advertisement


“UK vinyl sales heading for best year in three decades” - The Grauniad

Well my research (based on nothing at all) suggests that it’s all those middle-aged blokes getting back into vinyl via Record Store Day promotions.
 
Mole Man said:
Well my research (based on nothing at all) suggests that it’s all those middle-aged blokes getting back into vinyl via Record Store Day promotions.
Click to expand...

I think you are right, and wrong.

It is too easy to assume records are purchased by sentimental men.

There is often an assumption (understandable) that records are purchased in terms of audiophile listening. I think this is incorrect. People of all ages buy records. The way the music is reproduced is immaterial to some folks. The music still reaches the ears, maybe just not all of it... ;)

But I might just have had a bit too much gin. It made sense at the time.
 
Big Tabs said:
I think you are right, and wrong.

It is too easy to assume records are purchased by sentimental men.
Click to expand...

Well you just need to look at the list of most popular albums sold, there's only a couple on there I'd attribute to young people, unless the kids are all out buying a copy of Rumours!
 
matt j said:
Well you just need to look at the list of most popular albums sold, there's only a couple on there I'd attribute to young people, unless the kids are all out buying a copy of Rumours!
Click to expand...

What would make you think that young people wouldn’t want a copy of Rumours?

it is a good album.
 
I follow a couple of large vinyl communities on instagram . There's a thing about showing what you're playing with the album cover often with the person hidden by part of the cover that makes it look like its their head etc etc. The vast majority of posts are from young to middle aged females and the music covers all genres. Don't forget, research suggests that, a decent proportion of vinyl buyers don't even have TT, they just like to have the physical copy to look at as they listen via digital.

Another phenomenon with small to middle sized bands is the, initial pressing or pressing that's unique to a certain distributor. Bands who say, have 10k+ downloads and a run of 300 on vinyl, the vinyl sells out inside a couple of months and the price goes through the roof. I've just bought the second run pressing of the 2020 Slift album and that's already fetching £50 and it's only been out 6 weeks. The latest King Buffalo EP, the Kozmik Artifax pressing is fetching £100 plus and that was only released in May. Ergo, if you don't' buy in the first few weeks, then you're looking at paying premium prices and that phenomenon seems to be driving a good few sales in itself.

I must say, I'm really enjoying the whole feel of what's going on in music right now. It's reminiscent of my teenage years where "word of mouth" via the net, is driving what is seen as "good" and rock and indie are now open fields where "the good stuff" often finds its audience, as it did in the 70s, without people needing to be told what to buy by the MSM.
 
matt j said:
Well you just need to look at the list of most popular albums sold, there's only a couple on there I'd attribute to young people, unless the kids are all out buying a copy of Rumours!
Click to expand...

1st 3 records young customers have bought with a new turntable is Rumours, Sgt Pepper & DSOTM
 
FireMoon said:
Another phenomenon with small to middle sized bands is the, initial pressing or pressing that's unique to a certain distributor. Bands who say, have 10k+ downloads and a run of 300 on vinyl, the vinyl sells out inside a couple of months and the price goes through the roof. I've just bought the second run pressing of the 2020 Slift album and that's already fetching £50 and it's only been out 6 weeks. The latest King Buffalo EP, the Kozmik Artifax pressing is fetching £100 plus and that was only released in May. Ergo, if you don't' buy in the first few weeks, then you're looking at paying premium prices and that phenomenon seems to be driving a good few sales in itself.

I must say, I'm really enjoying the whole feel of what's going on in music right now. It's reminiscent of my teenage years where "word of mouth" via the net, is driving what is seen as "good" and rock and indie are now open fields where "the good stuff" often finds its audience, as it did in the 70s, without people needing to be told what to buy by the MSM.
Click to expand...

Some good points here.

It's a recent phenomenon, but nearly every band these days release a good 2 or 3 variants of the album in varying degrees of limited numbers, maybe some signed etc, which is really driving demand. I'm completely guilty of this 'FOMO' too - it's nice to know that I've got one of only 150 signed coloured variant of a release that I know, should the unthinkable happen and I have to sell my collection, is actually worth a few quid. It's good business for the band/label too, especially seeing as there's zero money in gigging at the moment. Scalpers are a problem, though, but when are they never?

Delighted to see a King Buffalo mention! They put up a live album yesterday, with - you guessed it - a load of variants. I tried to get the test pressing edition, but the bugger sold out whilst I was checking out. Plumped for a nice sea blue edition of 110 instead, which I'm pleased about.
 
