The LP is back (officially)

[Permanent Waves]

So, Dr, it's bad to be happy that some folks are discovering something that we love?

Seems like a colossal threadcrap to me.

To be fair, many on here seem to rejoice in the decline of the CD, literally happy that a format many (most) people enjoy and have enjoyed since the 80's is dying. That's mean spirited and elitist as well.

For my part, I don't care what format people like (what shallow sophomoric wretch wraps their pride up in what kind of music format they listen to anyway?!), and I hope that whatever music format an individual prefers will be available to them in some means (whether used or new) for years to come.

Anything else is simply infantile and hate-filled...and I've seen a lot of just that from the vinyl fanboys on AK for years and years ad infinitum ad nauseum.

 

[Pio1980]

As long as there is a demand for a tangible permanent recording, LPs and CDs will have a market.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

 

[kirk57]

Seriously???

Urban Outfitters????

Seriously???? I find it very hard to believe they are the "largest" seller!!

I picked up a copy of Joy Division's 'Unknown Pleasures' at Urban Outfitters while my daughter shopped for clothes. They actually had a fair selection, a couple hundred LPs I'd estimate.

 

[yaya97]

__________________

"The problem with quotes on the internet is you can never be certain they're authentic"

-Abraham Lincoln
excellent !!!!

 

[wmgwizard]

I hope the resurgance of the LP continues and have some reasons of my own to believe this trend will continue and probably increase.

I repair and flip gear and LP's at the local flea market.

While I see my share of "hunters", the guys who collect LP's for their own use or to resell to record shops, I see many more kids from early teens to mid twenties than any other age group.

From talking to many of them they are coming to embrace the sound of LP's. Most describe an encounter with a friend or relative with a turntable and some records and being amazed at what they have heard. Having never heard music played back on anything but earbuds I can imagine the impact of a decent set of speakers and a quality amp may have. I have helped many assemble systems that they are now sharing with their friends.

Late last season I hear a young male voice exclaim "Hey dad, look, it's Rush : Power Windows" from about 50 feet away. After speaking with him and his dad for about twenty minutes I learned it was a new neighbor that got dad back into audio and he was sharing that with his son. I was so amazed this young man knew all about an album twenty years older than he was I gave it to him. I also shook dads hand and encouraged him to keep up the good work.

Maybe there is hope for this hobby after all.

 

[Artcurus]

Call me when 45 rpm Top 40 comes back. Getting dubplates cut is too damn expensive and even though the quality is good, it still doesn't match a properly mastered commercially produced 45.

I really don't want CD to die irregardless, mp3 is horrible for sound quality. That's what's really chaffing certain parts of my anatomy is that we are accepting less and less quality. To be blunt, streaming quality sucks on a good system , and no matter what Netflix and Amazon says, a movie stream is NOT true 5.1 Dolby Digital. For those don't believe me, buy the DVD/Blu Ray, then stream the same movie, the background sounds suddenly come alive.

 

[4-2-7]

To be fair, many on here seem to rejoice in the decline of the CD, literally happy that a format many (most) people enjoy and have enjoyed since the 80's is dying. That's mean spirited and elitist as well.

For my part, I don't care what format people like (what shallow sophomoric wretch wraps their pride up in what kind of music format they listen to anyway?!), and I hope that whatever music format an individual prefers will be available to them in some means (whether used or new) for years to come.

Anything else is simply infantile and hate-filled...and I've seen a lot of just that from the vinyl fanboys on AK for years and years ad infinitum ad nauseum.

No such thing was said "here" and Dr. Morbius came into this thread and with pure intent of CRAPPED on it. He was called out on it and you want to defend it to the point of CRAPPING on it also. I think if you have no interest in the thread maybe find another one to post in that interest you.

