While streaming content has displaced all forms of physical media as the preferred medium for sonic consumption, nostalgia-driven audiophiles have driven Vinyl sales through the roof – at least compared to CDs.
According to the RIAA’s 2019 mid-year revenue report published by Rolling Stone, LPs are on pace to outsell CDs this year, making them the most profitable form of non-streaming music for the first time since 1986.
Vinyl records earned $224.1 million (on 8.6 million units) in the first half of 2019, closing in on the $247.9 million (on 18.6 million units) generated by CD sales. Vinyl revenue grew by 12.8% in the second half of 2018 and 12.9% in the first six months of 2019, while the revenue from CDs barely budged. If these trends hold, records will soon be generating more money than compact discs. –Rolling Stone
That said, vinyl accounted for just four percent of total music revenues in the first half of 2019, while paid subscriptions to streaming services accounted for 62% of industry revenues according to the report.
“We welcome [the growth in vinyl],” said Warner Records co-chairman and CEO, Tom Corson. “It’s a sexy, cool product. It represents an investment in music that’s an emotional one. [But] it is a small percentage of our business. It’s not going to make or break our year. We devote the right amount of resources to it, but it’s not something where we have a department for it.”
Rolling Stone notes that the resurgence in vinyl has been a boon for rock groups in particular. “The Beatles sold over 300,000 records in 2018, while Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and Queen all sold over 100,000.”
Opining on why vinyl sucks and the weird phenomenon of hipsters buying records is a 2016 article from Home Theater Review.
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So what’s the hype about vinyl these days? Vinyl is part of the cliché world of hipsters. If you don’t know what a hipster is, I might suggest you don’t read any further–as your world is likely better not knowing about this phenomenon. Those of us who have been to Brooklyn, Portland, or Silver Lake (and practically anywhere else in the country) in recent years can tell you that hipsters are a group of people who follow a certain “we’re different” vibe, yet ironically they tend to follow many of the same trends. The men grow lumberjack beards, and they drive electric cars when their quirky bike has a flat. They enthusiastically eat Quinoa and kale and report to like it. The men wear berets (not raspberry or the ones you find in a second-hand store) and carry trendy messenger bags. The girls are apt to tattoo any and every part of their body and sometimes embrace hairstyles like “grandma hair”–where one bleaches out all of the color of one’s hair and then dyes it gray, silver, or blue. Don’t forget, any card-carrying hipster has his or her pair of thick-framed Warby Parker glasses.
On the plus side, hipsters love music, which is just fantastic. Live music–specifically, music festivals like Coachella and Bonnaroo–draw hipsters from all over the world to flaunt their style.
What’s a head-scratcher about this new breed of music lover is the idea that, in every other aspect of their lives, they rock cutting-edge, high-resolution digital technology. They can’t look away from their HD smartphones for any meaningful length of time. They’ve made the video-game industry bigger in terms of top-line sales than the motion-picture business. They love the potential of virtual reality, yet they are also the ones behind this resurgence in vinyl.
It’s time for people who love music and have a taste for great-sounding audio to teach these young whippersnappers about HD music–because vinyl is a standard-definition, low-resolution format. Here, specifically, is why vinyl sucks.
Dynamic Range
Vinyl has a dynamic range of about 65 to 69 dB. In the days when vinyl ruled the world, much energy went into mastering vinyl releases to have better (or, at least, better perceived) dynamic range. If you go into a recording studio, mic a snare drum, and then hit it as hard as you can, you will record something in the 120- to 125-dB range. Vinyl reproduces roughly half of those dynamics. Compact Discs do drastically better in dynamic range, while HD files can reproduce ALL of the dynamics of a snare drum.
Noise
Many listeners find the stereotypical sound of vinyl to be comfortable and reassuring. That “warmth” is because of second-degree harmonic distortion created by the stylus in the groves. This distortion is what keeps one from hearing all the pristine sound recorded on the master tape. Analog master tape in the studio doesn’t have this kind (or volume) of distortion. The cracks and pops heard in vinyl come from flaws in the actual vinyl, as well as wear and dirt on the record. Hardcore vinyl lovers go to great lengths to keep the records clean and protected, which is wise on their part. The sad news is that, unlike a high-resolution digital file, vinyl will degrade over time as it’s played.
My question is, given the amount of noise and distortion coming from an age-old source, why invest in a great, audiophile-quality amp or preamp? In effect, one is feeding it with a distortion-laden source component with poor dynamic range. It’s tantamount to pumping 50-octane fuel into your new Lamborghini Aventador. Perhaps it’s time to try out the higher-grade audiophile fuel, even if it costs a few bucks more, so that you can realize the potential of your music playback system.
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“Prices of wind-up RCA Victrola record players (EMP-proof) expected to rise as preppers focus on post Apocalyptic entertainment.”
