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Vinyl outsells CDs: Who'd have thunk it?


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I’ve contributed to the vinyl resurrection. My favorite purchase so far has been Edgar Winters “Brother”.  
 

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I think it speaks as much to the demise of the CD as the resurrection of vinyl.  I've gone fully dark side and get all my music streaming these days, and I'm quite sure I'm not the only one.

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I never looked back after switching from vinyl to digital almost 40 years ago, and I won't be getting a turntable anytime soon.  I've got a very nice set of old-school Yamaha speakers which sound better than any other stereo I ever get a chance to listen to.  I've got an extensive iTunes library of stuff I've personally selected, and I stream music from my computer to my stereo.  My stereo is playing hours every morning, almost always streamed from my computer.

I have yet to sign up for any streaming service, although I do occasionally listen to a Bandcamp stream.  I make digital purchase off Bandcamp for artists I want to support.

For me it's a convenience thing.  I don't like cleaning records, and I don't like the pop and surface noise of vinyl.  I can get used to it, but why?  I'm also not that much of an audiophile that my ears can distinguish a great difference in the formats, when both are played through a decent stereo.

Oh, and then there's cost.  I resisted switching to CDs in the 80s because you had to pay nearly twice as much for the same music.  Now, because vinyl is more popular, it's more expensive than CDs.  Go figure.

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*raises hand* I'll take a stab at it.

1. Inflation, especially in fossil fuels, and I'd wager there is more of that in records vs. CDs.

2. Freight cube size is larger, affecting shipping.

3. Pressing records is a physical, repetitive mechanical action, subject to drift in specs, adding to oversight costs. CD are less about the depth  and width of the rut, just that is is burned in the correct place and spacing.

4. Limited production = higher costs?

5. Perceived Hipster©️ status. It's still cheaper than your marshmallow macchiato with Tibetan yak milk, ya goldam hippie.

6. In late stage capitalism, no one can hear you cry, just pay up you indigent fukwads.

😁

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3 hours ago, Hamerica said:

I’ve contributed to the vinyl resurrection. My favorite purchase so far has been Edgar Winters “Brother”.  
 

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"Brother" should be album of the year.

TBH I bought the cd

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I have many LPs, mostly purchased used. I am not an audiophile, hipster, nor am I going through manopause. I like the way analog music sounds (especially mono), and look forward to lazy Sundays, brewing coffee and enjoying my records. 
 

I think the, “vinyl resurgence”, is due mainly to the interactive nature of the media. It involves the listener, forcing you to flip the platter every 25 minutes. There’s somewhat of a hint of romance, too.
 

Most of the new reissues have extensive liner notes and download cards for mp3s. I’m lucky to have many awesome record stores in the Bay Area.

 

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I think for many, it's more a question of: who'd have given a sh*t?  ;) No disrespect to those audiophiles out there but there's a reason they come up with labels for niche groups like y'all. 

For my money, I'm more interested in the type of music coming out on vinyl, CDs or streaming, and less about the format it's on. That said, I no longer have the capacity to play either my extensive CD collection nor the paltry 25 or so vinyl albums I have (mostly acquired in the 70' and 80's). :P

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48 minutes ago, RobB said:

I think the, “vinyl resurgence”, is due mainly to the interactive nature of the media. It involves the listener, forcing you to flip the platter every 25 minutes. There’s somewhat of a hint of romance, too.

 

I think that's a lot of it. A million years ago, I did a master's thesis research project sort of on this topic back in 2008, which I later published a bit of. Actually looks like someone is using it in a class somewhere and summarized it better than I probably can:

"The next research is particularly worthy for the foreseen thesis (since slight or significant changes may occur within the thesis).   It to predicts the multiple changes in the music industry pertaining to the dramatic shift of older album production to the more traditional digital music. It demonstrates the recent change in the album market. It also predicts that CD’s and Vinyls may exist in the future but only a small group of people will purchase them. Aforementioned, this research will be most relevant in portions of the argument that support the limited production of compact discs in the future.

The Album-Buying Niche: The Future Of Recorded Music On Traditional Media.” Southwestern Mass Communication Journal 27.1 (2011): 15-26. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 21 Apr. 2015."

I won't same I'm a Nostradamus or anything, but it did seem to me that there was a future for fixed, tangible media, but only as one of many income streams. The groups that seemed most interested were people who engaged with music as a primary form of entertainment rather than just background music. I also seem to remember people who considered albums themselves an artform all their own rather than simply a collection of songs were more likely to continue to buy whole albums, and I think back in 2008, there was a lean toward buying those as CDs or Vinyl rather than from Apple Music. 

