Stax of Wax
August 4, 2015 6:49 AM Subscribe
"For almost 70 years, United Record Pressing [previously] has been in the business of pressing vinyl records. A quarter century ago, everyone thought those old black disks were going the way of the dodo. Then a few years ago, a funny thing happened: The kids started buying vinyl again. And now, one of Nashville’s oldest manufacturing businesses is growing to beat the band." -- "The Persistence of Vinyl" via The Bitter Southerner
...print it to paper.
Interestingly, the reason so many early Edison silent films survive is because of the way copyright was established. Most film makers of the era submitted just a handful of frames of their films, printed to paper, to secure copyright. Edison's company (as well as others) submitted the entire film, printed to paper, for copyright.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:20 AM on August 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
Interestingly, the reason so many early Edison silent films survive is because of the way copyright was established. Most film makers of the era submitted just a handful of frames of their films, printed to paper, to secure copyright. Edison's company (as well as others) submitted the entire film, printed to paper, for copyright.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:20 AM on August 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
"The two things that really drew me to vinyl were the expense and the inconvenience."
posted by Ian A.T. at 7:25 AM on August 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by Ian A.T. at 7:25 AM on August 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
Interesting bit about how vinyl's "dead years" were actually a boom time for 12" singles:
“So what did the ’90s look like at United?
“Lots and lots of singles,” says Millar. In the late 1990s, Cris Ashworth took ownership of United and began pressing 12-inch singles, typically used by DJs, for the first time; previously United had only been pressing 45-rpm singles. “Today, maybe we’ll get 20 orders of 1,000 records. Back then they would probably get one order of, let’s say, 20,000 Jay-Z singles.”
...Ashworth acquired new presses and through diligent promotion and networking, began to significantly expand United’s output of 10- and 12-inch records. The 12-inch singles, along with 7-inch records for jukeboxes, of which there were thousands still operating around the world before the advent of the digital jukes, kept the business afloat through what most consider “the dead years of vinyl.” But as Millar points out, the dead years weren’t all that dead.
"What people call the ‘vinyl resurgence’ is actually the ‘LP resurgence’ because vinyl never really went away,” he explained. “When people think it went away was when 12-inch singles were booming. It was really a shift in what type of record was popular.”
posted by mediareport at 7:26 AM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
“So what did the ’90s look like at United?
“Lots and lots of singles,” says Millar. In the late 1990s, Cris Ashworth took ownership of United and began pressing 12-inch singles, typically used by DJs, for the first time; previously United had only been pressing 45-rpm singles. “Today, maybe we’ll get 20 orders of 1,000 records. Back then they would probably get one order of, let’s say, 20,000 Jay-Z singles.”
...Ashworth acquired new presses and through diligent promotion and networking, began to significantly expand United’s output of 10- and 12-inch records. The 12-inch singles, along with 7-inch records for jukeboxes, of which there were thousands still operating around the world before the advent of the digital jukes, kept the business afloat through what most consider “the dead years of vinyl.” But as Millar points out, the dead years weren’t all that dead.
"What people call the ‘vinyl resurgence’ is actually the ‘LP resurgence’ because vinyl never really went away,” he explained. “When people think it went away was when 12-inch singles were booming. It was really a shift in what type of record was popular.”
posted by mediareport at 7:26 AM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
"[URP] pressed Jack White’s 2014 release, “Lazaretto,” which sold 40,000 vinyl copies in the first week, making it the fastest-selling vinyl album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991."
1991? An odd year to start tracking vinyl sales. But that's when Nielsen started tracking all music sales.
Music Downloads Plummet in U.S., but Sales of Vinyl Records and Streaming Surge
1991? An odd year to start tracking vinyl sales. But that's when Nielsen started tracking all music sales.
Music Downloads Plummet in U.S., but Sales of Vinyl Records and Streaming Surge
Sales of downloaded albums and songs plummeted in the U.S. in 2014, according to Nielsen SoundScan, offset by rises in vinyl-record sales and streaming services, such as Spotify AB and Google Inc. ’s YouTube.posted by filthy light thief at 7:29 AM on August 4, 2015
Paid downloads of albums and songs declined 9% and 12% respectively, the company said. American consumers bought 257 million albums in 2014, 106.5 million of them downloads.
Vinyl-record sales of 9.2 million were the highest since SoundScan started tracking sales in 1991, and a 52% increase from 2013.
Also, I'm glad to hear that *someone* in the pressing biz is adding new presses. For years, fear that the resurgence of vinyl would be very temporary kept anyone from making the big investment in new pressing plants, which seemed like a self-fulfilling prophecy. It'd be great if other companies took the plunge, too.
posted by mediareport at 7:29 AM on August 4, 2015
posted by mediareport at 7:29 AM on August 4, 2015
Another view on the industry - here.
posted by Ashwagandha at 7:32 AM on August 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Ashwagandha at 7:32 AM on August 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
Have people not been writing these "records are making a comeback!" pieces for, like, at least 20 years now? Can we stop pretending that every one has suddenly noticed a tiny little subculture centered around wax has continued to exist since CDs (and eventually digital download, obviously) became king 30 damn years ago? Honestly I find it tiresome, and I both love vinyl & sell it (among other things) to make a living.
People remember the headline like "vinyl sales are double what they were 10 years ago!", but not so much the detail "they've gone from .2 of 1% to .4 of 1% in music sales" detail. Ok, I just pulled that number out of my ass, but you get what I mean. Vinyl is a miniscule, insignificant portion of music sales. Last figures I saw definitely put it well below 1%, but I'd love to be proven wrong if anyone has a more current statistic.
