Perspective - What the vinyl resurgence really looks like

To quote Jay-Z: "Men lie, Women lie, Numbers don't"...

 

Anyhoo, vinyl is getting a lot more interesting now that its a niche product. It has become more closely associated with identity (either the brand of the band or that of the purchaser).

For example - I just received the special edition of the Decembrists new album What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World and it came autographed with a hanging banner, sew on stickers, limited edition artwork, digital download, and 180g double vinyl (side 4 has lovely artwork etched on it).


I don't remember this sort of thing being quite as common in the format's heyday.

 

Black=LP, red=cassette & yellow=CD?

 

Wow- looks like 2006 was "the year of no vinyls OR cassettes". Or more simply, "the year CDs thumped everyone's a$$".

 

It's interesting that I switched from vinyl to CD in 1989, when it became almost impossible to find new releases, and now we're almost back to that level!

 

That was a dark time. Turntables lay mouldering in the streets. Rare Beatles LPs were used as cheap house siding. Roving gangs would go door to door, smashing your entire collection in the name of progress, even if you claimed all you had left was a copy of Frampton Comes Alive, kept for sentimental reasons.

 

You are guilty as charged by yourself! I would suggest death by mental torture... pops, clicks, crackles and the sound of the needle dropping on vinyl! I reckon you wouldn't live too long!

Now if you did get the vinyl thing! I would send you to a desert island with your favourite vinyl LPs!

JG

 

For that to have any validity, I'd have to have heard the iTunes-mastered file, which I haven't. You can't just generalize. Well, you can, but it's pointless.

 

It were awful! (spoken in my best Cockney accent)

 

I think he got it from John Turturro in Mo' Better Blues:

"Numbers never lie. That's why I like numbers. People lie from the crib, but not numbers. Moe, the numbers never lie".

 

One of my buddies in his 40s said in the mid to late 80s, everyone was going for cassette, at least in his school.

 

I hated cassettes then, I hate them now.

 

Ditto. MP3/Streaming is the way to go.

 

Cassettes are great for portability and durability, but that's about it, in general. (when I say durability, you can throw them around and not break them)

 

I guess Vinyl never really gots its Viagra moment.

 

If that's just sales of new vinyl, I suspect it doesn't really capture "the vinyl resurgence" and therefore is a limited perspective.

 

The most shocking thing to me is the production capacity that once existed! It looks like at least a third of the human population must have been employed in pressing plants, compared to the 13 people working in them globally today.

 

It needs to be stimulated for a few years more.

 

"If your format sells over 500 million units for more than four decades, call your record company exec".

 

Funny. I think people forget that most vinyl Lps were born as a tape reel in the studio.

 

good point, although you'd also need to then add in used CD sales as well...

 

True, but a 1/4 or 1/2 inch tape running at 15 or 30 inches per second- not really a comparison...