They can't when they don't own it. When an artist is dropped, the major label will hold the recordings hostage. The artist, if they have enough $, can try to negotiate to buy them or get another label with deep pockets to do the same. This has happened a few times. One young artist in my area was signed to a psuedo major. She had no physical releases IIRC and none of the music she recorded for them she owns. She did record new material independently but these are only available digitally and via download stores. She mentioned to the crowd at a concert to listen to certain streaming stations, as she gets a small income from that. I think she needs a new manager and lawyer, but it's a tough business for any young artist out there. Even "success" on the large indie label circuit is not all it's cracked up to be. One of my friends from college did that for a few years.
I remember hearing someone years ago say "In the future, people will touch wood." What he was describing is a need, in technologically advanced times, to consciously reconnect with "real" things. Physical objects, nature. Things that pre-date our technological age. Fashion and design have many examples (the midcentury modern revival, for example). Or the growth of cocktail bars or vintage style barbershops, to name a few. Things from a pre-cyber world that seem more "real" and activate something pleasurable after you've spent a day staring at a screen. For a lot of people, that's what vinyl is. The ritual of removing the shrinkwrap, pulling out the record and setting it on a turntable is a "touch wood" kind of moment. Audio manufacturers, being the engineers they are, aren't very skilled at evoking emotion in their advertising, so they can't really connect to the "touch wood" consumer. But they should certainly try. Because I'm betting there are lots of them.
Every future home will have those all-in-one stereo sets that you see in homes from TV shows? A horrible vision.
Vinyl is not wood. It is the opposite of wood. Even when broken apart mechanically it stays in its plastic form. Ditto for CDs, cassettes and other plastic products. I am surprised that in the time of the planetary crisis there are people advocating producing more plastic stuff. I would rather buy a wooden fake record, than an actual plastic one, considering it is a collectible item anyway. Then I'd be able to touch wood.
I don’t mean this in a negative way, but I wonder if Honda Motors would have developed a robot or a Business Jet if management thought in this manner.
Apples and oranges. Honda is a publicly traded company with a responsibility to provide value to its shareholders. Boutique audio companies are small, privately held operations, the launch of a failing product can spell death to the company.
That may be true. That's why you need to be right. Maybe the correct answer is to do nothing, or maybe doing nothing is the decision that spells death to the company.
I've been playing WAV. files and TIDAL music from my laptop via a cheap $50 Behringer USB DAC into a mixer then to active speakers. I'm very happy with the sound.
I think that pretty much nails it. I think even the boutique companies tho are going to move away from traditional stereo components. It's already happening. There's a whole generation of customers coming up now who've pretty much never used separates and won't be shopping for them. Ever. I wouldn't be surprised to see some kind of high-end Crosley knockoff come out for example - a boutique all-in-one turntable with speakers and amp that doesn't sound like crap and retails for over $1,000. If everything old is new again we're headed back to the '60s when it comes to record players. Assuming they don't turn out to have been a hipster fad and die off with the Urban Outfitters generation that made them popular in the first place, which is always a possibility with anything trendy. Boom boxes were huge for over a decade and then they essentially vanished.
But why? Back in the days of physical media it made sense to stop printing new copies of existing records from a given act if they were dropped - no demand, crowds other material out of the record store. There's zero incentive to pull anything from streaming services today unless there's some sort of contractual dispute over streaming rights - that would be throwing money away. Indeed, if activist shareholders found out management was doing something stupid like that, it would be grounds to sue.
They’re not doing nothing, they’re continuing to enhance and develop higher end products. If they have the reserves to fund R&D into entry-level products I’m sure they consider whether it would work for them on all levels (including the need to hire additional staff to develop and build those new products, do they have the office and warehouse space to house the new products/new employees, cost of hiring/training new staff, cost of marketing the new products, etc.). There’s much more that goes in to it besides saying ‘hey, let’s offer a cheaper turntable.’