There was one in our home beside the piano. Under the kerosene lanterns, near the wood stove. I wish I had those lanterns.
As somewhat of an audiophile (I didn’t say pedophile) – here’s my take: I have 180 gram pressings, and I have original 1960’s Blue Notes (from my father), and RCA ‘shaded dog’ pressings from the 60’s. They all sound wonderful. I have some SACD’s – super audio cd’s – they are tremendous – but the format never became popular.
No wonder vinyl surpassed CD’s – cause everything is a download – and nobody records anything that’s memorable. I don’t think there are any autos that have CD players. CD’s were a marketing scam to have people buy the same music, they already owned on vinyl.
Dutch me little Mazda 3 has a built in factory CD player,inherited from family member and is a 2005 ,many cars in past did have CD players.
I love my album collection/turntable/amp/Klipsch speakers ect.
I really loved that albums had some great art,like the pop up on Tull’s Stand Up/news paper from Thick As A Brick/spinning wheel on Zep ect.The album covers were all pretty cool and just a added bonus to the music.
Dutchy probably still has an 8-track player in his Pinto wagon.
I think I studied that Thick as a Brick Album cover more than I studied Algebra I in when I was in junior high school.
MG,did your copy have the take out news paper inside,4 pages?!Seen Tull since a child in 1975 over a 100 times,yep,me favorite band!
YES!!!! I think I bought some of that new, improved Scotch tape to put onto the creases to keep it from falling apart. Do you remember how that little kid’s name popped up in all the articles and.. ahem.. did he REALLY father a child at age 8?
Isn’t the human mind amazing?
Ahhh…retro.
Old school, because sometimes,
Old’s Cool.
I found a 24 inch square window fan at a rummage sale for five bucks. You know the type. Poor man’s air conditioning.
Dad would wedge it in one bedroom window, drawing air out, then crack open the 2nd BR window, for a breeze across the bed on hot summer nights.
That one I found is from the 50’s or 60’s I’m guessing. It built like a tank. Heavy. Reversible blade rotation. A thermostat dial.
Not the cheap, lightweight kind from China via KMart.
Re: vinyl LPs, remember?
-picture discs?
-shock jock Steve Dahl exploding a truck full in center field at a Cubs game to protest disco music?
When casually strolling through resale stores, I notice many old audio equipment items and old albums, not wanted by heirs.
What’s not there, are items of quality.
No Marantz or MacIntosh, and none of the clean, rare LPs of the great rock bands from the 70’s.
Plenty of Herb Alpert, though.
Whipped Cream, baby.
Theme song from The Dating Game, if not mistaken.
SOB.
I’m revealing my age here.
My library of faves on an iPod is now considered a relic, thanks to streaming.
Sigh…
Technology marches on.
KMart?
I love vinyl because that is what I grew up with. While I did buy a few CDs in the 90s, I no longer am interested in CDs do to their crappy quality (the 44khz sample rate tends to distort the cymbals, the hi-hats, etc.) I still go for vinyl, usually a friend will have a box of cool albums from their past, and I’ll barter or buy what I don’t have.
The reason vinyl still appeals is that it is a tactile experience, you are completely engaged in the process of taking the album out of the sleeve, cleaning it on the platter with the old Disc washer system (a brush with a cool wooden handle and magic cleaning fluid), and then you get to either read the lyrics or stare at the album cover art, while your listening to good music.
that’s the other part that is never discussed, the music business today sucks ass, it’s all about white people singing hip hop and rap, or black people yelling “uh, yah, uh, my shizle dat fizzle, biatch” into a mic with nothing but garbage loops from some library of free crap that came with the DAW used to create the noise.
in the days of vinyl, there were quality musicians and producers, today, it is noise, created by monkeys hitting buttons on computers.
Two good cover reads:
T. Nugent and Boston.
Who, on the platform is the huge Jethro Tull fan?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsCyC1dZiN8
Is this an Aqualung sort of quest?
Have a .33, in EC, and rare? that a vinyl aficionado who likes Tull might be interested in.
Just can’t remember which platform monkey was a huge Tull fan.
Uh, that’s Excellent Condition, in collector speak.
I agree with you regarding the sound. As a kid I also found that many records come pre-scratched or with extra fizz. But the artwork is good, the CD jewel case is just vile. Early CD players sucked but there are good ones now. Downloading studio quality lossless is probably the way to go, if backed up with good online “sleeve notes”. I have some good examples.
Whoever wrote this article has not heard quality vinyl playback. In another life I used to import these into the US.
https://www.plutoaudio.nl/
Some of the best ear candy on earth. Crazy expensive.
maybe in another 10-20 years cassette tapes will make a comeback.
Anon,still have mine,with dual player/copying ability also!
Joe Biden: Parents Should ‘Make Sure You Have the Record Player on at Night’