Vinyl records make a return

12" either way

Would have loved to pick through the Caroline records bin...

what the hey?

1 For Sale from £312.58

Statistics
Have: 187
Want: 1218
Avg Rating: 4.68 / 5
Ratings: 109
Last Sold: 17 Sep 13
Lowest: £27.59
Median: £117.22
Highest: £156.29

i kinda like urban outfitters getting so into it, inevitable sweet deals on expensive reissues in clearance bins when the bubble finally bursts

Argh I keep venturing into these places strictly because I hear about these clearance bins ALL the time but none of them have any!

I know friends have gotten good deals before

On the other hand though I went to a second hand shop that I guess arranges to buy old lines directly from certain stores like UO and Free People etc. Anyway apparently they'd gotten a batch of vinyl from UO for whatever reason that they were selling for $4 an LP. Ended up getting Ride - Nowhere, PJ Harvey - Let England Shake, Bill Callahan - Apocalypse and few others I can't recall at the moment.
So I have actually lucked out with vinyl as an almost direct result of UO and shouldn't complain.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/26/business/media/music-sales-drop-5-as-habits-shift-online.html?_r=0

Wrong thread?

Oh this:. Sales of albums on CD fell 19 percent by revenue to $716 million, while LP sales grew 43 percent to $146 million

those numbers are shocking. LP $ is a full quarter of CD money.

or a fifth rather. Still a huge proportion.

I also have never seen a reasonably-priced record in an Urban Outfitters, though I always get suckered into checking. Amazing to realize people are actually paying those prices for that stuff and that it's not just a loss-leader piece of the decor, intended to suggest to shoppers that they've arrived at a place frequented by the in-crowd, etc.

i got TRUE ROMANCE for $9.99 there earlier this year

but vinyl is pretty astonishingly expensive to me - i mostly buy used/sale stuff with special exceptions

I got Gish and Siamese Dream for $5 each at UO

For awhile, they'd put decent things in the $10 And under bin in the back. I'd go in on an "additional 50% off sale items" day and get some good stuff. But those days are over.

bought a Heavy Metal Kids LP for £6 at my local branch, which is slightly over the odds but a bargain compared to every other used record in there - they price them uniformly at £6 and it's mostly 50p charity shop fodder

also not really interested in spending £20 on most LPs esp ones that can be had on CD for a quarter of that

Sales of albums on CD fell 19 percent by revenue to $716 million, while LP sales grew 43 percent to $146 million

Which stull means a combined drop of about 21m right?

yeah but but vinyl has a better chance of survival having already survived an extinction level event and rebounded

http://www.dustygroove.com/images/products/b/bustarhymes_extinctio_102b.jpg

^^^ expanded reissue available soon at urban outfitters, only $45 and it comes with a download code

also - according to wiki jack white sold 44,000 vinyl of his new album that's kinda nuts

Yeah, they were saying on Sound Opinions how its the best selling new release on vinyl since Pearl Jam's Vitalogy, twenty (!) years ago.

Vinyl for Vitalogy was released a week earlier than the CD/Cassette, iirc. Also, that vinyl for the new JW album looked beautiful, and was gimmick-packed in the best way.

Vitalogy landed in the Top 60 on it's opening vinyl week too.

yeah but but vinyl has a better chance of survival having already survived an extinction level event and rebounded

― u2 removal machine (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, September 28, 2014 1:34 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is true on several levels: vinyl is the only format that can be played without electricity.

haha i didn't even think of that but yeah...but overall, i'd guess vinyl survives CDs just because it went though all those transitional pains of going from a mass market to a niche, specialist product and has somehow not only survived but improbably flourished...

What's the secret to finding cheap records at UO?

I used to stop by all the time assuming they'd be blowing shit out and it never happened.

Same here. I think I'll ask someone there next time. Maybe they only do it certain times as aged inventory or something.

Amazon clogs up pressing plants with most pointless reissue series ever

was in HMV yesterday and there was a sign pointing upstairs that said "Music and Vinyl"...

need that mint Dave Grusin "Theme From the Goonies" for parties

I'm happy with the prices of vinyl going up - basically this means that when I sell all the stuff I collected when nobody really gave a shit, I can make myself some serious dough! Thanks, hipsters!

get ready for the windfall! Thanks for the new ride, hipsters!
http://www.welsh-house.net/images/andy-festiva2.jpg

Have any new plants been built lately? It seems like the best thing for the industry would be Amazon or Apple or Urban Outfitters or whoever team up to build some new record plants. Then again records are made out of oil so that's more carbon from the vinyls being made and the additional pollution.

Maybe start 3D printing records in mass w recycled stuff.

I don't know about new plants in the US, but that Czech place has been building new presses for themselves.

Tesco is to tap into the rapidly growing vinyl music market this week when it sells the new album by British rock group Iron Maiden.

The Book Of Souls, the band’s first studio offering in five years, will be released on Friday, with the triple LP format going on sale in 55 of the chain’s largest Tesco Extra stores.

It is believed it will be the first time Tesco has sold vinyl albums, as CDs were the dominant format when supermarkets started selling music in the 1990s. In the past few years, the vinyl album revival has been gaining momentum, with sales increasing by more than 50% in 2014.