Vinyl record sales have increased ten times (not 10%, 10X) since 2010, at least in the US. Crosley "junk" showing up at Urban Outfitters was indeed an important clue in 2010. I have been a lifelong vinyl collector, so I remember visiting LA from Tokyo in 2014 and walking into an Urban Outfitters. There was a nice end cap with about 30 or 40 titles. I bought albums by Lana Del Rey, Charli XCX, and Father John Misty. Seven years later, those early Urban Outfitters records are quite valuable and I never opened Lana's blue/purple Ultraviolence which sells for $250+. Anyway, perhaps you foresaw it, but I certainly didn't think this was a major trend, and I think that most industry experts were taken by surprise by the strength of the vinyl resurgence among young people, even though they could have seen what was happening at Urban Outfitters or Newbury Comics, just as Crosley had. You disparage Crosley, but in my view, this Kentucky company's decision to manufacture cheap turntables (either all in one or bluetooth) for the under-30 market was either brilliant or very, very lucky. I am happy for their success, and I suspect they are trying to figure out how best to help their customers when they graduate college and decide to upgrade. Hopefully, the audio equipment companies are doing so as well.
I don't think we are disagreeing. By doing nothing, I meant not getting into the young record buyers' market. They may decide that there are no possibilities for them (even as OEM or parts manufacturers?). I just hope that it is based on real market research.
So people actually buy those Crosleys? They've got them at Ollie's Bargain Outlet (which I love btw). Has anyone heard one?
They actually have quite a lineup! Well, I suspect very few, if any Forum members have heard a Crosley - we're a bit outside of their demographic. I suspect it sounds very similar to the Sanyo all in one portable record player I had when I was a kid (although mine was mono). Shop Turntables | Crosley Radio Here's a new vinyl collector (she has eight records) who defends her Crosley against the audiophile snobs in the "toxic vinyl community". This was a fun video to watch.
Nice vid! (not a vinyls snob, my TT is a beginner Sansui FR-1080, but it gets the job done and keeps me happy)
I suggest browsing Amazon and reading comments. Jeez, there is no need to walk the streets polling people, it is all there already written, just read. For example: Wow, he had to do a lot of research. How many 1980s kids had to be told that they need an amp for speakers? If you did not know, Micca and Tekline are brands of Highland Technologies, Ltd based in HongKong. The RB42 are passive speakers with 4-inch drivers. They are offered as bookshelf, but I would rather call them computer speakers if not for their faux wood style, they are just 22 cm high. The price? $150 for a pair! Nice $400 Jotunheim amp on the photo, by the way. At the same time a pair of Klipsch R-41M non-powered speakers is on sale for $110 (21% off regular price of $140). Here is another guy: So, he runs $150 speakers via a $80 amp and considers this an audiophile setup. And who can say that he is not an audiophile? Does he have to buy $1400 KEF LS50 to be considered one? Is it how much you plunk, or how interested and versed you are in the technical intricacies of the listening process? I guess, my point is, people still listen to music. They still need SOME setup to listen to music, but it is not a huge stack of separates and floor-standing speakers. Instead, it is a near field speakers, often powered, from a new manufacturer. If not powered, then there is also a small power amp, again from a new brand. And a pair of nice wireless headphones, can be Apple AirPods Max or can be something from a new brand for less than $100. Everything is small, fits on a table around a computer, which is the center of the Universe. People still spend money on gear, sometimes quite a serious chunk of money, but they buy from new brands, unknown to the old guard. So, either the old brands will buy these new ones and continue developing them, selling for young crowd, or they can try pushing their own brands, or they die. Looking at the heavily discounted Klipsch speakers, seems that many of the old ones chose to die without a fight. P.S. I personally am considering to buy a pair of powered desktop/bookshelf speakers for $80 with Bluetooth, USB input, built-in equalizer, and a remote, as a present to my son. Presently, he has a pair of $20 crappy computer speakers, so it is time to upgrade
Of course they buy them. Probably no worse than the TT in the low end all-in-one player I had when I was 13. Market is screaming for a quality, well marketed ~$150 TT with usb out and switchable pre-amp. Maybe the AudioTechnica models do this, I don't know.
Behold: AT-LP60XBT-USB - Fully Automatic Belt-Drive Turntable (Wireless, USB & Analog) | Audio-Technica
They were already manufacturing other retro-encased junk so this wasn't much of a stretch. It's panned out for them, but there haven't been a slew of imitators, I suspect because the margins are slim and the market fairly limited. I'm somewhat surprised the fad has gone on as long as it has, but then hipsters are still buying swill like Pabst Blue Ribbon as well because it's "hip", so... I will say, I'm old enough to see trends like this come and go several times, and I have no idea if this is permanent or about to completely collapse. Boom boxes ruled the earth for over a decade and then - just as suddenly as they'd become a craze - you couldn't find one if your life depended on it. I absolutely miss boom boxes more than I miss crummy turntables. Hopefully they'll make a big comeback next.
