FEATURE:
Pressed and Repressed
PHOTO CREDIT: Karsten Winegeart
Vinyl Demand and Possible Shortages
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I have written about vinyl…
PHOTO CREDIT: @julemergener_/Unsplash
quite a lot during the pandemic. I thought that record shops would struggle and many would close their doors. Some have, though there has been this boom in regards physical sales, especially in the vinyl market. I hope that this prosperity continues and there will be this ongoing demand and appetite for vinyl for many years! I was just about the launch into a feature that asked why many great albums new and older are not available on vinyl. They would have been when they were originally released, though many are either ludicrously expensive to buy or that album needs to be repressed. I wrote about Lily Allen’s 2006 debut, Alright, Still, and how that should be given a new vinyl release. There are countless albums that would benefit a vinyl release but, at present, one cannot get the album on that format – or, as I say, there are versions available that are very steep! It seems as simple as labels committing to pressing that album and organising a new release, but I understand that there are limited vinyl pressing factories and facilities; it can be very expensive to create a run of albums. Demand also needs to be pretty high for it to profitable to bring an album out on vinyl. In a wider sense, I was reading an article in The Telegraph; it made me concerned for the future of vinyl and distribution. The article highlights positives regarding sales during the start of the pandemic. As of the start of this year, things have changed slightly:
“In amongst all the dark clouds that have gathered over business in the UK during the pandemic, there have been some silver linings. While in the music world, the live sector – which has been booming for over 20 years – has been plunged into crisis, recorded music has enjoyed a considerable renaissance.
For many years, the record industry was the failing sibling enterprise to touring, after MP3 filesharing scuppered the dominance of major labels, but Covid-19 has turned that whole picture upside down. With most of the nation suddenly stranded at home, streaming via platforms such as Spotify has gone through the roof, and the majors are buoyant once more.
PHOTO CREDIT: Clay Banks
Also, mail-order for physical releases has enjoyed an unforeseen upturn. Last week, the vinyl and CD selling platform, Discogs, announced that sales in 2020 were up 40 per cent on 2019, and this has been the trend across all areas of physical music business. “Much as nobody really wants to say it, last year was a good year for record labels,” says Ian Ballard, who runs a shoestring independent imprint called Damaged Goods, specializing in garage-rock.
“I feel a bit bad, because it was a terrible year for musicians and journalists and everyone else, but if you were a record company that actually had releases coming out in 2020 and you did mail order while the shops were shut, then figures were up”.
On 1 January 2021, however, everything changed. Overnight, a sizable percentage of that burgeoning trade was at best thrown into confusion, or limbo, and at worst all but killed stone dead. Ballard had spent months preparing a four-album box set of new material from his flagship artist, Billy Childish, who has been lionized over the years by giants such as Nirvana and The White Stripes, but is perhaps still best known here for his nominal mention on artist Tracey Emin’s My Bed, as one of her ex-boyfriends.
Certainly, it seems likely that major labels, who are already set up as multi-national concerns, will restructure their operations around physical releases to mainland Europe, simply importing all stock here, at a cost which will ultimately be felt by the consumer, in rising prices for their records.
PHOTO CREDIT: @rocinante_11/Unsplash
For the majors, physical sales only represent a boutique sideline to the main business of streaming, where they’re also banking disproportionately huge percentages at the expense of increasingly disgruntled artists.
‘Physical’, particularly vinyl, however, is the main focus for the smaller labels, and as in live music, it’s at this lower end of the record-business scale that the increased logistical challenges and spiralling costs will be most acutely felt. Ian Ballard gamely explains how, before New Year’s Day 2021, Damaged Goods would have all their records pressed in the Czech Republic, store them in a warehouse in Hull, then ship those destined for EU retail to a distributor in Germany. “Crazy, but it was cheaper that way,” he says. “We would fill a pallet with about a thousand to 1500 items,” he continues, “including CDs, a mixture of vinyl albums and singles, and shipping that from Hull to Germany on a lorry used to cost 165 quid. The paperwork was just a delivery note, and it would take four or five days”.
We learned last year that vinyl sales were at a record (excuse the pun!) high. Artists are taking advantage of this rise and offering albums in the form of special editions and reissues. This will introduce younger listeners and new fans to the wonders of such a pure format. This article of 23rd March suggested classic albums are helping to boost vinyl sales. The format is on course to overtake C.D. sales for the first time since 1987.
PHOTO CREDIT: Akshay Chauhan
It seems that the vinyl market is also booming in the U.S. Late last year, The Manual highlighted the vinyl rise and spoke with the CEO of Victrola, Scott Hagen:
“So vinyl is here to stay, it seems, despite all technological advances that would have seemed to threaten it. The same RIAA study that found records surpassing CDs also revealed that streaming music now account for more than 85% of all music enjoyed. Only 6% of music is now downloaded, even less than is physically purchased in the form of records, CDs, or the last tapes.
So records don’t sell like digital, but that doesn’t mean they’re on the outs.
“I think they are certainly here to stay,” says Charlie Randall. “We are seeing records and turntables become more popular and more advanced in technology like [with] our MTI100 integrated turntable, for example.”
“I think it’s got a ton of staying power,” Scott Hagen says. “In 2013, there were about $200 million in sales in the U.S. The year, we’re probably going to eclipse $600 million just in America. I see the future of vinyl being it becoming more a staple in homes where people value listening to music, not ever less. We just did a survey of more than 400 people, people between 18 and 70 years old, and asked them if they had a vinyl record player in the home, and more than 55% said yes. But what was really interesting, is of those people who had a record player, more than 70% said they had used it, had listened to a record within the last month.”
PHOTO CREDIT: @victrola/Unsplash
“But even more compelling for me,” Hagen added, “was that with the younger people 18 to 29, more than 60% had a record player. And others were planning to get one.”
Why does Scott Hagen think that record players are not only not going anywhere but are getting ever more popular?
“Because the world that we’re in needs this kind of format — it needs us to slow down and enjoy a really nice meal once in a while, a good bourbon or cocktail now and then, and to sit down and just listen to music sometimes”.
There is uncertainty how the vinyl market will be affected in the U.K. this year. With Brexit and the pandemic there is likely to be some delays and production changes. Maybe my aspirations regarding there being this wave of albums coming out on vinyl (that one could not get beforehand) might not happen. I do feel that the vinyl rise will continue, though there are concerns when it comes supply. The small labels, it seems, are going to feel the biggest hit. I am not sure whether it is cheaper importing from America or whether some deal can be brokered between labels and pressing plants. I feel that there is this optimism regarding the future of record shops and a clear sales boost that is being driven by listeners wanting something physical and tangible – those that feel streaming cannot deliver a genuine listening experience. Let’s hope that small and large labels alike will not be affected too severely this year and going forward. For music lovers around the world, there is nothing that can equal…
PHOTO CREDIT: @florenciaviadana/Unsplash
THE pleasure, feel and value of vinyl.