 

[manyhobbies]

I have to wonder if that 2% is far to low. I've probably purchased over 100 albums in the last year. And exactly 1 of them was new. I'm not sure I understand the rift here about what medium we get out tunes from. Everyone here has a love for music, and audio equipment, or we wouldn't be here. If one believes those who were in the music business when CDs took over, they'll tell you the demise of vinyl wasn't entirely due to the CDs superiority. Much of the change was due to the fact that CDs could be produced much cheaper than vinyl. And if a record store purchased many copies of a certain CD album, then couldn't move them, they could send them back for credit. Not so with vinyl. The hands on craftsmanship used to produce a record simply cost more, and the record companies weren't' willing to take them back. So what medium do you think the music stores started pushing?

 

[Shelby 412]

One thing I've always loved about records is in fact all the fuss and attention they require. You have to handle and store them carefully. You have to touch and hold them to play them. You look at the cover as you remove the album. You smell the age if they are classic pressing. You wipe the record clean and carefully put it on the turntable. The cueing procedure is a delicate ritual. Because engineers back then had real style (rather than some modern formula) you have to adjust the EQ and volume to the recording. Once the music starts you sit down and gaze at the album cover again, refreshing your knowledge of lyrics, artists, date and location when the recording was made. A few minutes in you lean back and get lost in the music. There is no FF, Rev, shuffle, seek or scan. You take in the album as a whole rather than cherry picking. You get immersed in the experience. It's harder for the music to fade into just some background distraction because there is a machine running and at some point you have to manually flip the record over or select and play another record. All of this ritual brings you closer to the art and immerses you in the experience. You just can't get that from CDs or downloaded music. That and the sound, makes vinyl special. Rock on.

 

[John James]

And that's definitely NOT being BACK. That's more like a fart in the wind. :screwy:

Go ahead and give yourselves a big ol' pat on the back AK vinyl fanboys. Two whole whopping percent and you're ready to have an orgasm. Amazing.

I guess that makes me a cheap date!

 

[mgosdin]

In the past year & a half I've bought two vintage turntables to go with the two systems I've put together, dug out of storage the 50 or so albums that I had from the 70's & 80's and bought a handful of new albums ( Filling in missed records which I though I would never be able to do. ).

At the same time I've bought a handful of CD's and maybe twice as many single downloads. Most have been classic rock tunes with the occasional more modern music mixed in as the mood strikes me.

I'm enjoying all these, plus various classic cassettes that I have, on my hodgepodge of equipment.

I'm glad to see vinyl selling in stores again, sure it's only a shadow of what once was. But, something - 6 million albums - is an infinity greater than nothing at all.

I intend to enjoy what I've got today and look forward to what tomorrow will bring.

Mark Gosdin

 

[harman/kardon]

So how many LP's in the US will be sold in - let's say - 2019, in five years? What do you guys expect?

 

[Hanleyster]

I hate my mp3 collection.. its no fun

 

[just dave]

To be fair, many on here seem to rejoice in the decline of the CD, literally happy that a format many (most) people enjoy and have enjoyed since the 80's is dying. That's mean spirited and elitist as well.

For my part, I don't care what format people like (what shallow sophomoric wretch wraps their pride up in what kind of music format they listen to anyway?!), and I hope that whatever music format an individual prefers will be available to them in some means (whether used or new) for years to come.

Anything else is simply infantile and hate-filled...and I've seen a lot of just that from the vinyl fanboys on AK for years and years ad infinitum ad nauseum.

I like both and I'm happy for vinyl's comeback.I've seen dislike for the cd here but never hatred.You wanna see cd haters go to some high-end websites.The only hatred I've seen here is Dr.Morbius's thread crap. What's up doc?

 

[4-2-7]

I guess I should point out these figuers are from "New Vinyl Record Sales" up to 2013.

The OP link to the Urban Outfitters artical took the stats from a January 5th, 2014 artical Here
http://www.statista.com/chart/1465/vinyl-lp-sales-in-the-us/

The LP continued its unlikely comeback in 2013, with vinyl album sales in the United States reaching 6 million units! As opposed to CD sales which declined 14.5 percent and digital album sales which stagnated, LP sales grew by 32 percent from 4.55 million units in 2012. Overall album sales suffered an 8.4 percent decline, slumping to 289.4 million from 316 million units in 2012. Last year's music sales have likely been negatively affected by the growing adoption of streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora. As a consequence digital music sales declined for the first time since Nielsen SoundScan started measuring digital sales.

