in the work force or performing. Now of course I am semi-retired, but I still stay as active and productive as I can.
Most of mine is joint defects and injuries, Evil Knevil had nothing on me. Him and I could have started a club. But I also have other stuff that is random and debilitating. Sometimes I go weeks without an attack and function almost normal.
I also have a leg that is partially paralyzed and walked with a cane for years, but I have taught myself to walk without it. I obviously never carried it into a venue with me or on stage, but I would have to be very careful.
My point is, I need a lot of things in my life that are convenience like CDs instead of albums, to free me up to have the energy and time to do things that need done.

 

Just so you know I wasn't trying to offend you. Sorry to hear of your problems.

 

Not at all, you didn't offend me. I probably shouldn't have shared all that, but I take it all rather cavalierly and deal with it rather well. It is just one more of those "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" situations.
But I am on a bit of a bandwagon for people who are disabled, before that became my situation I know that I had a skewed view of what "disability" meant.
What it doesn't mean is that you become a doorstop. Which is what I thought prior to my physical decline.
What it does mean is that you don't function on a level that society expects and that many people do not and cannot understand your situation and often sit in judgment. I often defend those who others call "lazy" and accuse them of lying about being disabled on the basis that " hey, he takes out the trash, so he must be ok" mindset.
But it does cause me to be very calculated about everything I do and what I retain in my life and what I give up.
Thank God I function on a level that still allows me to gig. I know a lot of guys who can no longer withstand the rigors of the stage and all the crap that leads up to getting on one.
And I thank God for CDs and not having to lug boxes of albums around.... especially now. I just spent a week building new CD containers and alphabet cards to have them in some kind of order. I still need to make some for all my classical and new age/ambiant music. A tedious task for CDs. It would have been daunting had I been doing it for albums.

 

Vinyl is expensive to press, way more than CDS. The printing is a gripper too. Boxes, books all cost money. And the shipping is way higher. If tapes have to be remastered... this all costs. I don't buy a lot of new vinyl, but I will spring for special things like the new Wilco rarities. I do try and buy directly from a band when I can.

 

If prices come down, then home taping will kill it. Says so right on the covers. It's always something.

 

That's why if I buy an lp record, it's usually a used item that I've inspected.
Of course in the last 5 years I have found it more affordable to buy cd editions and even 4 track reel to reel tapes when they come in to pawn shops or thrift shops.
Only when it is an album I hold in holy regard do I venture to the more premium price.

 

After all is said and done this thread is the perfect thing to read if you need to fall asleep.

 

Actually most are especially those that list DR numbers and waveforms and anything that has loudness in the copy.

 

If you got a copy of Aerial that wasn't defective, 35 Euros is a bargain.

 

I think it would be cool if they brought back a version of the old skull and crossbones thing and used a computer or a smart phone instead of a cassette and stuck it on every new LP.

 

It isn't defective and I bought it at list price in the store.

 

It ain't cheap to be cool....