FEATURE:
Vinylism
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Coloured Editions, Supply Issues, Anniversary Reissues, and Keeping the Cost Down
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IT seems axiomatic to say…
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that vinyl is very much booming at the moment. There are issues getting enough of it out there. With limited numbers of plants that can make the product, there is also the issue of the supply chain and huge drawbacks affecting some big plants, I wonder what the future of the format looks like. With the environment and the climate catastrophe in the news, retailers and those who make and export vinyl also need to be wary about the carbon footprint they leave. There are a few things I want to talk about. There are supply fears together with the big costs of producing vinyl. Coupled and linked to that, there is this growing demand every year. It also seems like anniversary editions and a range of coloured vinyl might be overtaking and dominating when there are new artists and those who can only feasibly put out one vinyl run/colour that might be getting overlooked. Also, at a time when the vinyl demand and cost might cause bottleneck issues and long-term sustainability obstacles, could CDs and cassettes be more appealing and produced more cheaply in a range of colours and formats? Could, in an age where we need to think about the environment and cost, a new physical format be introduced? Let’s start with some admin, statistics and background. Every year, it is wonderful that we get to rejoice in the success of a physical music format! Digital music is more affordable, readily available and convenient and yet, year-in-year-out, vinyl especially is seeing increased sales. Whether that is legacy artists’ anniversary issues, or classic albums reaching a new demographic, or terrific albums by newer artists bought on vinyl, it does look good for the market. Like me, you will see artists and labels promoting a new vinyl release. Maybe a new album available in a range of colours – such as Kylie Minogue’s TENSION -, or there are bundle options where you can get a cassette, C.D. or vinyl, there are options for those who want something a bit more bespoke or standout. I love the classic black vinyl - though having choices does mean both supply/production challenges and more buying the format. I will come to an article from last year from The Guardian that questioned the necessity and worth of reissuing fifth anniversary editions of albums (and whether we will get to a stage where artists put out a one-year anniversary release!).
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First, from last year, GRAMMY wrote about a vinyl shortage that was worrying the industry., Whilst I think there has been some progress and resolution, there are still supply problems and a relative shortness. I do wonder, against this appreciation of vinyl and the resultant booming sales, how manufacturers and even record shops can keep up with demand – and prioritise which albums they stock and whether a lot of the sales and options are online:
“How Is The Vinyl Shortage Affecting Record Stores?
Harvest Records' Capon says that at least half of his store's inventory is new vinyl, with about 30 percent used records and a mere 20 percent compact discs. Generally, stocking records isn't a problem. "Since the resurgence began, there are more records than ever being pressed," he observes. It's only when trying to stock specific titles that a problem arises.
"There don't seem to be any issues getting the new Harry Styles or Adele in whatever quantity you want," says Jim Henderson of California retailer Amoeba Music. "The problem affects particular titles," agrees Capon, adding that catalog albums are particularly affected by shortages."Say, Nirvana's Nevermind or The Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream is gone right now, but in their place is something that was unavailable before.'"
But even when a certain title is ostensibly available, getting enough copies to meet consumer demand is not a given. Shipments to stores often include less than what was ordered. "We'll order 10 and get three," Capon says. When that happens enough times, a store buyer might decide to order more than he or she needs, just to get the desired number of records. "Sometimes that works out. But sometimes, ‘Oh, we got the full 25. Now what are we going to do?'" he continues.
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Larger retailers face the same obstacles, albeit on a larger scale. Amoeba often schedules pre-orders for upcoming, high-demand titles. "We'll have a commitment to get a certain amount of titles in to be able to feed that and still have plenty for the store," says Amoeba's Henderson. "Then there's the reality: when we open up the box, we got a percentage of what we were expecting to get. It's challenging when you think you're getting 90 of something and get 14 [instead]. Pressing plants simply can't produce enough records quickly enough – and in sufficient numbers – to meet demand.
