The economy has been the primary topic of conversation in America’s living rooms and in the media. Sales are slumping in nearly every industry. Many people are finding themselves in the unemployment line. The music business is no exception. It has been feeling this financial crunch for several years now. In 2007 CD sales decreased by nearly 50 percent. Last year, sales numbers fell another 50 percent from there. Despite horrific music sales, there were two areas of growth: paid downloads and vinyl record sales.
Most people are aware of the growth of digital music downloads. At this point in time, downloads are not a major source of revenue in gospel music. If trends continue as they have, this may likely change over the next 10 years.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) just released a figure stating that vinyl record sales doubled in 2008. Existing record shops in major metropolitan areas found vinyl record sales soaring and in response had to open new stores to meet the demand.
Audiophiles have long argued that vinyl sounds better than CDs and MP3s. Many secular artists are releasing albums on vinyl with a coupon for downloadable MP3s. This allows customers to have the vinyl record for home and a digital copy to burn on a CD or to load on a MP3 player.
However, vinyl does have its drawbacks. Records warp, are not easily portable and with every play, degrade slightly in quality. These limitations are minuscule for those who appreciate the aesthetic value and “fatter sound” a CD does not offer.
People listen to vinyl differently than CDs or MP3s. It is an active listening experience as opposed to an experience that is passive in nature. A vinyl record offers larger artwork and liner notes than a CD. Most MP3 downloads don’t even include artwork. If they do, it’s in a digital PDF format. iPods and other music players are convenient (and convenience sells), but they have changed the way we listen to music. iPods tend to provide background music for listeners during workouts, commutes and chores around the house. Listening to a vinyl record requires participation. After four or five songs, the record needs to be flipped over. The listener does not have the ability to make a 40 song playlist of favorites.
Record players are showing up in stores across the country. It has never been easier to transfer an old vinyl collection to CD with the USB equipped record players that have recently infiltrated the market. Teenagers are trading in iPods for their parent’s old record collections.
If this trend continues, it could be a great thing for the entire music business. Not only because the listening experience of vinyl is more interactive, but also because they are extremely difficult to pirate. There is much evidence that shows music consumption is higher than ever, however, the population as a whole is only purchasing about 50 percent of what it consumes. The rest is either traded or downloaded illegally. Will the vinyl trend continue? Let’s hope so. Maybe people will stop viewing music as a background for the mundane and realize the joy and satisfaction that comes with putting an LP on a turntable.
Steve Allen
http://www.squareonestudio.com
Author: Steve Allen
| Author's Website: http://squareonestudio.com
Written: 01/07/2009
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Category: Steve Allen
Comments: 16
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Well made point. In my opinion the reason why vinyl is making a comeback is because the music these days lost it soul. With the increased percentage of music being sold digitally, the music seems to become cheaper and cheaper, and hence it means less and less. I'm noticing that people nowadays just stack up music and almost never listen to any of it. I think that is why vinyl is making a comeback. It has soul and it is something you can hold in your arms. It gives music a deeper meaning. Luckily, we still can't hold kbs and mbs in our hands.
While I agree with you that the sound of vinyl makes for a unique interactive experience, I had to give up my vinyl collection because of space issues. I live in a tiny apartment in New York where there isn't enough space for clothes, much less records. Before moving here, it would have been unthinkable for me to not own physical records of my music but after a few years of trying to fit everything I own in closet space that is as big as a medicine cabinet, I gave up and went digital. There is the experiential loss, though, and listening to music on my IPod has become a solitary pleasure.
I also agree with you. Many old fads are coming back, from food, to clothes, to music. Vinyl is making a come back for many reasons. It is part of the nostalgia. Pulling out an old record and playing it rather than plugging in to your digital mp3 player. Also, what is the value of an old hard to find record compared to a digital music file.
This is an interesting point - music is gravitating toward two extremes, inexpensive and 100% digital downloads (no physical product), and the more expensive vinyl records (high-end product with collector's value). Today's vinyl is a high quality product, unlike the mass produced records from the 60's and 70's, and is marketed to the discerning listener with a larger pocketbook. It's interesting to see vinyl records making a comeback as we plow into the digital era of paperless, productless bytes of data. Hopefully the vinyl is here to stay and the younger generation will learn to appreciate the value of a physical product.
