VINYL SALES SHOW STRONG INCREASE AS DIGITAL MUSIC SALES CONTINUE TO DROP
Approaching 10 million albums sold in 2017
Approaching 10 million albums sold in 2017
The record pressing plant in my hometown doesn't specify a standard production time anymore due to the high workload:
Europe's vinyl pressing plant - Record Industry
Europe's vinyl pressing plant - Record Industry
10 million? That doesn't sound like a lot. I wonder what the sales numbers were before the advent of CD. And if digital music sales keep dropping my guess it is because of streaming. Why buy anything if you can just stream it?
I only buy vinyl, and use Tidal for anything I want on demand. Then there is always FM radio when I don't want to think about it. And Alexa is always ready to serve...
And say what you want about MQA on Tidal. To my ears it sounds better than CD, even if a 24/192 or 24/96 track could sound better. For what I pay I'm perfectly happy.
I only buy vinyl, and use Tidal for anything I want on demand. Then there is always FM radio when I don't want to think about it. And Alexa is always ready to serve...
And say what you want about MQA on Tidal. To my ears it sounds better than CD, even if a 24/192 or 24/96 track could sound better. For what I pay I'm perfectly happy.
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It's very inconvenient when your favourite music becomes unavailable because a streaming service decides not to stream it anymore.
In any case, from the moment the present owners of Record Industry Haarlem bought the plant from Sony, people have told them that they were crazy and that there was no future in gramophone records. They did see a dip around 2000, when many modern dance music DJs switched to USB sticks, but otherwise their sales have only increased so far.
In any case, from the moment the present owners of Record Industry Haarlem bought the plant from Sony, people have told them that they were crazy and that there was no future in gramophone records. They did see a dip around 2000, when many modern dance music DJs switched to USB sticks, but otherwise their sales have only increased so far.
So you're saying the older generation is all about inconvenience - and that's better? I think it's more a matter of the modern day lifestyle being very busy and people wanting to be able to listen to music while commuting, walking/jogging or at work. However, I love the fact that vinyl is still around, despite that.
That's just 21st century life for lots of people. For example, in my case, I have a family to look after, as well as a demanding job, and seldom have time to sit down and listen to an LP or even a CD for that matter. Something I can look forward to for when I retire.
These statistics I believe are for the U.S. only. Last year U.S. record sales were about 8 million or so. Overall worldwide sales are probably 3 - 4x these numbers. The numbers are a little fluid, and also do not reflect the sale of any used vinyl which is undoubtedly a lot higher.
Compared to the hundreds of millions sold in vinyl's last heyday this small potatoes.
Visit any record store these days and they are busy. There are a couple I frequent, one in Dallas and one in Newburyport. I buy most of my vinyl these days in Dallas.
I am also concerned that this is a fad driven significantly by millenials collecting them for the covers mostly. (The ones I know don't even play them)
There are new presses and new record plants being built and most pressing houses are fully booked for the next couple of years apparently.
Every Vinyl Record Press in the United States | Gotta Groove Records
Vinyl Record Manufacturing
Lots of people have hitched their wagons to the current vinyl resurgence so for their sake I hope it is not a flash in the pan.
The interesting thing is that revenue from new vinyl sales exceeds that of streaming by a rather significant margin. My understanding is that it might be the most profitable place to be in the music distribution chain these days.
Compared to the hundreds of millions sold in vinyl's last heyday this small potatoes.
Visit any record store these days and they are busy. There are a couple I frequent, one in Dallas and one in Newburyport. I buy most of my vinyl these days in Dallas.
I am also concerned that this is a fad driven significantly by millenials collecting them for the covers mostly. (The ones I know don't even play them)
There are new presses and new record plants being built and most pressing houses are fully booked for the next couple of years apparently.
Every Vinyl Record Press in the United States | Gotta Groove Records
Vinyl Record Manufacturing
Lots of people have hitched their wagons to the current vinyl resurgence so for their sake I hope it is not a flash in the pan.
The interesting thing is that revenue from new vinyl sales exceeds that of streaming by a rather significant margin. My understanding is that it might be the most profitable place to be in the music distribution chain these days.
It may be small potatoes, but it seems from what you've said yourself, they're very profitable and tasty potatoes. There are always strong markets for niche connoisseur products preferred by people with discerning tastes, such as expensive sports cars, vintage wines, high end sports cars, top end hi-fi and yes, vinyl LPs. I also think that people wanting to collect vinyl for their covers, rather than to listen to, will be mainly want originals, rather than modern production facsimiles.
There's an independent artist's scene that has not changed much through all this, dedicated to vinyl releases rarely more than 1000 with tiny colored vinyl editions for collectors. They sometimes include hand made covers or unique art for each LP. One of the best of these labels is right here in MA,
Important Records.
