Yet another year of sales growth for the vinyl format (albeit a more modest one).

[ducati_EL34]

There is no difference between grooves on an LP, pits on CD, magnetization on tape or bits on an HDD or memory card. It is information stored on medium. The only difference of factory-pressed media is packaging.

Um, I take it back, there are differences. Vinyl is not rewritable. Also, digital does not degrade with each play and can be copied infinite times.

Other than these minor details, no differences

I guess, people do not see value in digital because it remains the same and can be easily copied. On the other hand, vinyl, which degrades every time it is played, is considered more valuable. This is a rather perverse train of thought, but it seems humans place more value to things that can break apart, like a three thousand year Chinese vase.

Well there are only so many 3000 year old Chinese vases, and their rarity is what makes them have value. A Britney Spears CD? They are a dime a dozen at any flea market. So your comparison falls apart.

And when it comes to some particular used LPs, some are highly sought after, over and above the same music on a different label. I see nothing perverse about that.

 

[GChief]

I'm trying to figure out where the negativity you put out there is coming from.

It's their MO The sky is always falling.

 

[Late Boomer]

Well there are only so many 3000 year old Chinese vases, and their rarity is what makes them have value. A Britney Spears CD? They are a dime a dozen at any flea market. So your comparison falls apart.

Quite the opposite. I have no use for a 3000 year old Chinese vase. In fact I have a pair of large floor-standing ones, they are utterly useless, but I cannot throw them away as the person who gave them to me has died, so they are a sort of a token now. I am not a big fan of Britney Spears, but she has several well-made hits, so I would have at least some use of that CD. But this is not the point. If vases were dime a dozen, but there was only one Britney Spears CD, no one would care for the vases and everyone would want that CD. Scarcity and imminent deterioration is what attracts people to supposedly valuable stuff. But I don't buy LPs as an investment.

 

[Late Boomer]

Maybe worry about yourself and let people enjoy themselves without feeling they are being judged for no good reason.

Don't over-analyze and maybe worry about yourself and enjoy yourself without feeling that you are being judged for no good reason. I don't expect to change anyone's mind and neither I expect anyone changing my mind. There are threads that start with "What?" or "How?" or "Can someone help with...", and then there are threads like this, "Look, ma!" The second type of threads are ripe for repartee. You cannot deny I made at least one useful post in this thread, with links and quotes and numbers

 

[likebike23]

Don't over-analyze and maybe worry about yourself and enjoy yourself without feeling that you are being judged for no good reason. I don't expect to change anyone's mind and neither I expect anyone changing my mind. There are threads that start with "What?" or "How?" or "Can someone help with...", and then there are threads like this, "Look, ma!" The second type of threads are ripe for repartee. You cannot deny I made at least one useful post in this thread, with links and quotes and numbers

Can't we all just get along?

 

[likebike23]

 

[KentTeffeteller]

Hipsters bought half a dozen LPs to put on their shelves, all the other sane people keep streaming.

Can't we please lose that attitude. Not everybody loves streaming for music as their main medium. I like Vinyl, and I like Compact Discs, for me neither replaced the other. Both have things they do well. I don't mind a good tape either, I enjoy streaming for trying new music, or seeing how new remixes or remasters sound, or background music. I am no hipster. Can't we all find common ground, and get along? I am not anti-digital when it's well mastered, tastefully, and it sounds good.

 

[twiiii]

We ll have choices and I say let those who want to Support the LP support the LP. No all streaming is perfect just like most LP's aren't perfect. Reissue CD's are from perfect in my experience and the sound just as bad being streamed if not worse. We have so far to go to reach up the slopes to perfection. Doesn't matter which path we take as long as we gain some enjoyment trying to get there.