Major music retailers like Amoeba Music offer a more diversified range of products including CDs and other merchandise, so they're less affected by vinyl shortages. New vinyl represents about 20 percent of the California chain's inventory, which offers a significant selection of used records and CDs. But the store isn't completely immune from the negative effects of having to tell a customer they don't have a given title.
"It affects us the way it would affect any retailer trying to get what people want into their hands," Henderson explains. "One of the challenges we face is finding a way to articulate that it's not for a lack of effort." He says that if a customer comes up empty-handed when looking for a specific vinyl record, they might infer that "maybe we're not trying to get that title, or that it's bad buying." To counter that misapprehension, Henderson says that Amoeba makes a point of using social media to announce when titles come back into stock.
Why Are Vinyl Records So Expensive?
Some of the perceived high cost of vinyl records can be explained by a combination of inflationary pressures and the passage of time. During vinyl's heyday in the 1970s and ‘80s, customary list price for a single-disc LP ranged from $5.98 to $8.98. Adjusting only for inflation, that $8.98 record that sold in 1982 can be expected to sell for $26.63 today.
But inflation doesn't explain away the cost differential. "A standard new record for a major artist can cost $45," says Kevin Smokler, co-director of the new documentary film Vinyl Nation. "It probably shouldn't cost $45; we're basically paying people the same way we did in 1975." He believes the disparity between consumer wages and prices "creates an unequal system [in which] people without access to resources are second class citizens. And we don't like that at all."
Some consumers agree with that sentiment. "There is a backlash happening," observes Harvest Records co-owner Mark Capon. "People don't want to pay $40 for a new Harry Styles record. They'll say, ‘I'm just going to stream it.'" He believes that when the prices soar to excessive levels, neither the consumer, retailer or record company wins. "New vinyl prices have gotten prohibitively expensive; if you're a working person with limited expendable income, you're getting priced out."
Alex Cushing asks a rhetorical yet relevant question. "What's the ceiling for a record for the consumer?" He notes that when he sees a black vinyl record with a $35 price tag, he grimaces. "But we grew up in a world of $9.99," he says. Younger record buyers may have entered the marketplace when vinyl sold for $22. "For them, $30 isn't a major increase."
Cushing emphasizes that quality can make or ruin the experience of buying a record. "$30, and you open the record and it's not great — and it's eight months later than you wanted it — then I'm not sure [you're] buying a second record."
Vinyl records are made of PVC (polyvinyl chloride), a petroleum-based plastic. And as Gar Ragland of Citizen Vinyl observes, petroleum-based products have been increasing in price. Since his plant opened in 2020, Ragland says that the price of PVC "has increased three times. We have had to pass that coast along, adjusting our price to our clients accordingly. And I imagine every other pressing plant has done the same." He notes that because of high demand, there has been relatively little resistance from record companies. "It's just the cost of doing business," he says.
In addition to the increasing cost of raw materials, "the real fluctuating cost is shipping and transportation," says Cushing. Acknowledging the current high price of petroleum (and derivative products like PVC), he emphasizes that "it's really nothing in relation to freight costs." Choosing his words carefully, he says, "that industry has seemed to allow itself the most leeway in supply-and-demand pricing."
Still, the issue is a complex one. While many manufacturing processes are partially or completely automated, the pressing of vinyl records remains a labor-intensive process with many manual steps. "The way we make records now is basically how we've been making records forever," says Vinyl Nation co-director Christopher Boone. "It hasn't really changed. It's focused on human beings at many different stages: cutting the lacquers, doing all the plating, actually pressing the records. And that costs money. Then, if you want really cool packaging, that too costs money."
What Does The Future Of Vinyl Look Like?
After a decade-plus without vinyl records, the resurgence that began in the early 21st century shows no sign of subsiding. "As we've spoken with our customers, there seems to be a lot of confidence that the reasons people are buying vinyl are real and sustainable," says United Record Pressing's Mark Michaels.