I think there are a few different markets being conflated (granted they all contribute to overall sales)

Best-selling vinyl artist last year was Queen followed by The Beatles and Bowie.

Ironic that the vinyl boom of the 90/00s was driven by cutting edge dance music. Twenty years later the (mass) vinyl market seems to be a slightly conservative nostalgia for 'real music' on 'real vinyl' while lots of dance music never makes it as far as vinyl (why bother when DJs can stick all their tunes on a USB drive?)
 
paulfromcamden said:
Best-selling vinyl artist last year was Queen followed by The Beatles and Bowie.

Ironic that the vinyl boom of the 90/00s was driven by cutting edge dance music. Twenty years later the (mass) vinyl market seems to be a slightly conservative nostalgia for 'real music' on 'real vinyl' while lots of dance music never makes it as far as vinyl (why bother when DJs can stick all their tunes on a USB drive?)
Click to expand...

I don’t think that is an accurate picture as the music scene has changed beyond all recognition. It is now democratised with countless small bands offering bespoke product to a niche audience, and whilst none of them individually could ever compete with the old major label dad-rock stuff from past A&R-controlled eras, I bet as a whole it amounts to the majority of what is being sold. Certainly my own buying at present, and I’ve bought more new vinyl for myself this year than in the past decade, is almost exclusively by new artists starting out. Many small pressings, highly limited editions, some signed or with hand-made covers etc. A real way for this emerging/current generation of musicians to directly connect with their audience. That to me is what the current scene is all about. Stuffing some 40-50 year old music in a big shiny box and charging £100+ for it certainly has its own demographic (and I’m buying Blue Note Tone Poet reissues myself), but it’s not what is so interesting at the moment.
 
This may be of interest to anyone thinking of buying the $100 Let It Bleed that’s to be released next Friday. Let’s just say I don’t think it’s good value for money.

 
paulfromcamden said:
Best-selling vinyl artist last year was Queen followed by The Beatles and Bowie.
Click to expand...

That is a bit sad, I must admit, but as Tony says, there's an independent scene out there that is thriving. A lot of the stuff that I’m buying right now, doesn’t even get a release on CD. I rarely buy new CDs now, just the second-hand ones at bargain prices. It is true to say, that a lot of new vinyl is on limited runs, that’s because they only press enough that they’re sure will sell; it’s down to economics and limited pressing plants, but I’ve never stopped buying vinyl tbh. Bandcamp is a veritable treasure trove for new music; there’s never been a better time for getting new music out. Even the lockdown hasn’t slowed it down, in fact I think there’s more new music come out this year, than in previous years, because bands can’t get out to play gigs right now. One of my favourite labels is On the Corner Records, full of glorious world and Jazz music and stunning sleeves too! Seeing small racks of the Beatles, Fleetwood Mac etc. in supermarkets does absolutely nothing for me, but then again, I’m clearly not part of the target consumer that the buyers had in mind.
 
Here's a good source of new vinyl releases. It's on good old Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/vinylreleases/new

I've picked up a good few independent small-batch releases from there, though I must admit, I've never heard of a lot of the stuff that gets posted up. Still, it just goes to show how buoyant the industry is at the moment: there must be a good dozen vinyl releases posted up every day
 
I've not seen that list before. I get my new vinyl fixes from Internet radio mostly, Tom Ravenscroft, Marcelle Van Hoof and Dandelion Radio. Paul Ackroyd is one of my fave DJs, but he's eased off on the shows at the moment, presumably due to work presure.
 
It's not exhaustive, of course, it's just what people post up. It seems weighted towards indie/hip-hop/pop stuff. I'm sure there are many MANY more pre-orders that go up that don't get posted!
 
Both Facebook and Bandcamp are superb sources too, you just need a ‘in’ point, e.g. if you enjoyed BBC4’s wonderful 625 Special: British Jazz Explosion just follow the artists and the record labels that release their material and you are in a whole world of vinyl spending! I’m lucky in that I’d had a head start on this stuff so have a lot already, but that is the way to find stuff these days. In many ways it is exactly the same way I initially stumbled around jazz in the ‘80s in the days long before the internet. I bought a cheap Blue Note sampler, bought everything I liked on it (all of it IIRC!), looked at the line-ups of each album and then started buying albums by individual band members on other labels etc. I’m still following that process, but obviously its way better now as anything you can think of is but a google or Youtube search away.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top