There is nothing more enjoyable than sifting through lots of record boxes in a store or at a meet. I spent many an hour at record stores in the 1980's looking for good songs for my mobile disco.
The records went when I sold the disco and I moved on to CDROM's.
These days it is all files on my PC.
I have kept a couple of dozen CD's that are worth a bit of money.
I have a signed by Andy Scott Sweet CDROM.
I met Andy in around 2006 at a Sweet gig. I asked to shake his hand hoping some great guitar playing would rub off. I think it must have back fired as I have hardly touched my guitar since.
The records went when I sold the disco and I moved on to CDROM's.
These days it is all files on my PC.
I have kept a couple of dozen CD's that are worth a bit of money.
I have a signed by Andy Scott Sweet CDROM.
I met Andy in around 2006 at a Sweet gig. I asked to shake his hand hoping some great guitar playing would rub off. I think it must have back fired as I have hardly touched my guitar since.
Nigel,
I take it you have a back-up stashed somewhere safe - what happens if a thief steals your PC or there's a fire? I've got around 1000 LPs and getting on in years I want to digitise around 4-600 and sell the lot. If I do that I definitely want at least 3 copies, one for a cousin's daughter and a back-up kept by a friend.
I take it you have a back-up stashed somewhere safe - what happens if a thief steals your PC or there's a fire? I've got around 1000 LPs and getting on in years I want to digitise around 4-600 and sell the lot. If I do that I definitely want at least 3 copies, one for a cousin's daughter and a back-up kept by a friend.
Dude, I buy lots of those records and they seem to sound pretty good, generally better than the high rez download version. (Not sure why, but I would suspect the vinyl playback process adds lots of ear friendly distortion and noise to the mix. Actually it's not a suspicion, and it's easily measured. Preference is OK if one is honest.)
I have a couple of turntables I use; A Thorens TD-124 with a Souther Tri-Quartz and Panasonic 451C strain gauge cartridge into the prototype strain gauge pre-amp I designed and discussed in another thread. The other is a TD-124 MKII with Schick arm, another 451C and a later version of the strain gauge pre-amp.
I also have Ortofon SPU A95, and Ortofon Windfeld LOMC cartridges which I use with my older Muscovite phono stage design and Lundahl amorphous core LL1941 SUTs.
Record quality is very variable, but so far recent pressings usually from digital masters have been among the better sounding pressings I have purchased.
Your hardware must be an awful lot better than mine to effectively remove all of the other variables in vinyl playback so that you can focus solely on the shortcomings of the master recording. I'm not quite there yet.
Since there is no purely analog version of some of the music I currently like, I buy and I take my chances. A lot of current vinyl is competitive in sound quality (and often better) than most of the older, purely analog vinyl I have in my collection.
I have a couple of turntables I use; A Thorens TD-124 with a Souther Tri-Quartz and Panasonic 451C strain gauge cartridge into the prototype strain gauge pre-amp I designed and discussed in another thread. The other is a TD-124 MKII with Schick arm, another 451C and a later version of the strain gauge pre-amp.
I also have Ortofon SPU A95, and Ortofon Windfeld LOMC cartridges which I use with my older Muscovite phono stage design and Lundahl amorphous core LL1941 SUTs.
Record quality is very variable, but so far recent pressings usually from digital masters have been among the better sounding pressings I have purchased.
Your hardware must be an awful lot better than mine to effectively remove all of the other variables in vinyl playback so that you can focus solely on the shortcomings of the master recording. I'm not quite there yet.
Since there is no purely analog version of some of the music I currently like, I buy and I take my chances. A lot of current vinyl is competitive in sound quality (and often better) than most of the older, purely analog vinyl I have in my collection.
Kevinkr,
I use a Kenwood KD 990 which comes with a beautifully engineered gimbal arm and use an AT 33EV MC. Virtually all my LPs are pre digital except for some new stuff I bought in the early 90s, all analogue production. I don't know what you mean about distortion and noise.Once I bought a Technics SL120 gave up on all other types of deck , the Kenwood is silent. Try a good D/D you might be surprised.
In the 70s I was in lots of 'altered states' but still have vinyl that is NM/VG+ from that time. I think Dude111 has it right. I listen through hybrid head and power amps that use 3 tube pres (the same) a 6F8G Tung Sol RP out through 2 Russian mil. spec. 1578s (6SN7). I'm not sure that a lot of people slag off digital because of (a) the quality of the ADC and maybe listening to an all SS output.
What I do know is that if I can't achieve something very close to the analogue sound I have now I will stay with vinyl. It's just that I'm looking down the road and not that far and the thought of having a lot of my vinyl on a hard disc (with back-up hard disc) is very attractive - a lot less gear and a lot less chance of screwing up.