I am only in my mid-20's and find it amazing how much the way we listen to music has changed in my lifetime. I grew up with records, then casette tapes on my walkman, then CDs, and eventually digital music and mp3s. My 6 year old nephew found a casette tape under the seat of my car the other day and said, "What's this?" I laughed so hard! I don't see casettes having a chance to make the kind of comeback that records may be making. Records definitely have the appeal of robust sound quality, and they also have a nostalgic feel that casettes and the good old 8-track never quite earned. It's also pretty neat to see the blending of music generations with the usb record players now. Great comeback!
It is very intresting to me that vinyl has doubled its sales for 2008. In this era when everyone is so technology savy I didnt think that LP were thought of too much. It would be intresting to see what type of consumers were puchasing the vinyl.
While you make several good points about the increasing desire for vinyl records, I am going to have to disagree with you in foreseeing a 'comeback'. While there may, in fact, be a bit of a surge in recent vinyl record sales, the fact remains that the digital age is increasing at an ever quickening pace. America as a whole is always looking for easier, faster, cheaper products to fill every whim and vinyl records quite simply oppose this trend. Despite this fact, die-hard musicians and fanatics will clearly continue to stockpile their collections, despite storage issues discussed by 'Mowgli'. All in all, though, it is my personal believe that the general public will continue to stray away from vinyl (and cd's as well) in pursuit of electronic and digital media formats.
I think that people are returning to vinyl not because of the music quality or for practicality reasons, but because they are considerable pieces of music artwork. Look, the cover on a CD is so small - no one want to put that on a wall or display it in a collection. But a nice, large vinyl is just the right size. People are continuing to add to collections that they started years ago, when vinyl was the big thing, now can add to that collection with their favorite music from today. Vinyl has the interest of a new audience, a younger generation, that completely missed out on the hay-day of vinyl. It's nostalgia and it's art and that's how I justify it.
Let's face it... vinyl became obsolete for a good reason: they are bulky, fragile, and expensive. CDs are much easier to manufacture and ship, while records are extremely fragile and cost more to make and transport. Digital media is even easier - no manufacturing or shipping at all. I understand the point that it is much harder to pirate an LP, but as you said, it will be all too easy to grab a vinyl and rip it via USB to your computer... then share it with the world. Therefore you get the vinyl "sound" without the the hassle of storing the media, flipping the record, or even purchasing the disc. Vinyl records have only made a comeback for nostalgia's sake, and I wouldn't expect it to go any further than that.
I agree that vinyl records could be a good thing in the music industry, particularly gospel. I personally think it's sad how much music is downloaded illegally today. It really makes it harder for music artists.
It's true that listening to vinyl is an extremely active process considering you have to get up and flip over the record. LOL. I think the aesthetic value to listening to something non-digital is more the draw for me, both visually (artwork) and audibly.
Listening to a record is certainly an active experience because you have to get up and flip it over... not cool if you're snuggled on the couch with a blankey and fire. It is nice, however, to have that option to step back into the past and listen to music the way our parents did (I'm 26).
It will be interesting to see if the technology develops for easy pirating of vinyl. Makes me want to go out right now and buy vinyltorrent.com.
I made a post a few weeks about this very topic, after watching "Modern Marvels" episode that had a story about a lp manufacturer in California. They claimed a "resurgence" in vinyl. I just can't see it. Where can you buy any "new" lps? I mean on the scale they were in the 70s and 80s. The answer: nowhere! Now I know that are a few bands, secular and otherwise, that had issued recent recordings on lps on a limited basis. But I'm talking about pressing tens of thousands at a time! Not just a few hundred like Greater Vision did with a christmas project recently.
There are definite advantages to vinyl, but I for one don't miss vinyl too much overall. They are fragile, will warp, scratch, wear down, you have to replace stylus' on your turntable, you have to change sides, you don't have direct track access as much etc. Sure, when you get a new lp and have good equipment, you can get sounds that are more intimate, warm etc. but CD's are so much more convenient and offer things lps don't.
So, it really just interrupted my work more, not kept me from doing it while listening to music.
Kimberly, I can understand why and how you would snuggle on the couch with a blanky, but with fire? Wouldn't that hurt, burn your couch, blanky and you?
I knew the music industry was hurting but I had no idea that it was down as much as 50%. That is shocking. I just don't expect older people to download songs online so I figured the CD purchasing was still going on. But maybe older people just don't buy CDs so much. I am middle-aged and I myself rarely buy CDs anymore. A lot of the reason is the economy. But I also found I can listen to free music online all the time. Free streaming music is all over the net. I'm very surprised vinyl sales are up. I would never choose vinyl due to their bulk and breakability. This was a very interesting article and I'm glad I came across it. I feel like I'm now better informed about the direction of the music industry.
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