Yes, I see that Barnes & Noble now has a display with the latest albums by the top 5 hip indie bands (which always seem absurdly high priced to me) and whatever is the most recent Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin SUPER DELUXE REISSUE (which I can only call FUCK YOU priced). They seem to be there so they can put a giant banner in their window that exclaims how incredibly hip B&N is now that they have OMG VINYL.
Don't get me wrong: it makes me legit happy when I see teenagers digging through the vinyl bins at record shows and thrift stores. Maybe I'm just an old sourpuss, but the end result of articles like this for me is that when someone is trying to sell me their old record collection (or, more likely, their parents' old record collection), they've become convinced that their beat up 3 Dog Night albums are worth $10 each.
posted by the bricabrac man at 7:38 AM on August 4, 2015 [14 favorites]
People remember the headline like "vinyl sales are double what they were 10 years ago!", but not so much the detail "they've gone from .2 of 1% to .4 of 1% in music sales" detail. Ok, I just pulled that number out of my ass, but you get what I mean. Vinyl is a miniscule, insignificant portion of music sales. Last figures I saw definitely put it well below 1%, but I'd love to be proven wrong if anyone has a more current statistic.
Yes, I see that Barnes & Noble now has a display with the latest albums by the top 5 hip indie bands (which always seem absurdly high priced to me) and whatever is the most recent Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin SUPER DELUXE REISSUE (which I can only call FUCK YOU priced). They seem to be there so they can put a giant banner in their window that exclaims how incredibly hip B&N is now that they have OMG VINYL.
Don't get me wrong: it makes me legit happy when I see teenagers digging through the vinyl bins at record shows and thrift stores. Maybe I'm just an old sourpuss, but the end result of articles like this for me is that when someone is trying to sell me their old record collection (or, more likely, their parents' old record collection), they've become convinced that their beat up 3 Dog Night albums are worth $10 each.
posted by the bricabrac man at 7:38 AM on August 4, 2015 [14 favorites]
Periodically I look at those two milk crates of records that I have stored in the garage and think that I should investigate a turntable. And then I remember how lazy I am and what a pain in the ass vinyl was.
posted by octothorpe at 7:38 AM on August 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 7:38 AM on August 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
There's some poo-pooing of vinyl in this thread... and as one of those obnoxious hipsters who actually buys vinyl, new and used, I feel a teensy bit defensive (but only a teensy bit), so let me explain why I buy records.
I'm a music fan. I have a gigantic MP3 collection, I still have my CDs, going back to the stuff I bought in high school, and I have a collection of vinyl: LPs, 12" singles, and 7" singles. I even have a couple cassette tapes that I can't even play, because I don't own a tape player. (I also don't want a tape player. It was just that cassettes were the only physical format I could buy this music on.)
For music, and bands I love, owning the album on physical media is a way to own a piece of that band. It's a totem, imbued with memories and feelings: a great show I attended, a search through the stacks at a used record store, a piece of the past I'll never get to experience. Music isn't just sound waves, it's a physical thing. While I do most of my music listening to digital files. I don't stream, I just listen to what I keep on my phone or in my gigantic iTunes Library, I will occasionally sit down and put on a record on my turntable, and focus on that for the length of an album. It's a different way of relating to the music.
Now, here's the thing: this is just how I relate to music. If you want to stream music, or buy digital music, and never have a physical copy, that's fine. If you want to buy vinyl, or listen exclusively to 8-Track tapes, that's fine too. We all relate to music our own way.
posted by SansPoint at 7:42 AM on August 4, 2015 [8 favorites]
I'm a music fan. I have a gigantic MP3 collection, I still have my CDs, going back to the stuff I bought in high school, and I have a collection of vinyl: LPs, 12" singles, and 7" singles. I even have a couple cassette tapes that I can't even play, because I don't own a tape player. (I also don't want a tape player. It was just that cassettes were the only physical format I could buy this music on.)
For music, and bands I love, owning the album on physical media is a way to own a piece of that band. It's a totem, imbued with memories and feelings: a great show I attended, a search through the stacks at a used record store, a piece of the past I'll never get to experience. Music isn't just sound waves, it's a physical thing. While I do most of my music listening to digital files. I don't stream, I just listen to what I keep on my phone or in my gigantic iTunes Library, I will occasionally sit down and put on a record on my turntable, and focus on that for the length of an album. It's a different way of relating to the music.
Now, here's the thing: this is just how I relate to music. If you want to stream music, or buy digital music, and never have a physical copy, that's fine. If you want to buy vinyl, or listen exclusively to 8-Track tapes, that's fine too. We all relate to music our own way.
posted by SansPoint at 7:42 AM on August 4, 2015 [8 favorites]
Also, serious kudos to Third Man for having fun with physical releases.
octothorpe: Periodically I look at those two milk crates of records that I have stored in the garage and think that I should investigate a turntable. And then I remember how lazy I am and what a pain in the ass vinyl was.
Send me your vinyl, and I'll make sure it's put to good use. We listened to Sharon Jones, Falco and The Sound of Music soundtrack yesterday on our record player. Getting up to flip a record over is a slight hassle, but a minor one.