He notes that vinyl records are now seen as a complement to streaming and digital consumption, and the retail channels support that. "You're seeing a lot of titles sold in Target and Walmart," Michaels observes. "And they're having success. When those retailers get behind a title or category, the orders are enormous."
He acknowledges that the responsibility for filling those orders falls upon manufacturers like United. "If we're going to be a legitimate supply chain partner to the major labels, we better be able to turn large orders fast with service levels that are in line with what they need.
"I don't have a crystal ball," Michaels says. "But I'm a believer."
Alex Cushing acknowledges the challenges but expresses cautious optimism coupled with a sense of urgency. "We have a short window to fix the problems," he says. "And unfortunately, not all these problems are under our control, so I think there are some choppy waters out there. But I think the conditions look favorable."
Bryan Ekus makes note of market forces: "As long as [consumers] are willing to pay $30 for a black record, demand should continue." Amoeba's Henderson makes a similar observation from the retail perspective. "We are concerned that at a certain point, the price tag is going to be detrimental to the collectors," he says. "But the product is such a good product, and people are engaging with it in different ways, so I'd like to think that a few years from now, we'll see steadier fills and consistent access.
Mark Capon of Harvest Records emphasizes that vinyl records aren't a fad. "I think they'll be here for a long time," he says. "And I'm happy about that”.
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There does appear to be this continued mixture of streaming and physical sales. People are still streaming a lot, yet the hunger for physical music has not declined. Indeed, I wonder whether there could be a riise in other physical formats as people have less disposable income or want to buy more albums on physical formats – and they feel vinyl is more of a treat when it comes to cost. Music Week reported in July how there is this encouraging appreciation and need for vinyl albums:
“Music Week’s analysis is based on exclusive market figures and sales data from the Official Charts Company and the BPI.
According to BPI data, the half-year results show that album equivalent sales (AES) reached 89,755,479 for the first six months.
The increase marks an acceleration of growth at a time when there had been concerns that a maturing streaming market like the UK might be experiencing a slower rate of increase.
The latest Goldman Sachs Music In The Air report underlined the lower rate of UK streaming growth in recent years.
But so far in 2023, streaming growth has surged into double digits again, with the half-year total for streaming equivalent albums (SEA) up 11.3% year-on-year to 79,241,502. That compares with annual growth of 8.7% at the mid-way point last year, and 8.2% for the full year in 2022.
The second quarter was the driver of growth with album equivalent sales (AES) up 11.1% year-on-year and streaming equivalent albums (SEA) up 12.7%. Physical sales actually increased 3.3% year-on-year in Q2, although that was largely down to CD sales being flat in the quarter. Vinyl was up 10.2% in the quarter.
According to the half-year figures, physical sales were flat – down just 0.3% to 7,795,714 – as growth in LPs offset the 5.8% decline in CD sales. For that six-month period, vinyl sales increased by 12.4% year-on-year to 2,714,642 units.
Despite some hype about the format, cassette sales have slipped back in 2023, down 18.2% year-on-year to 73,204 units. However, the format clearly has its uses, not least in helping Kylie Minogue to secure her first solo Top 10 single since 2010.
Sophie Jones, BPI CSO & interim CEO, said: “With demand for LPs up by over 12% across the first six months and CD sales showing signs of stabilising, the physical market is in encouraging shape considering the economic backdrop and the challenges facing the creative sector. It underlines the importance of continuing to push for growth and supporting talent around the country so that even more artists can benefit from the growth in streaming and vinyl.”
The physical market is in encouraging shape considering the economic backdrop and the challenges facing the creative sector
Sophie Jones
The sales performance by vinyl includes another successful year for Record Store Day. Vinyl revenue outperformed CD for the first time last year, according to ERA.
There has also been positive news for physical music sales with HMV’s plan to bring back its London flagship store.
The strong performance for vinyl was led by new releases by Lana Del Rey, Lewis Capaldi, Gorillaz, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Foo Fighters and Boygenius.
Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (Polydor) moved 28,119 vinyl copies in the first six months of the year. The album is No.26 overall so far this year (78,213 sales).
Second place for vinyl sales went to Lewis Capaldi’s Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent (EMI) on 20,019 units.
IN THIS PHOTO: Lewis Capaldi/PHOTO CREDIT: Alexandra Gavillet
Catalogue consumption
The vinyl sales rankings are geared towards new and current releases. The Top 8 albums were released or reissued in 2023, with the exception of Taylor Swift’s Midnights (EMI), and even that is still a current release (from October 2022).
Vinyl perennials Rumours by Fleetwood Mac and The Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd make up the rest of the Top 10 sellers for the format so far this year.
In contrast, the overall albums sales rankings (covering all formats, including the dominant streaming consumption) have five catalogue titles in the Top 10 for the half-year. That includes the biggest-selling album of the first six months, The Weeknd’s 2021 collection The Highlights (Island/XO/Republic) on 210,533 sales.
The Weeknd is joined by other collections including Elton John’s 2017 release Diamonds (EMI/UMR) at No.5, Eminem’s Curtain Call – The Hits (Polydor) at No.7 and Fleetwood Mac’s 50 Years – Don’t Stop (Rhino) at No.9. The Elton John release received a boost from a legendary Glastonbury performance and new vinyl edition.
In the Official Charts Company’s half-year albums rankings, EMI-signed Lewis Capaldi has two entries in the Top 10: Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent at No.6 (136,987 sales for the half-year) and debut LP, Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent at No.10 (118,383 sales for the half-year) – the fifth catalogue title in the upper echelons.
Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent – the fastest-selling album of the year to date – is the biggest 2023 release so far. In the most recent chart, it rebounded 16-3 following Capaldi’s Glastonbury performance.
Other current releases in the half-year Top 10 are: Taylor Swift’s Midnights (No.2), Harry Styles’ Harry’s House (No.3), SZA’s SOS (No.4) and Ed Sheeran’s – (Subtract) at No.8.
For Nos.11-20 in the half-year albums rankings, nine out of 10 titles are catalogue releases including perennials and pre-2022 releases by Arctic Monkeys, Ed Sheeran (both Equals and Divide), ABBA, Oasis, Taylor Swift (1989 and Lover), Queen and Olivia Rodrigo. Pink’s Trustfall is the only 2023 release between 11-20.
For the half-year Top 20, it means that 70% of entries are catalogue titles – the same proportion for the overall Top 20 albums of 2022. The degree to which streaming subscribers are maxing out on old favourites is contributing to the absence of Top 100 breakthroughs, as catalogue crowds out new talent with 2023 debuts…
UK breakthroughs
The biggest UK debut breakthroughs for the first six months are UK rapper Clavish’s mixtape Rap Game Awful (Polydor) at No.68 (48,060) and Raye’s My 21st Century Blues (Human Re Sources/The Orchard) at No.97 (39,287).
Mimi Webb’s debut album Amelia (RCA) is at No.130 (33,581).
Raye’s UK No.1 single Escapism feat. 070 Shake is the second biggest of the first six months on 850,748 sales. It became The Orchard’s first No.1 single earlier this year.
PinkPantheress has also made a singles chart impact with Boy’s A Liar (Warner Records), which is at No.4 overall (730,466).
Messy In Heaven (Columbia) by Venbee & Goddard is at No.11 (541,204).
EMI’s global streaming star Mae Stephens is at No.50 for the first half of 2023 with debut single If We Ever Broke Up (273,608 sales).
Miley Cyrus’ Flowers (RCA) is the biggest single (1,248,655) of the year so far and the only track to pass a million sales in 2023.
Read about the ABBA catalogue campaign – winner at the Music Week Awards 2023”.
