Vinyl Sales Up in Another Bleak Year

[jobeterob]

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6422442/vinyl-album-sales-hit-historic-high-2014

[soulster]

Another nail in the CD coffin. What's even funnier is that not too long ago, most soul fans wanted nothing to do with CDs and clung to their vinyl.

[kenneth]

Jobeterob, you always find the best articles!

[alanh]

I think it's good news in quite a few ways. I realise that even with the increase, the overall size of the vinyl market is still quite small, but:

- It shows record companies that there are still music fans who still want their music in a physical format.
- It's good for record stores, especially the independents [[you can't download vinyl or CDs!) - and while customers are in the stores, hopefully they'll buy more after browsing.
- It's extra employment in the pressing plants and for turntable hardware manufacturers.

I don't see it's a nail in the CD coffin. Sure CD sales are dropping, but so are download sales. It's only streaming that is rising. Meanwhile, at least in the UK [[I don't know about other countries), physical still sells more than digital week by week. So CD and vinyl should still be around for some time to come.

[soulster]

We'll see what happens after the Pono Music store opens to the public tomorrow, and Quboz U.S.A. opens here. After a few months when everyone in the U.S. is aware that they can download their CD-equivalent of music, we'll see what happens to CD sales. And, you know streaming can't be helping those who want tangible items. Streaming proves that there are a LOT of people who do not want to be burdened with more "things". Younger people today like to live light. I suppose older people, who are settled in a house with the mortgage paid, with the kids gone, and have the space, don't worry about having more physical product. And, that makes sense, since a lot of this forum's members are over 50.

[alanh]

Whilst personally I'm all in favour of better quality files if I download, sadly I feel the greater mass market consumers who make up the majority of music purchasers either won't care about better quality or won't be prepared to pay extra for it. Here in the UK 7digital has started adding higher quality files options in recent weeks. As you say it'll be interesting to see what the reaction is.

[soulster]

Unfortunately, here, 7-digital still only offers 320 kbps at the highest. I don't see iTunes stepping up to the plate, either.

[jobeterob]

Whilst personally I'm all in favour of better quality files if I download, sadly I feel the greater mass market consumers who make up the majority of music purchasers either won't care about better quality or won't be prepared to pay extra for it. Here in the UK 7digital has started adding higher quality files options in recent weeks. As you say it'll be interesting to see what the reaction is.

I think I agree with this; I see young people sitting on planes and on treadmills at the gym and jogging down the street with what they view as fairly good quality ear buds; and the new houses seems to have a relatively small Bose speaker that can run one stream on the main floor and another upstairs.

I don't hear much talk about quality from my kids or their friends.

But the continued decline overall seems to mean that there will be changes about how music is marketed to the public, how music becomes popular, when music gets made to be marketed etc.

[smark21]

Here's another article on pop music and sales in 2014: http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/year-in-pop-music-2014-beyonce-taylor-swift/

[jobeterob]

Here's another article on pop music and sales in 2014: http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/year-in-pop-music-2014-beyonce-taylor-swift/

Music as we know it outside of Taylor Swift and Beyoncé is gone?

[soulster]

I don't hear much talk about quality from my kids or their friends.


You don't now, but you will in the not-so-distant future.

[kenneth]

I was in a used book/record store the other day, browsing through the CDs, and there were two guys near me, about 20 years old, talking about "albums" vs. "songs." One guy was explaining to the other guy why he was now buying CDs instead of just downloading songs. He was telling his friend something along the lines of "When an artist makes an album, they meant it to be a statement that should be listened to all the way through." Then he went on to explain how after he bought a compact disc player recently, he listened to an album for the first time from start to finish, and it put him in a certain mood that he wouldn't have felt otherwise. I would have loved to know what album he was talking about! I almost said something to him after over hearing what he was telling his friend, but then I didn't. I was afraid he would think I was too strange, but I wanted to tell him how happy I was to hear him express himself in that way!

[soulster]

It's all about your frame of mind. I hear people say that then they listen to records, they listen to the whole thing. When they hear CDs, they skip around. It really all is your frame of mind because I can listen to a download of an album all the way through just fine and get the same experience that I would have if it had been the CD or vinyl version.

Remember that not all downloads are the same. there are lowly mp3 and AAC, then there is lossless and high-resolution. If I get a download, I embed it with the highest quality artwork I can find, and all the info.


Oh, I went used record shopping last week, and every record store I went to, there were tons of people browsing over, and buying vinyl, while the CD section was deserted. Young, old, women, men, children, it didn't matter. That clearly tells me that people do care about sound quality. CDs are capable of good sound, but are usually destroyed by bad mastering practices like compressing the shit out of them just to make them louder, and boosting the bass and treble. And, look at the tons of turntables out there, everything from $10,000 esoteric tables, to garbage like Crossley.

And, again, digital sales are flat? Why? It's because of the lousy sound of what is out there now. When the public realizes they can pretty much download the CD, or get better sound from lossless than you can from iTunes, that will change. Again, it's all another nail in the CD's coffin.