Perspective - What the vinyl resurgence really looks like

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by DannyBoyNYC, Jan 22, 2015.

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  1. DannyBoyNYC

    DannyBoyNYC Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Brooklyn
    Happened across this chart from Digital Music News. Looks like there's a long way to go before Capital Records can start to think about renovating their landmark building in L.A.
    [​IMG]
     
  2. e.s.

    e.s. Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Yawn. I love how committed people are to downplaying an improving part of the music market. Obviously, vinyl sales are not what they were in the 1970s. Spoilers: It's not the 1970s anymore. The fact that a format that was virtually dead less than a decade ago has rebounded at all is still impressive, especially in light of the fact that CD sales (which, yes, are still higher than vinyl sales) have fallen off a cliff.
     
  3. jmpatrick

    jmpatrick Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit, MI
    Interesting. Vinyl was trending down before the Compact Disc was launched in 1981. Perhaps people were switching to cassettes? I'd love to see a master graph with all the various consumer formats represented so we could see where people were putting their music $...
     
    Grant, marblesmike, MultiMan and 6 others like this.
  4. hiddman

    hiddman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Manchester, KY
    It's still pretty impressive to me when you think about the number of alternatives to vinyl that exist now compared to the late 80s.
     
  5. JohnnyQuest

    JohnnyQuest Forum Resident

    Location:
    Paradise
    :biglaugh:
    Damn...
     
    Licorice pizza likes this.
  6. Danby Delight

    Danby Delight Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    Still not sure why I should care. Every new album I want to buy is available on vinyl, 80% of them under $20. Show me why it matters that more CDs are sold.
     
    Kevin j, Gaslight, Scott222C and 4 others like this.
  7. mtruslow

    mtruslow Forum Resident

    Location:
    Towson, Maryland
    I don't get the vinyl thing. I've heard vinyl on some very nice equipment but it still has the same drawbacks. Surface noise, pops, clicks and having to clean the hell out of it to get decent quality sound. I know I'm going to get killed for my opinion but please, just be reasonable while killing me. :)
     
  8. tkl7

    tkl7 Agent Provocateur

    Location:
    Lewis Center, OH
    Yes, Cassettes were portable, and had no surface noise/scratches, etc.
     
    ian christopher likes this.
  9. DannyBoyNYC

    DannyBoyNYC Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Brooklyn
    The vinyl singles market has really fallen off a cliff, probably a good thing - I always thought that the LP format really defined the experience of music in the 70-90's. Like Marshall McLuhan said - "The medium is the message."
     
    Aftermath and JohnnyQuest like this.
  10. rene smalldridge

    rene smalldridge Senior Member

    Location:
    manhattan,kansas
    An introductory course in Statistics would allow a person to make a graph which would look completely different.
    Depends on what you want to accentuate so consider the source.
    Also, as has been mentioned many times in many different threads and posts , the sale of vinyl in independent stores ( which really are the go-to places for vinyl afficianados now ) is very poorly counted if at all.
     
  11. Danby Delight

    Danby Delight Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    Listening to the debut album by the Toronto band Absolutely Free right now, out last year on Lefse. Nearing the end of side one and I've heard no surface noise and maybe two small clicks, neither of which ruined the experience for me. Only cleaning was a quick pass with a Discwasher. Sound is well beyond decent, especially on the track currently playing, which has some killer dub-style echo and reverb.
     
    e.s. likes this.
  12. e.s.

    e.s. Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    In all fairness, it doesn't. CD sales dropped around 25 million in 2014, which isn't as bad as the 28 million drop in 2013, but still percentage-wise, works out to the same, because it's the second year in a row CDs have dropped by 14%.

    Does that mean people who enjoy listening to CDs should stop buying them? Well, of course not. If you like CDs, buy CDs.

    But please stop insisting those of us who prefer vinyl are somehow idiots because sales of the format we prefer are actually growing.
     
    24voltsdc, Driver 8, Dubmart and 4 others like this.
  13. JohnnyQuest

    JohnnyQuest Forum Resident

    Location:
    Paradise
    Can you explain to me (in layman's terms) how the sound quality differs from a song that's itunes mastered? I'm not as knowledgeable when it comes to sound quality as many Audiophiles you'd find on this board.
     
  14. Classicrock

    Classicrock Senior Member

    Location:
    South West, UK.
    The remarkable thing is sales are at 1989 levels and if they increase at the current rate will soon reach 1988 levels. Didn't EMI sell off the Capitol building so they are now only tenants?
     
    Aftermath and fitzrik like this.
  15. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    You want a link to prove that we've seen this chart before? Look at any of the numerous threads about the vinyl resurgence here, it often comes up.
     
  16. bluelips

    bluelips Forum Resident

    i'm happy as long as new releases i want are coming out on vinyl at a decent price, which is roughly 80% of them
     
    Chip Z, Aftermath, ShawnX and 2 others like this.
  17. e.s.

    e.s. Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Yup, sold in 2006.
     
  18. BuckNaked

    BuckNaked Senior Member

    Location:
    Connecticut
    To say nothing of the space requirements for storing 12x12 albums. I switched to CD in '88 and have never looked back.
     
    RomanZ likes this.
  19. rcsrich

    rcsrich Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    Well, you could change the scale of the y-axis, but beyond that, not sure how else you could "skew" the chart without changing the data itself. It shows "millions of units"- pretty straightforward. Your point about how the data was collected/sources is definitely something to consider though.
    My takeaway- vinyl is enjoying an uptick, but production is still a fraction of what it was in its heyday. Pretty simple & not contentious.
     
    Grant, PHILLYQ, zongo and 1 other person like this.
  20. Schoolmaster Bones

    Schoolmaster Bones Poe's Lawyer

    Location:
    ‎The Midwest
    This pretty much settles it for me. I'm giving up vinyl.
     
  21. rcsrich

    rcsrich Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    2006...forever known as "the year without vinyls". ;)
     
  22. rcsrich

    rcsrich Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    The evidence is incontrovertible...
     
  23. Schoolmaster Bones

    Schoolmaster Bones Poe's Lawyer

    Location:
    ‎The Midwest
    I have no idea what I was thinking all these years. Time to put things into proper perspective.
     
    Billy Infinity, e.s. and dkmonroe like this.
  24. bluelips

    bluelips Forum Resident

    i'd like to see a similar chart for 8-tracks
     
  25. Licorice pizza

    Licorice pizza Livin’ On The Fault Line

    Or to quote Disraeli: "There are lies, there are damned lies and then there are statistics".
     
    Erik Tracy likes this.
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