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Vinyl, by most accounts, was destined to become the
preserve of audiophiles and enthusiast collectors, with
little in the way of mass-market appeal to prolong its
legacy. Yet there remains a strong affection for th eold
format, and an ageing fanbase has
been boosted recently by a groundswell of support from younger
generations.
Old classics by The Rolling Stones, The Clash, The Stooges,
David Bowie, The Beatles and the like boast an appeal that
resonates through the ages, and only on vinyl can the complete
experience be had. Far from being drawn only by its distinctive
audio quirks, listeners are today buying vinyl for the artwork,
for nostalgia’s sake, or for the sheer physical presence of the
format, and it seems a new fondness has emerged.
“There’s something about holding the record in your hands. You
put it on the turntable, you set the needle down in the groove.
It’s the whole experience of that rather than just pushing a
button”, said Roger O’Dea of Belle Fourche, one of the format’s
many admirers, speaking in an interview with Rapid City Journal.
Over 30 years on from its heyday, vinyl is making an unexpected
comeback.
Vinyl revival
LP sales in 2015, according to Nielsen’s end-of-year report,
stopped just short of 12 million in the US and there enjoyed a
tenth consecutive year of growth; all the more impressive
considering the equivalent figure in 2005 clocked in at around
900,000. Rarely has a music format grown, shrunk and grown
again, and what was embraced first by hipsters and collectors as
a special interest field has evolved into a full-blown revival.
“Vinyl was the format that the music industry could not kill
off”, Graham Jones, author of Last Shop Standing and Strange
Requests and Comic Tales from Record Shops, told European CEO.
“People love the physical format. It has also become
fashionable. Watch how many TV adverts feature a record player
or vinyl.”
In Europe, retail giant Tesco proved the opportunity had not
gone unnoticed when it announced in December its decision to
sell LPs in UK stores. “Vinyl”, according to the company’s music
buyer Michael Mulligan, “is definitely coming back, with demand
growing stronger year by year. We have brought in vinyl albums
for everyone – from new releases for established collectors to
absolute classics for younger fans and for mums and dads who
might have worn out their original copies the first time round.”
A spokesperson for the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) told
European CEO that while we shouldn’t forget vinyl represents
only two percent of the recorded music market, demand for the
format has grown eight years running since it reached a low
point in 2007 – when just 205,000 LPs were purchased. To put the
situation in context, LP sales last year sprung 64 percent to
surpass the two million mark for the first time in 21 years, at
which time Britpop was at its peak.
“Demand comes from the baby boomers who grew up with vinyl and
kept the flame burning, but also from a new generation of
engaged, younger fans drawn to its emotional appeal at the heart
of music’s heritage”, according to BPI. “Typically enhanced by
its often striking cover art and sleeve notes – which arguably
contribute to the appeal of vinyl as a collectible artefact as
much as the recording itself – there are signs that a growing
number of fans will stream for their daily music needs and the
discovery and convenience streaming services such as Spotify and
Apple Music offer, but will look to purchase, own and collect an
LP recording by an artist they love.”
The sentiment runs contrary to what many analysts assumed about
vinyl’s lasting power, and suggestions that the format’s
longevity has been sustained by older generations or by one
particular genre are misplaced, particularly in light of
Nielsen’s findings. Adele’s 25 topped the album charts last
year, selling 116,000 in vinyl sales, with Taylor Swift’s 1989
in at second, although this isn’t to say vinyl sales are without
a whiff of the familiar, with Pink Floyd, The Beatles and Miles
Davies rounding out the five.
“It started off as the over-40s rebuying the collections they
sold when younger. The big change was when young bands started
putting out limited vinyl pressings and a new generation bought
into it”, said Jones. While it’s safe to say the revival is due
in large part to catalogue albums (albums released at least 18
months prior to the point of purchase), a new generation of
artists and listeners are doing their bit.
Stormy climate
The rise of vinyl is all the more surprising in light of the
situation in the music industry at large. The International
Federation of the Phonographic Industry last year highlighted
that global revenue had slumped to a new low in 2014, having
fallen below the $15bn mark for the first time in recent memory.
Looking closer, physical format sales suffered an 8.1-percent
slide and download sales eight percent – 10.9 percent for single
tracks and 4.2 percent for albums. The music industry is
becoming much less reliant on physical format sales, and the
sector’s share of the pot shrunk to a measly 46 percent in 2014,
down from 60 percent in 2011. The news isn’t all negative for
Europe, however, with gifting and box sets accounting for more
than half of the market in key territories such as Germany and
France.