My favorite thing about vinyl is that there's so much old, interesting music you can get so cheaply (unless you have to ship it, then it's a good deal more expensive).
posted by filthy light thief at 7:42 AM on August 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
Third Man’s relationship with United is symbiotic. They work together to push the vinyl medium to new heights, like putting secret songs under labels, making hand-etched holograms appear when the record spins, engineering records to play from the inside out and building a special Frankenstein-ish press that manufactures half-and-half colored vinyl (it’s the only one in existence).This is where records shine - large-scale art, the chance to include more details and hide Easter eggs and hidden messages in the runout grooves.
octothorpe: Periodically I look at those two milk crates of records that I have stored in the garage and think that I should investigate a turntable. And then I remember how lazy I am and what a pain in the ass vinyl was.
Send me your vinyl, and I'll make sure it's put to good use. We listened to Sharon Jones, Falco and The Sound of Music soundtrack yesterday on our record player. Getting up to flip a record over is a slight hassle, but a minor one.
My favorite thing about vinyl is that there's so much old, interesting music you can get so cheaply (unless you have to ship it, then it's a good deal more expensive).
posted by filthy light thief at 7:42 AM on August 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
12-inch singles, typically used by DJs, for the first time; previously United had only been pressing 45-rpm singles
Pet peeve: many 12-inch singles are played at 45-rpm, some 7-inch singles are played at 33 1/3 rpm. "45" may have been synonymous with 7-inch at one point, but it's been a long time since that was true.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 7:43 AM on August 4, 2015
Pet peeve: many 12-inch singles are played at 45-rpm, some 7-inch singles are played at 33 1/3 rpm. "45" may have been synonymous with 7-inch at one point, but it's been a long time since that was true.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 7:43 AM on August 4, 2015
the bricabrac man Maybe I'm just an old sourpuss, but the end result of articles like this for me is that when someone is trying to sell me their old record collection (or, more likely, their parents' old record collection), they've become convinced that their beat up 3 Dog Night albums are worth $10 each.
As a crate-digger, this pisses me off too. There's a store I went to, once, that tried to sell a copy of The Human League's Dare, a multi-million selling album that is more common than dirt, in a beat up sleeve with massive ring-wear, for $30. Screw you, Village World Music.
posted by SansPoint at 7:44 AM on August 4, 2015 [7 favorites]
As a crate-digger, this pisses me off too. There's a store I went to, once, that tried to sell a copy of The Human League's Dare, a multi-million selling album that is more common than dirt, in a beat up sleeve with massive ring-wear, for $30. Screw you, Village World Music.
posted by SansPoint at 7:44 AM on August 4, 2015 [7 favorites]
Ashwagandha's "Have We Reached Peak Vinyl?" Stereogum link is really interesting, not least for the info on new presses:
And slowly but surely, more supply is coming online, just as the textbooks say it should. Nashville’s United Record Pressing, which announced in January it could no longer take new customers, plans to open a second plant any time now. Indie-label stalwart Fat Possum Records last year opened up its own Memphis Record Pressing in Tennessee. New vinyl plants are opening in Vermont and Oregon; New York’s own new Brooklyn Vinyl Works recently launched a Kickstarter funding campaign. And given the considerable expense required to buy, refurbish, and run vintage vinyl presses — a plant’s worth of record manufacturing equipment in Zimbabwe was listed oneBay earlier this year for the equivalent of about $250,000 — none of these manufacturers are making short-term investments. (Building new vinyl presses would so far be prohibitively expensive. UPDATE: Or maybe not so prohibitive: San Francisco-based independent vinyl manufacturer Pirates Press and Czech-based GZ Media tell me they’ve built “several” new — not refurbished — vinyl presses.)
posted by mediareport at 7:45 AM on August 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
And slowly but surely, more supply is coming online, just as the textbooks say it should. Nashville’s United Record Pressing, which announced in January it could no longer take new customers, plans to open a second plant any time now. Indie-label stalwart Fat Possum Records last year opened up its own Memphis Record Pressing in Tennessee. New vinyl plants are opening in Vermont and Oregon; New York’s own new Brooklyn Vinyl Works recently launched a Kickstarter funding campaign. And given the considerable expense required to buy, refurbish, and run vintage vinyl presses — a plant’s worth of record manufacturing equipment in Zimbabwe was listed oneBay earlier this year for the equivalent of about $250,000 — none of these manufacturers are making short-term investments. (Building new vinyl presses would so far be prohibitively expensive. UPDATE: Or maybe not so prohibitive: San Francisco-based independent vinyl manufacturer Pirates Press and Czech-based GZ Media tell me they’ve built “several” new — not refurbished — vinyl presses.)
posted by mediareport at 7:45 AM on August 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
Vinyl is probably like books are going to be but more so - some people just like the format and don't find its inconveniences inconveniencing, and some other people like to own the occasional item as an artifact. I can't imagine going back to vinyl (I have a bunch of records - mostly from the nineties but a few rarities from the 2000s) because frankly I'm a butterfingers and it's a pain. But I also know that I will probably always prefer paper books to kindle and similar, even though paper books are heavy and bulky and so on. I just enjoy the format much more than I enjoy reading a book on a screen.
posted by Frowner at 7:48 AM on August 4, 2015
posted by Frowner at 7:48 AM on August 4, 2015
Send me your vinyl, and I'll make sure it's put to good use.