I can't see the point of buying a piece of vinyl that has had a digital chain up to that point.
My cousin has a daughter whose 18, she inherited her mothers musical character - she and her friends don't like the downloads or CDs they buy s/hand vinyl and yes, they can hear the difference, they have young ears.
I use a Kenwood KD 990 which comes with a beautifully engineered gimbal arm and use an AT 33EV MC. Virtually all my LPs are pre digital except for some new stuff I bought in the early 90s, all analogue production. I don't know what you mean about distortion and noise.Once I bought a Technics SL120 gave up on all other types of deck , the Kenwood is silent. Try a good D/D you might be surprised.
In the 70s I was in lots of 'altered states' but still have vinyl that is NM/VG+ from that time. I think Dude111 has it right. I listen through hybrid head and power amps that use 3 tube pres (the same) a 6F8G Tung Sol RP out through 2 Russian mil. spec. 1578s (6SN7). I'm not sure that a lot of people slag off digital because of (a) the quality of the ADC and maybe listening to an all SS output.
What I do know is that if I can't achieve something very close to the analogue sound I have now I will stay with vinyl. It's just that I'm looking down the road and not that far and the thought of having a lot of my vinyl on a hard disc (with back-up hard disc) is very attractive - a lot less gear and a lot less chance of screwing up.
I can't see the point of buying a piece of vinyl that has had a digital chain up to that point.
My cousin has a daughter whose 18, she inherited her mothers musical character - she and her friends don't like the downloads or CDs they buy s/hand vinyl and yes, they can hear the difference, they have young ears.
Actually none of this was addressed at you. 
I'm quite familiar with good DD tables like the Technics SP-10 MKII, had the opportunity to own a very nice one, and passed along two to a very close friend who I thought would appreciate them more than I. (I like idlers with 3 phase motors with electronic drives and am moving that way on my TD-124) I neglected to mention that my next project is a Garrard 401.. (Undecided on arm, but probably another SG cartridge, they are quite transparent, but have other "endearing" quirks.)
I like the Chronos Sparta and Win Tinon's Saskia II amongst others.
I also have had some exposure to good arms beyond the Schick, SME 3012 S2 etc, including SME 4/5, Clearaudio TT2/TT3/TT5, and countless others I can't even remember.
I enjoy vinyl, and have good vinyl playback hardware. I actually prefer it to most digital, but with 2 or 3 tables at my disposal and several arms and cartridges none of which sound all that similar on the same material I am not sold on any inherent technical superiority of vinyl over any other format, it's quite flawed. AND that does not mean that I will stop enjoying it, but accurate it's not. It does often bring you closer to the music despite the obvious imperfections. It also means you can perhaps justifiably spend hideous amounts of money trying to perfect playback.
I also like tape and am familiar with a few Studer machines like the A80 and A810. Wanted a B-62 or 67 until I realized what it would cost, no, not ready. Owned an Otari and a nice ReVox G36 MKIII (new half track heads, and lots of updates/mods, etc.) which was rather badly embarrassed by the M-Audio 2496 sound card in my measurements server.. I don't have it any more.
I still purchase vinyl, often new vinyl which is what I was actually getting at.. (mostly)
I'm quite familiar with good DD tables like the Technics SP-10 MKII, had the opportunity to own a very nice one, and passed along two to a very close friend who I thought would appreciate them more than I. (I like idlers with 3 phase motors with electronic drives and am moving that way on my TD-124) I neglected to mention that my next project is a Garrard 401.. (Undecided on arm, but probably another SG cartridge, they are quite transparent, but have other "endearing" quirks.)I like the Chronos Sparta and Win Tinon's Saskia II amongst others.
I also have had some exposure to good arms beyond the Schick, SME 3012 S2 etc, including SME 4/5, Clearaudio TT2/TT3/TT5, and countless others I can't even remember.
I enjoy vinyl, and have good vinyl playback hardware. I actually prefer it to most digital, but with 2 or 3 tables at my disposal and several arms and cartridges none of which sound all that similar on the same material I am not sold on any inherent technical superiority of vinyl over any other format, it's quite flawed. AND that does not mean that I will stop enjoying it, but accurate it's not. It does often bring you closer to the music despite the obvious imperfections. It also means you can perhaps justifiably spend hideous amounts of money trying to perfect playback.
I also like tape and am familiar with a few Studer machines like the A80 and A810. Wanted a B-62 or 67 until I realized what it would cost, no, not ready. Owned an Otari and a nice ReVox G36 MKIII (new half track heads, and lots of updates/mods, etc.) which was rather badly embarrassed by the M-Audio 2496 sound card in my measurements server.. I don't have it any more.
I still purchase vinyl, often new vinyl which is what I was actually getting at.. (mostly)
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