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I want to conclude with a summary of where vinyl is now and what role cassettes, C.D.s and other possible formats could play. I think a lot of what is driving vinyl sales and appeal is that range of colours. People almost buying vinyl as a collector’s item. It can mean that many artists are having to do this to keep up with larger acts. Perhaps there is an element of the appearance of the vinyl swaying people more than the music. I have no doubt people love vinyl, though I am concerned people might be buying several copies/formats because of the look/coolness of it. Some superfans do it through love of an artist, mind. We want people to support as many artists – established and rising – as they can. Also, there are so many anniversary releases. I love a classic or revered album coming back, maybe with some extras or in a range of colours. It does mean that younger fans might be experiencing that album for the first time . With supply issues being a problem, is releasing a fifth anniversary edition of an album contributing to the problems out there?! The Guardian wrote about this last year:
“The remarkable resurgence of vinyl has been one of the biggest stories in the music industry of the past few years. The once-dead format has seen exponential sales growth, with 5.3m records being sold in the UK in 2021 – the highest volume since 1990, roughly when CD sales began to outpace other formats – and record sales in the US up 15.6% year-on-year in the first few weeks of 2023. This Saturday’s Record Store Day will see the usual yearly clamour for limited vinyl editions, with over 400 records by the likes of the 1975, Taylor Swift, Ellie Goulding and more set to go on sale.
Keen to make the most of a seemingly steady revenue stream, labels have begun increasing production on limited and deluxe repressings of popular albums. Anniversary reissues – once only common to recently remastered records, or albums several decades old – are now becoming popular for releases that are just five years old, such as Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy, Phoebe Bridgers’ Stranger in the Alps, Lucy Dacus’ Historian and Idles’ Brutalism. They’ve all been repressed in coloured formats or with alternate sleeves in the past two years, often at a slightly increased price point to standard black discs.
It’s in keeping with a frantically shortening nostalgia cycle that’s seen frenzied media coverage of supposed emo and “indie sleaze” revivals and music publications churning out cheap anniversary content – although these repressings seemingly offer little to the consumer other than a coloured disc. But Hannah Carlen and Ali Murphy – marketing directors for heavy-hitting indie conglomerate Secretly Group, which released Bridgers’ album – insist that fifth anniversary pressings allow artists to “give new fans something, and say ‘you’re welcome here too – you don’t have to be a day one fan’,” says Carlen.
Bridgers’ album hadn’t been repressed on coloured vinyl – demand for which vastly outstrips black vinyl – since 2019. In the intervening years, she broke through to the mainstream with her second album Punisher and found a swathe of new fans thanks to collaborations with Taylor Swift, SZA and Paul McCartney. Last year, it was rereleased in a run of 10,000 “galaxy-coloured” records. An anniversary “acknowledges that there’s been a lot of new fans over that span of time, and maybe they haven’t gotten access to something special, or when they’ve looked for it on eBay it’s $200,” says Carlen. (Original coloured pressings of Stranger have sold for upwards of £600 on the vinyl resale website Discogs.) “We don’t want to relegate people to a crazy inflated secondhand market.”
Lawrence Montgomery, managing director of Rough Trade record shops, concurs: anniversary pressings with alternate covers or vinyl colours, he says, are in tune with “demand from customers for unique vinyl pressings”.
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“I think it’s about the reaction to streaming and digital consumerism,” he says. “Streaming is really good for vinyl sales because people can discover artists much more easily than they could in the past – when you then want to buy something to reaffirm your love of an artist, you want something more special.” During Covid, he says, many consumers began to use money they would have once spent on gig tickets on vinyl; at the same time, collectors have become “very savvy about finding what the best variant in the market is”.
In a crowded market, a limited edition repressing can also help a record get noticed by music shops with limited stock space. With a different barcode and catalogue number to a standard repressing, distributors can resolicit it for distribution. “The timeline of a record has changed so drastically,” says Ali Murphy. “Twenty years used to be the span of time in which people were celebrating a record, and now it’s got so much shorter, not only due to the quickness of everything coming out.”