Eh, there's not that much rare or interesting in there. Bunch of Who and Clash and the like.
posted by octothorpe at 7:50 AM on August 4, 2015
Eh, there's not that much rare or interesting in there. Bunch of Who and Clash and the like.
posted by octothorpe at 7:50 AM on August 4, 2015
octothorpe If you've got Live at Leeds in good condition, I'll take it.
posted by SansPoint at 7:52 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by SansPoint at 7:52 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
(hell, those Clash LPs might actually BE worth $10!)
posted by the bricabrac man at 7:54 AM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by the bricabrac man at 7:54 AM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Obviously vinyl is its own thing, but it seems like there are a lot of kids into cassettes these days. Which sort of blows my mind, but I guess it shouldn't. If you didn't grow up with cassettes, they probably seem cool and exotic and have "analog" flavor, whatever that means.
I turned on a Harold Faltermeyer station on Pandora the other for babyozzy to dance to, and now I've got a wild hair to write a synthwave EP. Maybe I'll make some tapes.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:56 AM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
I turned on a Harold Faltermeyer station on Pandora the other for babyozzy to dance to, and now I've got a wild hair to write a synthwave EP. Maybe I'll make some tapes.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:56 AM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
More to the point, vinyl sales now account for over 50% of new music sales in at least one, and probably more, of our local music stores. It's keeping a lot of small shops in business. We do mostly books at our shop but vinyl is a big and growing percentage of our used music sales.
posted by mediareport at 8:17 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by mediareport at 8:17 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
The sound of vinyl is so sterile and artificial. I only listen to music on shellac.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:17 AM on August 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:17 AM on August 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
The Bitter Southerner -- I'd never heard of them until I started clicking on mefi links to them. Man, they're awesome.
posted by blucevalo at 8:20 AM on August 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by blucevalo at 8:20 AM on August 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
uncleozzy: Obviously vinyl is its own thing, but it seems like there are a lot of kids into cassettes these days. Which sort of blows my mind, but I guess it shouldn't. If you didn't grow up with cassettes, they probably seem cool and exotic and have "analog" flavor, whatever that means.
I'm old enough to have subscribed to BMG Music Club for cassettes, and I made my own mixes in high school, but I have also bought a handful of cassettes in the past few years, but I haven't listened to them yet. I'm actually more afraid to play those because they're limited run items with exclusive material, so I want to make backups before potentially losing them to hungry cassette players or forgetting them in a hot car, only to find soft spaghetti noodles.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:23 AM on August 4, 2015
I'm old enough to have subscribed to BMG Music Club for cassettes, and I made my own mixes in high school, but I have also bought a handful of cassettes in the past few years, but I haven't listened to them yet. I'm actually more afraid to play those because they're limited run items with exclusive material, so I want to make backups before potentially losing them to hungry cassette players or forgetting them in a hot car, only to find soft spaghetti noodles.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:23 AM on August 4, 2015
. In 2014, 257 million albums were sold - albums being either as CDs, downloads, or vinyl. Of those 257 million albums, 9.2 million were on vinyl. That's like 3.6% of album sales.
Isn't it the case, however, that a huge portion of digital sales is not "albums" but individual tracks? Not including those sales would definitely skew the results and make LP sales seem more significant than they are.
That said, I'll readily admit that I wouldn't have guessed as high as 3.6% even when restricted solely to "album" sales, and I'm pleasantly surprised it's that high.
posted by the bricabrac man at 8:38 AM on August 4, 2015
Isn't it the case, however, that a huge portion of digital sales is not "albums" but individual tracks? Not including those sales would definitely skew the results and make LP sales seem more significant than they are.
That said, I'll readily admit that I wouldn't have guessed as high as 3.6% even when restricted solely to "album" sales, and I'm pleasantly surprised it's that high.
posted by the bricabrac man at 8:38 AM on August 4, 2015
The Bitter Southerner -- I'd never heard of them until I started clicking on mefi links to them. Man, they're awesome.
I have them on an RSS feed. This one showed up this morning and it had MetaFilter written all over it...
posted by jim in austin at 8:39 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I have them on an RSS feed. This one showed up this morning and it had MetaFilter written all over it...
posted by jim in austin at 8:39 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Maybe I'm just an old sourpuss, but the end result of articles like this for me is that when someone is trying to sell me their old record collection (or, more likely, their parents' old record collection), they've become convinced that their beat up 3 Dog Night albums are worth $10 each.
I don't think this is the result of articles like this. I think that's the result of jackass stores that charge exorbitant prices. I own a record shop in Toronto (one of the best cities in the world for vinyl lovers), and there are jerks with stores who charge ridiculous prices for common records ($40 for a 70s Dark Side of the Moon, $40 for late-70s Neil Young Harvest, $20 for Hotel California, $25 for Whitney Houston albums, etc.).
There are even a couple vendors who buy their stock at their lesser-known competitors, doubling the prices (or more), and getting away with it because the youngsters they were selling to were oblivious. Teens who had never grown up with vinyl and only have one shop in their neighborhood make the mistake of assuming that "Well, that's just the price, I guess." Sure, they should do their research, but I think most people buying things from their neighborhood mom and pop store assume the proprietor is on their side and being fair. Nope.
My shop instagrams most of its inventory and I really like the way that that modern service juxtaposes with the "antiquated" format or image of vinyl records. There is a large community of people on Insta who photo their records and follow one another. It's really interesting to see record collectors from around the world spotlight the vinyl that's important to them.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 8:42 AM on August 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
I don't think this is the result of articles like this. I think that's the result of jackass stores that charge exorbitant prices. I own a record shop in Toronto (one of the best cities in the world for vinyl lovers), and there are jerks with stores who charge ridiculous prices for common records ($40 for a 70s Dark Side of the Moon, $40 for late-70s Neil Young Harvest, $20 for Hotel California, $25 for Whitney Houston albums, etc.).