Quite a bit has changed since, but I think the sales figures since have supported my conclusions. My guess is that you would find a good bit of the vinyl market is people who are really invested in music as more than just something to play when you're doing something. While I will debate anyone about the actual science of vinyl vs. CDs, as far as music snob culture, I realize I've lost. I think most audiophiles and serious music heads much prefer vinyl to CDs. Hell, I do myself, and I'm in the CD camp when it comes to prefered audio reproduction medium.

If I was going to make another guess, I would think a lot of the further decline in CDs is because country music fans and older people are finally adopting more modern forms of music consumption. Those two demos tend to be lagards when you look at the adoption curve for new music media, which is how Walmart ended up the essential record store in the late 00s and early 10s and folks like the Eagles, Garth Brooks, and Bruce Springsteen were doing exclusives with them. Walmart had a lot of shoppers who also fell into the demo who still bought CDs long after most everyone else was moving on. It was a lucrative gravy train for mainstream country and legacy artists for awhile, but I suspect that is drying up, which has got to affect CD numbers. At least in America, I'm not sure who else has been consistently buying them in any serious numbers. 

 

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I bought the New Iggy pop album on vinyl last week. I buy at least one CD or one LP a month. 

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I'm more surprised that many people are still buying CDs.  My CD player stopped working a while ago, I looked at what was available, and didn't replace it. Instead I got out an old laptop with a CD drive and use it as a digital file source.  I'll occasionally stop at a used record store and check out both vinyl and CDs, or stop by the library.  Then the CD gets transferred and put in a box.

I have a turntable and quite a few records, mostly as I was in music school in the late 80s and have a lot of jazz records never released on CD.  That and transferring to digital is a it more involved with vinyl. 

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13 minutes ago, TBP said:

I'm more surprised that many people are still buying CDs.   

CDs are great. The sound quality is good. It is very easy to listen to the format and they don't take that much space in the shelve. I have Tidal HIFI too, but I still prefer a good old fashioned CD.

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Well ok I guess. Today I’m totally into music streaming and a decent pair of headphones. Im never going back to getting up and flipping the record over or listening to two or three bad songs to get to the one I like. The only thing I miss about vinyl is the album art and notes on the inside. That was a special part of the record buying experience. 

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Around 2000 you could go to a record store and buy used albums for 99 cents, and new CD's were $18.00

Now you can buy new albums for $25, and used CD's for $2.00 (or download it all for free)

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I have a lot of vinyl.  I own some cds and no downloaded music. 
When I was a youngster we had LPs and 45s.  8 track was still around. 
I would go to Rinks grocery store with my yard cutting money and look for the latest Kiss record.  
I guess I’m in the manopause category.  I just love it. The artwork, the sleeve inserts, the nostalgia I guess.  

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1 hour ago, LucSulla said:

If you compare CDs and LP/EP, it flipped in 2020. 

Verily. My kids own more vinyls now than my sister and I did in the '70s.

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5 hours ago, Biz Prof said:

Verily. My kids own more vinyls now than my sister and I did in the '70s.

Your kids are cooler than any of us old farts here on the HFC!

My son just started buying vinyl last year, (since I gave him a vinyl player). He loves the format.

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I tend to buy vintage vinyl in mint conditions for the different mastering. They are the real originals and sound different to modern reissues. On the steaming platforms, they mostly offer reissues and extended versions, I don’t like to listen to extended b-stuff. Modern music is differently mastered and now often comes in high resolution. The dynamics are fabulous and outpace vinyl at some point, but don’t sound that good on vinyl. During pandemic, I had refurbished and upgraded my old stereo, including a new digital sound device and a bit-direct player, Audirvana. The Qobuz subscription covers a lot of ground, but vinyl has its own sound and dynamics that is great for home listening. I have started buying music in highres DSD format. CDs get ripped to flac when not decently available in Qobuz if at all. Mobility is digital of course. Bands I support at concerts, buying T, CD, or LP. That’s what I do.
 

New vinyl became quite expensive recently. That might have propelled sales too. Streaming widened my listening experience quite a lot. With physical buyings I’d rather stuck in my preferences bubble.

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I still buy some vinyl, and I just bought a new turntable at the end of last year.  But CDs are my preferred format.  Give me physical product all day long - I never have to worry about a service losing access to my stuff or trying to track who has what.  I do some streaming through Amazon Prime, and Apple Music when I have a free offer, but not very much.

Don't judge by me, though - I still have a working 8-track player.

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7 hours ago, alantig said:

I still buy some vinyl, and I just bought a new turntable at the end of last year.  But CDs are my preferred format.  Give me physical product all day long - I never have to worry about a service losing access to my stuff or trying to track who has what.  I do some streaming through Amazon Prime, and Apple Music when I have a free offer, but not very much.

Don't judge by me, though - I still have a working 8-track player.

I missed eight tracks, but I have heard that they are an amazing sounding high resolution source, is that true?

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The 8 track tape was much larger than cassette so it could hold more data.  My quadraphonic 8 tracks sounded amazing but that is based on memory.

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