 

[ducati_EL34]

Quite the opposite. I have no use for a 3000 year old Chinese vase. In fact I have a pair of large floor-standing ones, they are utterly useless, but I cannot throw them away as the person who gave them to me has died, so they are a sort of a token now. I am not a big fan of Britney Spears, but she has several well-made hits, so I would have at least some use of that CD. But this is not the point. If vases were dime a dozen, but there was only one Britney Spears CD, no one would care for the vases and everyone would want that CD. Scarcity and imminent deterioration is what attracts people to supposedly valuable stuff. But I don't buy LPs as an investment.

No one buys LPs as an investment. Most people buy them to hear the music they contain.

I don’t really have a desire to own a 3000 yr old vase, either. But, I would take a ‘55 Porsche 550 Spyder. They are also a rarity.

 

[RT Fan]

Certainly not from me, I am afraid the last vinyl album I bought may have been Bob Marley & The Wailers: Legend, in 1984. I still have it but once I opted for cds, I never looked back. There are still a couple of hundred LPs in the collection, but rarely do they get airtime this century. To each their own.

 

[triple20]

I buy vinyl for more then just listening.
Streaming could never give me the satisfaction of holding the cover,enjoying the visual appeal of the artwork or photos and also reading the text on the covers, sleeves or album labels.

 

[FB night]

buy vinyl for more then just listening.
Streaming could never give me the satisfaction of holding the cover,enjoying the visual appeal of the artwork or photos and also reading the text on the covers, sleeves or album labels.

There we go. Same reason I buy lots of new vinyl. But in 2022 I purchased too much poorly produced new vinyl, am pushing the brakes in 2023. Nearly half of the newer pressings I purchased were defective in some form. Last couple MOFI box sets, were warped. Other titles i found pits, hills, mountains, valleys, etc. that left the vinyl unplayable. On the other hand, most of the Simply Vinyl and Music on Vinyl reissues were excellent. Also purchased a few new CDs that sounded so good, forget the vinyl. And that was just with a Marantz 800.00 player, no stand alone DAC yet. I don't have streaming, I have so much to listen to with the physical media.

 

[onwardjames]

Is anyone going to actually play with Hot Wheels cars?? You certainly cannot drive them. So, pointless to own, right?

What about plates?? Why not just skip the middle man, and shove our food directly into our mouth?

Gas heat keeps me warm, so does a campfire, or napalm. Horses for courses.

This whole stupid thread is beaten to death. I see the same people in the same camps. Why??

I initially bought vinyl after a 20 year love affair with CD's, and a 20 year HATE affair with cassettes. Why? Because music was on them, and it was CHEAP around the year 2000 or so.

I have 22 terabytes of digital music. I enjoy it. I still hate cassettes, and purged almost all of them for pennies, but still own a few. I have about 3k of records.

WHY??

I love music. Music is the destination. Vinyl, cd, cassette, FM are all just the method of delivery.

 

[Bunty2]

Quite the opposite. I have no use for a 3000 year old Chinese vase. In fact I have a pair of large floor-standing ones, they are utterly useless, but I cannot throw them away as the person who gave them to me has died, so they are a sort of a token now. I am not a big fan of Britney Spears, but she has several well-made hits, so I would have at least some use of that CD. But this is not the point. If vases were dime a dozen, but there was only one Britney Spears CD, no one would care for the vases and everyone would want that CD. Scarcity and imminent deterioration is what attracts people to supposedly valuable stuff. But I don't buy LPs as an investment.

If I had floor standing Chinese vases, I would make use of them by going to Hobby Lobby and buy a bunch of fake flowers to put in them.

 

[ra7c7er]

Some reports from around September suggested sales were up 22% the first half of 2022, despite finishing the year at a 3.6% increase.

I wanted to clarify something because the percent listed are representing two different things. 22% was revenue and 3.6% is units sold. Units sold was actually bolstered by November and December sales units sold was hovering around a 3.2% increase at the end of October.

So basically even with rising cost and inflation the industry is continuing to gouge the end user.

2023, with the recent news of the several majors saying 30+% increases are coming, is probably the end of the vinyl resurgence.