There are even a couple vendors who buy their stock at their lesser-known competitors, doubling the prices (or more), and getting away with it because the youngsters they were selling to were oblivious. Teens who had never grown up with vinyl and only have one shop in their neighborhood make the mistake of assuming that "Well, that's just the price, I guess." Sure, they should do their research, but I think most people buying things from their neighborhood mom and pop store assume the proprietor is on their side and being fair. Nope.
My shop instagrams most of its inventory and I really like the way that that modern service juxtaposes with the "antiquated" format or image of vinyl records. There is a large community of people on Insta who photo their records and follow one another. It's really interesting to see record collectors from around the world spotlight the vinyl that's important to them.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 8:42 AM on August 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
I'm one of those idiots that started buying vinyl again. I find that yes, I like the sound better for whatever reason, but mostly listening to music on vinyl makes me a more active listener. I'm more likely to throw spotify on while I'm doing the dishes or something, but with an album, I'm more likely to make a drink, sit down and really listen.
posted by lumpenprole at 9:03 AM on August 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by lumpenprole at 9:03 AM on August 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
I have them on an RSS feed. This one showed up this morning and it had MetaFilter written all over it...
Is that a greasemonkey script?
posted by srboisvert at 9:04 AM on August 4, 2015
Is that a greasemonkey script?
posted by srboisvert at 9:04 AM on August 4, 2015
Is that a greasemonkey script?
Heh! Metaphorically written all over it...
posted by jim in austin at 9:19 AM on August 4, 2015
Heh! Metaphorically written all over it...
posted by jim in austin at 9:19 AM on August 4, 2015
> Maybe I'm just an old sourpuss, but the end result of articles like this for me is that when someone is trying to sell me their old record collection (or, more likely, their parents' old record collection), they've become convinced that their beat up 3 Dog Night albums are worth $10 each.
This sort of thing is definitely becoming more common. People have no idea how much records are worth (and the vast majority are effectively worthless). Anecdata:
- I was at a flea market back in the spring and found a crate of records tucked away in the corner of an antiques stall; it was full of really beat up classic rock that the guy wanted anywhere from $25-$75 dollars for, each. When he saw me dropping them back into the bin he said "I know it seems like a lot, but those are eBay prices!"
- A couple of summers ago I was rummaging around a junk store in Ontario cottage country and found a pile of $1 records that had some pretty good stuff; '70s funk, disco, r&b (Trouble Man!). When I brought them up to the cash, the lady there said "Oh, you're into records? Let me show you the *good* stuff we have!" Then she brings out a bunch of '70s and '80s classic rock (like Emotional Rescue by the Stones) that were all $20 each.
- There's an absurdly overpriced Toronto record store in my neighbourhood that I guess is selling to kids who don't know any better and/or rich people who want the "best" records to play on their expensive systems. The first (and only) time I went in I asked if they had a dollar bin; "Well, no, but we do have a $10 bin." It was full of the same stuff you'd find in the dollar bin at a normal store, and stuff that would usually run you $10 was double or even triple that much.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:22 AM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
This sort of thing is definitely becoming more common. People have no idea how much records are worth (and the vast majority are effectively worthless). Anecdata:
- I was at a flea market back in the spring and found a crate of records tucked away in the corner of an antiques stall; it was full of really beat up classic rock that the guy wanted anywhere from $25-$75 dollars for, each. When he saw me dropping them back into the bin he said "I know it seems like a lot, but those are eBay prices!"
- A couple of summers ago I was rummaging around a junk store in Ontario cottage country and found a pile of $1 records that had some pretty good stuff; '70s funk, disco, r&b (Trouble Man!). When I brought them up to the cash, the lady there said "Oh, you're into records? Let me show you the *good* stuff we have!" Then she brings out a bunch of '70s and '80s classic rock (like Emotional Rescue by the Stones) that were all $20 each.
- There's an absurdly overpriced Toronto record store in my neighbourhood that I guess is selling to kids who don't know any better and/or rich people who want the "best" records to play on their expensive systems. The first (and only) time I went in I asked if they had a dollar bin; "Well, no, but we do have a $10 bin." It was full of the same stuff you'd find in the dollar bin at a normal store, and stuff that would usually run you $10 was double or even triple that much.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:22 AM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
This isn't really a consumer-driven whim, as much as a conscious industry-driven idea as a desperate attempt to find something to sell.
The progression CD -> mp3 -> "everyone listens for free" left record companies with their classic sources of income gone. They had to find something physical to put into stores, and vinyl was the logical choice, for so many reasons, many of which are listed above.
They've also pushed pretty hard in non-obvious ways to get vinyl accepted again - for example, compressing the typical CD mix to within an inch of its life. That's a clever tactic - it makes the track jump out at you in your normal noise environment, but it also makes it harsh for repeated listening, so if you like the song and get the LP, you'll experience a much "warmer", more relaxed sound.
The creepy part is that the physics is such that a CD contains a lot more information than an LP does - that a CD can contain all or very very nearly all(*) of the audio signal of an LP that a human can possibly perceive, as well as as a great deal more information in the upper and lower ranges - and moreover has near-perfect time coherence, with wow and flutter too low to be measured.
