Forget CDs: a return to music's vinyl roots
By Lindsey Rivait
Arts Editor
January 28, 2009
 When digital media emerged in the 1980s, vinyl receded into the background until it eventually left the scene in 1991. That wasn’t the last time we’d hear about vinyl, though. Vinyl’s popularity is on the rise, but, with recordings available on smaller, more convenient formats, why would anyone want to revisit it?
Vinyl’s decline in popularity was due largely to major label distributors restricting their return policies. They began charging retailers more for new products when they returned unsold vinyl. Soon, distributors stopped providing credit on vinyl returns altogether. Retailers were then forced to carry more cassettes and CDs, edging vinyl out completely.
According to a report in Computerworld, the Neilsen SoundScan, which tracks point-of-purchase music sales and also provides data for Billboard chart ratings, cites that 1.88 million vinyl albums were purchased in 2008. SoundScan also shows that more than two thirds of vinyl is purchased at independent music stores.
While the sales of mp3s have gone up from 32.6 million in 2006 to 65.8 million in 2008, the sales of CDs have gone down from 553.4 million to 360.6 million.
Many vinyl enthusiasts share the view that LP sales have increased so dramatically due to buyers wanting more than what a 99-cent mp3 can offer. Listeners are becoming more passionate about their music—they want that warm sound, liner notes, and cover art that only vinyl releases provide.
“The digitization and portability of music has really brought back how good vinyl really does sound. When you do get to the mp3s and they get too compressed, you start to miss something,” said Dawn Loucks, co-founder of Saved By Vinyl, a vinyl-only offshoot of her record label Saved By Radio based out of Calgary, AB.
Besides the sound quality, music fans are flocking back to vinyl for the sheer experience of listening to it and sharing it with their friends as opposed to listening to an iPod alone.
“You want the portability, you want your iPod, you want to be able to shuffle 5,000 songs, but you also want to be able to sit down and have a drink and nod and just relax in your living room and really drink in something sonically that’s got some depth to it. For a certain kind of experience, it is the only format,” Loucks said.
That’s not to say that Saved By Vinyl ignores the iPod crowd. Like many other record companies, Saved By Vinyl’s releases come with a coupon to download the mp3s.
Unique to the vinyl format is the importance of the packaging and artwork, which serve as more than just protection for the product. Covers are part of the vinyl experience, something consumers cannot get with CDs or mp3s.
“Looking at the artwork and listening to it. I think as our lives go faster and faster and get busier and busier, we really need to carve out that relaxing break time. I think that’s part of what vinyl can do,” said Loucks.
Vinyl invokes a sense of nostalgia as well. Those who grew up with vinyl may want to re-connect with their favourite music, remembering how new vinyl releases made them feel, although Loucks cites older folks as more reluctant to go back to it.
“Either people that age are totally into it and have kept all their records or they’ve gotten rid of them and don’t want to go back,” said Loucks.
“Younger kids seem to be interested in it as something they’ve never grown up with, they’ve never had the experience or privilege of holding that big thing in their hands,” she continued.
Saved By Vinyl has released 25 records over four years and does small runs of releases, usually 600 copies and they don’t necessarily sell out right away. “For example, for C’mon we did 666 copies of their record, and I think over about two years they’re going to sell out,” said Loucks.
Currently, Saved By Vinyl is in talks with London, ON-based hip-hop artist Shad about putting his last release, The Old Prince, on vinyl. Loucks is also optimistic about a vinyl release of the Rheostatic’s Whale Music.
Vinyl isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, though. There are many difficulties with the format, especially in comparison to CDs and mp3s.
“The vinyl plants themselves were not prepared for this upsurge in demand. So, their quality tends not to be as good often, especially in the last few years. The FemBots record came with scratches on it. And the plants don’t care in a sense because after you, there’s about 8,000 customers lining up,” said Loucks.
Despite difficulties, putting an album out on vinyl is something the FemBot’s Dave MacKinnon always wanted to do.
“It’s making a big comeback and on our tour, sales off the stage have been half and half between CDs and vinyl,” said MacKinnon.
“I think it’s just the idea that the object itself has a value. As music’s become digital, that’s started to disappear. With CDs, the actual product doesn’t mean anything now it’s so small. People load it up onto their iPod and you rarely pull the disc out again,” MacKinnon said.
The resurgence isn’t limited to smaller labels. Warner Music Canada regularly releases vinyl.
“We are trying to deliver fans their favourite music in all of the formats they demand,” said Steve Waxman, Director of National Publicity and Video Promotion at Warner Music Canada.
In 2008 Warner Canada released 45 titles on vinyl, going across all genres. “Everything from Metallica to the Buena Vista Social Club,” added Waxman, who cites Metallica as their biggest seller on vinyl.
Warner recently released The Waking Eyes newest album, Holding On To Whatever It Is, on vinyl before the CD was released.
Matt Peters of The Waking Eyes said that the band just really wanted their album on vinyl, and luckily for him Warner agreed.
“Now we have something we can sell on the road while we’re out here. We all love vinyl and it’s a cool little collectors’ thing. The artwork looks really good on vinyl, it’s really exciting,” said Peters.
The album as an art form presents a series of songs for the listener to engage in.
“I think that now everyone has an iPod and you can listen to the whole record, but it’s too easy to listen to the songs you like then skip to a different artist or a different song,” Peters continued.
While factors that led to the demise of vinyl still exist, so do the reasons that vinyl was popular in the first place. Even though vinyl will never see the popularity it once had, it’s still a growing market run by the people most passionate about the music.
|