Between 2002 and 2012, Vinyl LP sales in the United States had already increased by 250 percent , while total recorded music shipments had dropped nearly 50 percent. Unfortunately, the resurgence of the LP only has a marginal effect on the industry as a whole. In 2013, vinyl albums accounted for just two percent of total album sales in the U.S., while CDs (57.2%) and digital albums (40.6%) accounted for the lion's share of sales.



Ok so "New Lps" have a 2% share of the overall market, which is about equal to my purchasing of "New Lps" opposed to "Used Lps". There are absolutely no stats here that represent the "Used Vinyl Record Sales". Nothing from eBay, Independent RS, GW, Yard Sales or any other "Used Market Resource" ie: Cash Market". The other facts are that this is U.S. sales only and not worldwide.


Edit: I also should mention that I have seen in the past year or so a huge reissue bombardment. This has at least tripled this past year, 30 & 40 year remasters, Limited # LPs & Box sets. Led Zeppelin alone has released 30,000 Deluxe Box Set of each album let alone the other sets and singles. I can see "New Vinyl Records Sales" doubling this year as there has been more variety available.

 

[Shelby 412]

I like both and I'm happy for vinyl comeback.I've seen dislike for the cd here but never hatred.You wanna see cd haters go to some high-end websites.The only hatred I've seen here is Dr.Morbius's thread crap. What's up doc?

I've been a musician and music lover for 40 years. I have like 30k digital song files and a 24/96 interface to play and record them, I have 1000s of CDs that have all been ripped and thus rarely get played anymore, I have 1000s of records, a few hundred of which I have carried through life since I was young, I even have about 1000 tapes of various type, including cassette and reel, but my records still give me the most satisfying and desired listening experience. Followed by my high end homemade tape mixes. Which sound awesome. The fact is the digital stuff can't compare to my vinyl and tape for total listening pleasure. At best it is convenient and I do listen to it a lot because it is easy and sounds good. But when I have time to myself and I want the fullest musical experience, I always reach for the records or tapes. End of scientific observation.

 

[slow_jazz]

Great news.

 

[sheltie dave]

For some people a dose of cold hard reality is a threadcrap. Reality is audiophiles exist on a small deserted island in the middle of the pacific. Some of us live in the trees, using CDs and eating coconuts. The vinyl lovers live on the beach, using the ocean"s dielectric effect to power their turntable once a week. Others live in the cliff caves, secreting their stash of scores away from the damaging rains. And none of us effect the generation of music one iota. We are just monkees screaming and throwing feces at the others who can't agree with the right viewpoint.

 

[nailer]

If this graphic is accurate (source: http://atrl.net/forums/showthread.php?t=124941), it appears that (US) LP sales peaked ca. 1977 at ca. 300 million units.

So we're now at about 6 million units or 2% of that peak.

This article -- http://www.spin.com/articles/did-vinyl-really-die-in-the-90s-death-resurgence-sales/ -- states peak vinyl (LP) sales of 1.1 billion in 1981 worldwide.

Every party has a pooper, that's why we invited you,
Party pooper, party pooper.

 

[nailer]

For some people a dose of cold hard reality is a threadcrap. Reality is audiophiles exist on a small deserted island in the middle of the pacific. Some of us live in the trees, using CDs and eating coconuts. The vinyl lovers live on the beach, using the ocean"s dielectric effect to power their turntable once a week. Others live in the cliff caves, secreting their stash of scores away from the damaging rains. And none of us effect the generation of music one iota. We are just monkees screaming and throwing feces at the others who can't agree with the right viewpoint.

You need to start hanging out with us apes and broaden your horizon.