What this means is that you should be able to (carefully) record an LP directly onto a CD, and be able to A/B compare the "live" LP with the "recorded" LP and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
What I am coming to is that if record companies chose to do so, they could get exactly the same sound they get on LPs on CDs (and very close on the mp3s). They choose not to do so to preserve their only growing market. And who can blame them?
(And the form-factor of an LP is luxurious and aesthetic in its own right. It's a nice product! It's just a shame they have to cripple the digital releases to push the LP...)
--
(* - Another hedge here, only because I know that beat differences between audio frequencies too high to hear has been implicated in people's abilities to echolocate, so it's I suppose conceivable that if you had a perfect system you might get better results in some spacial location tasks with an LP.
(But I doubt it, and more, none of your and my stereo systems even reproduces those sounds anyway, and very few of the people mixing have desks (I think mainly the Neve?) which don't filter out frequencies beyond 20KHz and change...)
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 9:25 AM on August 4, 2015
The progression CD -> mp3 -> "everyone listens for free" left record companies with their classic sources of income gone. They had to find something physical to put into stores, and vinyl was the logical choice, for so many reasons, many of which are listed above.
They've also pushed pretty hard in non-obvious ways to get vinyl accepted again - for example, compressing the typical CD mix to within an inch of its life. That's a clever tactic - it makes the track jump out at you in your normal noise environment, but it also makes it harsh for repeated listening, so if you like the song and get the LP, you'll experience a much "warmer", more relaxed sound.
The creepy part is that the physics is such that a CD contains a lot more information than an LP does - that a CD can contain all or very very nearly all(*) of the audio signal of an LP that a human can possibly perceive, as well as as a great deal more information in the upper and lower ranges - and moreover has near-perfect time coherence, with wow and flutter too low to be measured.
What this means is that you should be able to (carefully) record an LP directly onto a CD, and be able to A/B compare the "live" LP with the "recorded" LP and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
What I am coming to is that if record companies chose to do so, they could get exactly the same sound they get on LPs on CDs (and very close on the mp3s). They choose not to do so to preserve their only growing market. And who can blame them?
(And the form-factor of an LP is luxurious and aesthetic in its own right. It's a nice product! It's just a shame they have to cripple the digital releases to push the LP...)
--
(* - Another hedge here, only because I know that beat differences between audio frequencies too high to hear has been implicated in people's abilities to echolocate, so it's I suppose conceivable that if you had a perfect system you might get better results in some spacial location tasks with an LP.
(But I doubt it, and more, none of your and my stereo systems even reproduces those sounds anyway, and very few of the people mixing have desks (I think mainly the Neve?) which don't filter out frequencies beyond 20KHz and change...)
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 9:25 AM on August 4, 2015
Well hey, United cuts the majority of their records direct from CDs. If you send them a higher resolution digital file, they charge extra for the process of converting it down to CD resolution before cutting it.
They cut right off the CD itself, with no error or jitter correction. They don't even cut from a bit-accurate digital playback source.
posted by anazgnos at 9:26 AM on August 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
They cut right off the CD itself, with no error or jitter correction. They don't even cut from a bit-accurate digital playback source.
posted by anazgnos at 9:26 AM on August 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
United has a horrible QC reputation. I wish they'd learn to quit putting out noisy junk that's pressed off center.
posted by TrialByMedia at 9:28 AM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by TrialByMedia at 9:28 AM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
For music, and bands I love, owning the album on physical media is a way to own a piece of that band. It's a totem, imbued with memories and feelings: a great show I attended, a search through the stacks at a used record store, a piece of the past I'll never get to experience
For me, it's this, but it's also literally just a way to keep track of things. I lose track of stuff all the time when it's just some abstract thing on Spotify, even if I really love it. Buying a record and putting it on the shelf is just an ideal way to say "this is important, this is a thing I have".
posted by anazgnos at 9:49 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
For me, it's this, but it's also literally just a way to keep track of things. I lose track of stuff all the time when it's just some abstract thing on Spotify, even if I really love it. Buying a record and putting it on the shelf is just an ideal way to say "this is important, this is a thing I have".
posted by anazgnos at 9:49 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
My vinyl collection has passed 500 currently. I don't know how. I never meant for it to go this far. My latest theory is they reproduce at night. When I stay up to catch them at it, I somehow awake hours later, beers nearby. Nothing. I grow increasingly despondent. In the night Nat King Cole plays. They are toying with me. Someone please help me. I write this now in the hope the someone somewhere will see this and take action before it grows too la.....
posted by triage_lazarus at 9:58 AM on August 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by triage_lazarus at 9:58 AM on August 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
Most of the records I buy are thrift store finds, but I do occasionally splash out on something brand new or reissued, and boy are those a mixed bag. I've learned to research online first (especially for reissues), because some of them are just horrifically pressed (the worst were Seamonsters by The Wedding Present and Peng! by Stereolab, both of which sounded awful - tinny, distant and scratchy - right out of the shrink wrap).
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:12 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:12 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I've recently gotten a turntable and started re-acquiring the records I used to own in the eighties. It's purely a nostalgia thing. There's something more deliberate about putting on a vinyl record, compared to just hitting "shuffle" in iTunes.
posted by monospace at 10:24 AM on August 4, 2015
posted by monospace at 10:24 AM on August 4, 2015
I usually go the thrift store route also, although these days you mostly find multiple copies of the same James Last, Klaus Wunderlich or Herb Alpert record which I probably already have anyway. It seems like old vinyl has gone the way of vintage clothes: all the good stuff has been snagged from Value Village or the Sally Ann by professional pickers and it's being sold in Kensington Market vintage stores for way marked-up prices.