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For millennial music fans, the boom in anniversary content may feel like an exploitation of their recent youth. But Montgomery says that a younger contingent of fans is rivalling audiophiles and DJs as a significant market for vinyl, thanks to pop artists like Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey, who turn their albums into collectibles through the release of multiple alternate album covers or disc colours, and #VinylTok, a TikTok tag that creators use to showcase their collections and obsess over special editions. “We’ve done really well this year with Boygenius, Lana Del Rey, Caroline Polachek, Taylor,” he says.
Although coloured vinyl reissues can combat the arguably overinflated secondhand market, some consumers have still perceived a sense of engineered scarcity with the most popular records. Ben Van Woerkom, a 26-year-old record collector from New Zealand, says that he’s felt fatigue seeing how many new variants and anniversary pressings are hitting the market. “I think we’re at a point where we’ll reach too [high a volume] of people talking about and obsessing over what’s best and what’s new,” he says. “People will give up on vinyl altogether – it’ll just implode. I’ve been feeling pretty pessimistic about it. I’m spending too much money trying to get the ‘ultimate collection’, or whatever”.
There are a lot of factors out there that dictate the continuation of vinyl love and climbing sales. New plants being feasible to build, existing ones able to produce vinyl quickly enough and there not being a bottleneck, whether anniversary editions and different-coloured vinyl getting in the way of albums by other artists, the cost of buying an album in the first place, whether the cost of living and environmental issues will limit sales and supply. We all want physical music to thrive and be readily available for decades to come. Modest by comparisons, C.D.s and cassettes are still being bought. As I have written about how we need portable devices to play cassettes. Coloured cassettes are available, though many are bought and not played. A cheaper alternative to vinyl – and not subject to as many production issues and delays -, perhaps there needs to be new focus on the benefit of cassettes. The same with C.D.s. If there are more portable devices and the cost can be kept down, then this could be a possible vinyl alternative. Costs dictate a lot of people’s buying habits, so having a physical format that is somewhere between £10-£12 is vital. I am not sure how possible it is to make C.D.s and cassettes more durable and less fragile – without modifying the design or incurring too much cost -; that would make it more appealing to people who rightly note how vinyl is pretty sturdy and tends to last a bit longer. Innovative projects like Green Vinyl Records are trying to make the format more environmentally responsible. I do wonder whether a new physical format could be invented that is less reliant on plastic. Can be produced more cleanly and, importantly, the cost is less than vinyl.
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I think I have speculated before but, back in the day, we had the MiniDisc. They are still about, though they were one of the physical format causalities (discontinued in 2013). Older technology like the iPod and MiniDisc that died because things were becoming more digital are strangely apt and relevant now. Not predictable back then, I think it is time to consider the possibility of either reviving a dead physical format – and making sure there was great artwork on the cover and the physical appeal was there – or considering a new one. So many people love vinyl as it is weighty and you get that big sleeve with the artwork. There is that cute tangible nature of cassettes and C.D.s. Coloured vinyl is eye-catching and interesting, whereas you also get the satisfaction of having the chance to build a collection. Making a physical format tiny might seem more streamlined and convenient, yet you lose something in terms of its physical ‘value’ – how appealing it and the fact that bigger seems better. There does need to be this long-term consideration. There are ways now artists can get maximise income from C.D.s; why there does seem to be this deeper connection with music on a physical format compared to streaming. The reality is vinyl supply cannot always catch up with demand. That issue may only intensify. There does need to be more thought given to making cassettes and C.D.s more appealing and portable devices reissue. Thinking about a new physical format that is ‘green’, portable (but not too tiny), affordable – the £10-£15 mark seems right – and, also, sustainable in terms of its toughness and physical appeal. The vinyl boom is the positive note to end on. How it is become more collectable and appealing to buyers of all ages. How this trend will continue (let’s hope) for years to come! With that news in mind, we can confidently both drop the mic and…
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DROP the needle.