Adjusted for inflation, the market for recorded music has been
carved in two in the space of two decades, thanks in no small
part to the rise of piracy together with changes in consumption
habits, as casual listeners favour individual tracks ahead of
albums. The shift means revenues derived from digital channels
were equal to physical format sales in 2014, and, barring a
sudden turnaround in fortunes, digital should outpace physical
at least for the near term.
Having already suffered at the hands of illicit file-sharing
services and more legitimate developments in digital technology,
the music industry’s new enemy is streaming, and the market
threatens to shrink physical sales further – excluding those for
vinyl. While consumption habits for the casual listener are
growing more disposable by the day, discerning listeners remain
very much committed to the crackle and hiss of vinyl.
A question of quality
Asked to speculate about the reasons why greater numbers are
turning their attentions to the vinyl format, experts believe
the answer to be twofold. The first, and perhaps most often
cited, reason is that vinyl delivers superior audio quality to
that of CD, despite claims to the contrary in the 80s and 90s.
This difference in quality – whether measurable or not – is of
little concern to the casual listener, though purists maintain
vinyl provides a richer, clearer sound to that of any digital
medium.
The search for convenience has also given way to an onslaught of
low-quality digital files, not least in the streaming space,
where listeners routinely make do with less-than-stellar audio
quality. Self-confessed music lovers have in many cases resorted
to vinyl to distance themselves from the sub-par listening
experience inflicted on the majority.
“Vinyl is the only consumer playback format we have that’s fully
analogue and fully lossless”, said Adam Gonsalves of Portland’s
Telegraph Mastering, speaking to The Oregonian. “You just need a
decent turntable with a decent needle on it and you’re going to
enjoy a full-fidelity listening experience. It’s a little bit
more idiot-proof and a little bit less technical”, he added.
However, the question here is not necessarily which format has
the best audio quality, but which of them offers the best
listening experience. In this respect, the warm, mahogany-rich
sound of vinyl is notoriously difficult to engineer on a rival
format.
Jones says the question of audio quality “is important, but I
think people can get hung up on this subject. Everybody seems to
say vinyl is warmer and less clinical. I think it is more that
people enjoy the whole experience of putting a record on [and]
reading the sleeve notes. Vinyl sleeves are a work of art,
whereas a CD booklet does not have the same appeal.”
Sound and vision
Aside from the question of quality, the actual physical
experience of buying a record comes into play when
differentiating between vinyl and other formats. Those of a
certain age may well share a fondness for this hit-and-miss
approach, in which it’s not uncommon to spend hours flicking
through unordered sleeves just to find one or two hidden gems.
To take this a step further, it’s no coincidence the vinyl
revival of recent times has coincided with the rise of Record
Store Day. And, while the event has been lampooned by critics
recently as an easy opportunity for record companies to bleed
fans and labels dry, its launch in 2006 reminded shoppers that
the record store could soon become a thing of the past.
According to BPI: “The flame was then well and truly fanned by
the success of Record Store Day, which continues to give impetus
to the format’s growing appeal.” This realisation was enough to
inspire enthusiasm in music fans, and while it’d be too much to
call this sentimentality perhaps, the majority are in agreement
that it’d be sad to see record stores go.
In keeping with the experience of buying a record, it’s fair to
say vinyl’s appeal goes far beyond sound and extends to its very
distinctive physical attributes. “Think of downloading like
instant coffee and vinyl as fresh, proper, ground coffee”, said
Jones. “Both you can enjoy, but given the choice the majority of
people will pick the quality product.”
The experience of sifting through piles of records or that of
lowering the needle on a new find fosters a connection that
rival formats simply cannot. If any analogue format is thriving
in the digital age, it’s vinyl and, though sales make up a thin
slice of the pie, the uptick is a major plus point for an
industry on the receiving end of a downturn.
According to BPI: “We have entered an exciting
best-of-all-worlds era where there is space and scope for all
kinds of music to be discovered and enjoyed in every type of
way, including on vinyl once again. Many assumed it had become
an obsolete format but, while the flame may have flickered, it
never quite went out, and there is now a burgeoning resurgence
in demand led by exciting new acts such as Royal Blood that is
likely to keep vinyl on our high streets for many more years to
come.”
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