I used to get $10 for mowing our lawn every weekend and I'd go right to Music World and buy an album for $7.99. I still have every album I've ever bought. In the late-80's and 90's my vinyl-purchasing slowed down to grabbing kitschy or obscure stuff. Now it's less about irony and more about discovering new things or re-discovering old things.
Hey, You Should See the Other Guy, where is your shop? Love to check it out.
posted by chococat at 10:37 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I used to get $10 for mowing our lawn every weekend and I'd go right to Music World and buy an album for $7.99. I still have every album I've ever bought. In the late-80's and 90's my vinyl-purchasing slowed down to grabbing kitschy or obscure stuff. Now it's less about irony and more about discovering new things or re-discovering old things.
Hey, You Should See the Other Guy, where is your shop? Love to check it out.
posted by chococat at 10:37 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
That's another thing: I don't like buying reissues of classic albums, unless they're insanely hard to find. Futurismo is a reissue label putting out long-out of print new wave and post-punk stuff, and I'm down to throw down for that. A reissue of Led Zeppelin III? Pass.
posted by SansPoint at 10:46 AM on August 4, 2015
posted by SansPoint at 10:46 AM on August 4, 2015
Cassettes killed vinyl as a medium for recorded music, and rightly so. Today I can walk around with a personal cassette player - with up to TWENTY songs playable from a 90-minute cassette tape I can fit in my POCKET! And it also receives AM radio broadcasts! And it has a third function - recording! And it can fast forward and rewind! It's like living in a "space-age"!!! Can your large plastic phonographic discs do THAT? I don't think so!
posted by the quidnunc kid at 11:32 AM on August 4, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by the quidnunc kid at 11:32 AM on August 4, 2015 [7 favorites]
the quidnunc kid You should check out the "MiniDisc" player. That's the future of music, right there.
posted by SansPoint at 11:57 AM on August 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by SansPoint at 11:57 AM on August 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
For music, and bands I love, owning the album on physical media is a way to own a piece of that band. It's a totem, imbued with memories and feelings...
Also if you ever collect signatures, you can't do this with an MP3
posted by Lanark at 12:02 PM on August 4, 2015
Also if you ever collect signatures, you can't do this with an MP3
posted by Lanark at 12:02 PM on August 4, 2015
Hey, You Should See the Other Guy, where is your shop? Love to check it out.
chococat, I own Good Music at Queen and John. You can see the kinds of things I carry on my Instagram.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 12:11 PM on August 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
chococat, I own Good Music at Queen and John. You can see the kinds of things I carry on my Instagram.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 12:11 PM on August 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
Lanark Also if you ever collect signatures, you can't do this with an MP3
That is awesome! I don't have any signed albums, mostly because it's a pain the ass to carry them to shows, and I like to be up front. I do have a book signed by four members of Devo, though, including the late Bob Casale.
posted by SansPoint at 12:29 PM on August 4, 2015
That is awesome! I don't have any signed albums, mostly because it's a pain the ass to carry them to shows, and I like to be up front. I do have a book signed by four members of Devo, though, including the late Bob Casale.
posted by SansPoint at 12:29 PM on August 4, 2015
If I could find one of these portable record players, I'd start buying vinyl again. (Skip to around 3:14 for the record playing bit, and stick around for when he picks the thing up.)
posted by Devonian at 12:32 PM on August 4, 2015
posted by Devonian at 12:32 PM on August 4, 2015
Vintage vinyl is fun because it's a mad crapshoot on what you'll find. Sometimes you find something like this nestled among the firestone christmas albums.
It's got a lot of the same feel as digging though old VHS bins because they're from an era where you could dump anything on a tape and send it out into the world. Things so strange and obscured that you'll rarely if ever find them in digital form. Kitsch and cultural detritus buried in plain sight.
No one is concerned that we won't be able to find dark side of the moon somewhere on the internet, but where else are you going to find out about the existence of the Ethel Merman Disco Album besides digging through milk crates loaded with filthy albums that reek of basement.
posted by Ferreous at 12:55 PM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
It's got a lot of the same feel as digging though old VHS bins because they're from an era where you could dump anything on a tape and send it out into the world. Things so strange and obscured that you'll rarely if ever find them in digital form. Kitsch and cultural detritus buried in plain sight.
No one is concerned that we won't be able to find dark side of the moon somewhere on the internet, but where else are you going to find out about the existence of the Ethel Merman Disco Album besides digging through milk crates loaded with filthy albums that reek of basement.
posted by Ferreous at 12:55 PM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
I became interested in vinyl because I'm greatly irritated by loudness war mastering that has gradually come to be used on all popular music over the past 15-20 years. While a CD master will sometimes be used for a vinyl pressing, they usually receive a proper master that has a great deal more dynamic range than the regular version. Increased dynamic range was one of the benefits of the CD and it's been completely squandered by idiotic practices.
posted by gngstrMNKY at 12:58 PM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by gngstrMNKY at 12:58 PM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
quidnunc kid You should check out the "MiniDisc" player. That's the future of music, right there.
Heh heh heh h-NO.
CASSETTE TAPE.