Vinyl has bucked the downward sales trend of other music formats such as CDs, which fell by 6.5% in the past year, and downloads, which dropped by nearly 9%. Streaming increased by 78% last year.

Tesco’s music buyer, Michael Mulligan, said: “In the last year, we began selling record decks in our largest stores and initial sales are very encouraging, so giving our customers some new vinyl to play on those decks seems like the logical next step.

“And there can be no better way to launch this trial than working with one of rock music’s most iconic bands and their eagerly anticipated new album.

“We are anticipating demand for The Book Of Souls to be as high as Iron Maiden’s last album, which was the band’s most successful to date, reaching number one in 28 countries including the UK.

“If this trial is a success, then we would consider selling more vinyl albums before the end of the year.”

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/aug/31/tesco-sell-iron-maiden-album-book-of-souls-vinyl-format

run to the tills...

That Amazon thing is silly but hardly most pointless reissue series ever, I reckon most reissues are pointless these days

when I see something with a BACK TO BLACK sticker on it in a record shop it's almost always a top 40 record that was never hard to find - at least that's my experience, I may be wrong http://www.discogs.com/label/197898-Back-To-Black

http://www.factmag.com/2015/08/26/virginia-plant-open-viny-press-motherload/

hey that's cool! wonder if they had to retool them at all, like the folks who bought those Indian 78 presses

I buy vinyl exclusively; I won't rehash the reasons because there's tons of threads like that - but as far as supply and demand goes, I will say that I would buy a LOT more new vinyl if major reissues could get priced at the point of, I dunno, new releases on Kill Rock Stars. I hear what people are saying about economies of scale and shit, and I'm no economist, but I'm pretty sure if KRS can put out a $12 record Sony should be able to. The REM cited above is a case in point, actually all their vinyl post-New Adventures has been one continuous gouge. WTF, guys?

― Doctor Casino, Friday, May 1, 2009 12:25 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm sure there's another thread for this but it doesn't seem quite suited to the "scams" thread... but seriously this has gotten just insane with the huge gaps in price for brand new single LPs. Slap a "180-gram" label on it and all's fair I guess - that's been true for a long while - but come on. Brand new editions of the two big Shins albums - $11 apiece. Cool! I assume it's bare-bones but you know what, I don't remember that record having any lavish extras when it first came out so who cares? Keep flipping through the bins - brand new edition of Last Splash - $25! Pod, from the same reissue campaign, is only $21 though. Every Smiths LP at least $25.

But the funniest thing by far are the $18-24 reissue copies of, like, Still Crazy After All These Years. I like that album just fine, but do the people greenlighting these releases know that anybody who wants to hear it on vinyl can find it on sale for $2 or less, in VG condition somewhere in any city in the country?

I think they're counting on people not knowing that, or not caring. There are a few oddballs who LIKE new vinyl because it's clean. In theory.

Noticed some of the majors jacking prices up recently, so a single LP is $30 on some of them. Joy Division reissues (via Rhino) went up 5-6 bucks I think. So annoying. At least there's still a fair amount of punk and indie stuff that's like $15.

But the funniest thing by far are the $18-24 reissue copies of, like, Still Crazy After All These Years. I like that album just fine, but do the people greenlighting these releases know that anybody who wants to hear it on vinyl can find it on sale for $2 or less, in VG condition somewhere in any city in the country?

The real deal HQ vinyl reissues (on Friday Music and such, mastered from original tapes) DO sound amazing, though. The people buyng them already have 10 original copies of Still Crazy.

also, rich people like new shiny things

$8 in 1980 is $23 now. They really aren't all that crazy.

I don't like 180 gram vinyl because people operating the pressing plants often don't know how to prevent warps when taking the press off, but I'll say something in defense of budget releases versus premium releases.

I buy vinyl almost exclusively, and I'm kind of indiscriminate about whether I buy used, budget, or more expensive releases (including imports). Some of the budget records I buy are clearly made with old plates. You can hear the age of the plate, and you'd often be better off buying an old used copy or finding the tracks you like on compilations.

Some of the premium releases are more expensive because they've made new plates and the label is recouping that cost. Some records just have more packaging, and you'll pay $2 or $3 extra for the packaging. Download cards (never use them) also increase the cost of new records. Licensing increases the cost of records put out by labels that don't own the rights to the recordings.

Often the actual cost of producing the music will figure into your price (which is why a house 12 inch will cost less than an LP, even though both records are basically the same piece of plastic). New (and good) masters and proper sourcing will increase the price. Bootleggy records with shitty mastering and sourcing (like those Todd Terje boots sourced from mp3s) are often very cheap. Importing a record obviously boosts the price anywhere from $5 to $10. And as you've suggested, small batches of records will cost more than large batches because of the economy of scale.

KRS has always had dirt cheap records, and I think labels like KRS have cheap releases because a) they're pros who have been putting out records for 20 years or more, b) they have low overhead, c) they stretch the life of their masters and plates, d) they have a punk aesthetic compatible with a "good enough" attitude toward their product, and e) they own all the rights to the music they put out.

Since the 90s, major labels have never stopped gouging on new records. They often press in relatively small batches, they make bullshit "deluxe" packaging decisions, they employ people who make a buttload of money, and they don't care about music fans. Major labels also have some of the worst mastering for vinyl in the industry.