By Jerell Tongson

Vinyl is back.  Well, it never really left.  But there has been a renewed interest and resurgence in the format with its sales posting record Soundscan highs in the past five years dating back to 2007.  In 2012, it accounted for 4.6 million of albums sold (1.4% of total US sales) as opposed to only 990,000 in 2008 (with only a 0.4% share that year). 2013 projections have vinyl album sales at 5.8 million, a 27.9% increase from the previous year.  Vinyl isn’t going to save the industry by any stretch of the means, but it’s also no coincidence that the numbers of this niche market are trending upwards.  Why is this happening?  What’s really what driving people to the generally afterthought of analog in the face of all-digital-EVERYTHING?

Vinyl sales over past decade

Source: Digital Music News

The first part to that answer comes from the artists.  If played right, vinyl can be produced at a price point that can prove infinitely more profitable than CD’s or the pennies accrued off of iTunes & streaming royalties.  Chelsea Van Bloom of Feedbands.com provided a hypothetical of pressing up records to sell on tour.  In her article, she uses real production costs from Quality Record Pressings and figures that a pressing of 500 records would come out to $1,750 at startup.  Simplifying the calculations by taking out shipping costs and positing the artist selling them out on tour at $15 a pop.  Selling 5 records a show, over the course of 100 dates, equates in a $7,500 of cash coming in for the artist ($5,750 in profits); a considerable amount of profit given the other strategies of playing this game.  Over the years, higher profile artists and labels have been drawn to these incentives, opting for special editions or re-releases of their back catalog on vinyl in hopes of cashing in on the renewed interest in the format.  Some artists like the LA based rapper Blu has opted for all of his physical releases to be on vinyl, calling it “vinyl takeover time.”

The next part comes from the retailers.  A concerted effort to promote indie outposts selling music started in 2008 with Record Store Day.  Michael Kurtz, the president of the Department of Record Stores, says that “[RSD] launched the vinyl resurgence” and that “without the megaphone of Record Store Day, there wouldn’t have been a stage for vinyl to shine on.”

Celebrated the third Saturday of every April, exclusive and rare pressings are made for the occasion in conjunction with discounted stock by artists to sell at over a thousand stores across the world; cajoling the co-signs of luminaries in the music industry such as Jack White, Iggy Pop, Ozzy Osbourne and Lars Ulrich.  This has brought worldwide recognition and incentivizes vinyl-heads old and new alike to go support their local record stores.

 

Record Store DayThe final piece of the puzzle comes from the consumers themselves.  With the digitization of more and more aspects of our lives happening every day, it’s possible fatigue has settled in and the longing for something material and physical has cycled back around.  Clicking through a digital booklet on iTunes just doesn’t hold the same tangible quality and level of infantile discovery that holding something in our hands does.  Looking at the artwork, studying the liner notes, memorizing the production credits; these are all practices that seem to be lost on teenagers today who wouldn’t know what the inside of a record store looks like anymore.  Appreciating the music seems to have been lost in translation over the years; people are simply satisfied when the committee of Internet drones haphazardly updates the Wikipedia entry.

Whether vinyl is the “deluxe version of digital” or just another excuse for music snobs to become snobbier to their iPod toting friends around them, there is a real clamoring for the format again. Where the future takes it will be an interesting story to watch.

Title image source: Think Like A Label

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