And if you don't understand that, you better REWIND yourself until you FIND yourself.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 1:14 PM on August 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
Heh heh heh h-NO.
CASSETTE TAPE.
And if you don't understand that, you better REWIND yourself until you FIND yourself.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 1:14 PM on August 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
Vintage vinyl is fun because it's a mad crapshoot on what you'll find. Sometimes you find something like this nestled among the firestone christmas albums.
This actually links up with a huge pet peeve of mine. A lot of the big thrift stores like goodwill have started "curating" the collections that different stores get, and using the internet for pricing.
The days 99 cent records are gone, if they're anything interesting. And they also send all the "good" records to the affluent neighborhoods stores.
It completely sucks the joy out of digging through the bins knowing that it was already presorted to remove anything that wasn't worth more than a couple bucks. And yes, that includes silly stuff like what you linked because people want that kind of silly stuff so it very rarely slips through the cracks and gets priced at $10 and sent to the good neighborhood store right alongside that devo repress.
posted by emptythought at 3:38 PM on August 4, 2015
This actually links up with a huge pet peeve of mine. A lot of the big thrift stores like goodwill have started "curating" the collections that different stores get, and using the internet for pricing.
The days 99 cent records are gone, if they're anything interesting. And they also send all the "good" records to the affluent neighborhoods stores.
It completely sucks the joy out of digging through the bins knowing that it was already presorted to remove anything that wasn't worth more than a couple bucks. And yes, that includes silly stuff like what you linked because people want that kind of silly stuff so it very rarely slips through the cracks and gets priced at $10 and sent to the good neighborhood store right alongside that devo repress.
posted by emptythought at 3:38 PM on August 4, 2015
The days 99 cent records are gone, if they're anything interesting. And they also send all the "good" records to the affluent neighborhoods stores
Yeah, you need to go off the beaten track a bit, particularly if you are in a large urban centre, that's for sure.
A few weeks ago I went to a thrift store a few hours north of Toronto and dug 5 records out of a mountain of mildewy old albums and went to pay with a $5 bill, not knowing if it would be enough. She said it was "2 for 1 Tuesdays!" and I could go get another 5 records but I'd already gone through EVERYTHING and just didn't have the energy for a second round.
So you can still find cheap stuff, with the caveat that musical tastes (and of course the "cheapness") can certainly alter your threshold of what a "good find" is.
posted by chococat at 4:14 PM on August 4, 2015
Yeah, you need to go off the beaten track a bit, particularly if you are in a large urban centre, that's for sure.
A few weeks ago I went to a thrift store a few hours north of Toronto and dug 5 records out of a mountain of mildewy old albums and went to pay with a $5 bill, not knowing if it would be enough. She said it was "2 for 1 Tuesdays!" and I could go get another 5 records but I'd already gone through EVERYTHING and just didn't have the energy for a second round.
So you can still find cheap stuff, with the caveat that musical tastes (and of course the "cheapness") can certainly alter your threshold of what a "good find" is.
posted by chococat at 4:14 PM on August 4, 2015
i'm a record collector. this dude i kind of have a little crush on is a record collector. i took him to my second favorite record store a couple weekends ago and he bought like 65 records from the dollar bin and i felt like swooning a little.
records: almost a surefire guarantee you'll get laid. they should put that on a button.
posted by kerning at 5:47 PM on August 4, 2015
records: almost a surefire guarantee you'll get laid. they should put that on a button.
posted by kerning at 5:47 PM on August 4, 2015
I'm sure that my wife would exactly swoon if I showed up at the house with a stack of 65 musty old records.
posted by octothorpe at 6:05 PM on August 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 6:05 PM on August 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
Nothing gets people aroused like the touch of hand encrusted with record sleeve mildew
posted by Ferreous at 6:22 PM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Ferreous at 6:22 PM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
The dollar vinyl bins were fun, but I don't know where to find them anymore.
posted by Standard Orange at 9:57 PM on August 4, 2015
posted by Standard Orange at 9:57 PM on August 4, 2015
Isn't it the case, however, that a huge portion of digital sales is not "albums" but individual tracks? Not including those sales would definitely skew the results and make LP sales seem more significant than they are.
Not to belabor the point, but I just happened upon this statistic in an article on Carly Rae Jepsen in last weekend's Arts & Leisure section of the NYT --
"Call Me Maybe" has been purchased more than 18 million times worldwide. The album it's from (The Kiss) sold fewer than 300,000 copies.
posted by the bricabrac man at 9:51 AM on August 5, 2015
Not to belabor the point, but I just happened upon this statistic in an article on Carly Rae Jepsen in last weekend's Arts & Leisure section of the NYT --
"Call Me Maybe" has been purchased more than 18 million times worldwide. The album it's from (The Kiss) sold fewer than 300,000 copies.
posted by the bricabrac man at 9:51 AM on August 5, 2015
Of the eight new vinyl releases I did drop money on - most frequently at shows by the artist - only one of them was not pressed improperly. (7 times bitten... 8 times shy?)
The worst is that many of them are not quality checked for being off-center on one side, the most common issue I have across all of these.
That and the $30+ price tage makes me hesitant about ever buying more.
posted by adamd1 at 12:15 PM on August 5, 2015
The worst is that many of them are not quality checked for being off-center on one side, the most common issue I have across all of these.
That and the $30+ price tage makes me hesitant about ever buying more.
posted by adamd1 at 12:15 PM on August 5, 2015
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