Personally I was already massively slowing down buying new music as $35+ is way to much for what majors are putting in the sleeve. If it does actually go up 30% I'll be done with new vinyl completely. Which sucks because it's something I've been doing since the 90s with my grandpa and it's pretty much my only hobby.

As I've stated in other threads what I really want to know is why majors are allowed by the consumers (and yes I know the majority are just sheep who don't really care) to keep gouging and giving less (seems that Tom McDonald line is coming true very quickly) yet indie labels are 10+ dollars cheaper and still adding trinkets and full color inner sleeves and DL codes etc. At some point the majors need to be called out in a serious way and not just "oh that sucks guess I'll open my wallet wider"

Edit: corrected units sold percent from 2.8% to 3.2% at the end of October.

 

[Frank Sol]

I bought a NEW LP just the other day

Arrived yesterday... Harvest by Neil Young (my 3rd copy)

Pressed in Germany

Have not opened it yet... Will today. Wash/Vac/Dry then spin

 

[GChief]

continuing to gouge the end user.

Gouging?

$ for $ they cost about the same as they always have. $35 in July 2022 is about $6.75 in July 1976 when I started buying, I remember paying right at $7 for the first few albums I bought with my own money. Also in 1976 vinyls were mainstream, now they are at best a novelty item in the market to everyone but us.

Same price for a novelty item does not come close to approaching gouging, if anything it is the opposite. The most I spent this yr was $45 for a double vinyls Jimi Hendrix new release, $45 well spent.

Some of you guys do some funky math in your heads

 

[GChief]

I bought a NEW LP just the other day

Arrived yesterday... Harvest by Neil Young (my 3rd copy)

Pressed in Germany

Have not opened it yet... Will today. Wash/Vac/Dry then spin

Review required, that is something I would buy.

 

[Frank Sol]

.

Review required, that is something I would buy.

Will do...

Forgot to mention this LP is a "NYAors" (Neil Young Archives Official Release Series)

If that matters

 

[ra7c7er]

Gouging?

$ for $ they cost about the same as they always have. $35 in July 2022 is about $6.75 in July 1976 when I started buying, I remember paying right at $7 for the first few albums I bought with my own money. Also in 1976 vinyls were mainstream, now they are at best a novelty item in the market to everyone but us.

Same price for a novelty item does not come close to approaching gouging, if anything it is the opposite. The most I spent this yr was $45 for a double vinyls Jimi Hendrix new release, $45 well spent.

Some of you guys do some funky math in your heads

As I've stated in another thread when you mentioned the same date record prices have not short term followed inflation. You can pick any time in history to say anything has followed inflation. Which is why using inflation is nearly just a way to gaslight people on prices. Record prices have gone up over 200% in 15 years. Record price hikes in the last 15 years have consistently doubled tripled and quadrupled or more per year.

And if you are going to say inflation is what is causing the price hike how are you justifying Sony and Universals 2023 price sheets with 30-50% increases in prices? That isn't inflation?

Also if unit sales only went up 3.6% but revenue from sales went up 22% yes that is gouging. Typically tripling revenue to sales is considered an incredibly great year. So the music industry getting 22% is gouging. It just means record prices are overly inflated.

Also the vast majority of major label records are not a novelty. Taylor Swifts Midnights pressed in the tens of thousands of each color isn't a novelty. A novelty is a of 500 or 1000 release. Majors treating major releases as a novelty is just gaslighting the public. This is why the vinyl resurgence spawned from 20-30 year olds buying indie stuff. It had nothing to do with the majors. yet the majors are going to be the ones killing the industry again.

As I stated in another thread. For those who say young people complaining is just them complaining. Remember they are the majority buyers. If they stop buying their isn't enough old heads around to keep the industry going. Like it or not the comeback spawned from 20-30 year olds and it will die with that demographic too. Them saying prices are to high is a bad thing.