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Week 12 [13-19.06.2016] Vinyl Kills mp3 Industry!



IS THAT FOREAL?

Yes, this may sound funny, but since the beginnig of 21st century many market researches show that vinyl has it's very own renaissance!

http://www.mic.gr/sites/default/files/articles/images/2014/01/41984_3.jpg

But to get y'all know better ye old good black disc i think we can have a brief history of that medium!

I think it is quite amazing to know that the invention of analog record discs has it's place in the 19th century! In the beginning, for many many years records were produced from soot or very very hard rubber so of course the quality of the sound wasn't as good as we know it today. But then in the 1940s the new material arrived! It was called Polivinyl Chloride and from that we got our favourite "vinyl" word. So since then this very classy and beautiful medium accompanied the music industry for a very long time and was very popular until there was a NEW, SMALL, MODERN and FANCY medium called Compact Disc or CD :) I can fully understand why then in the 1980 people rushed to buy new music on the shiny tiny discs and play it out loud on their brand new HI-Fi Hi-Tec players! CDs were perceived as much more versatile and portable media than classic black records and they kept the futuristic spirit of coming close to a next century. That in my opinion was the main reason of so-called fall of vinyl records in the end of 20th century.

BUT - we are talking about mainstream environment.

The truth is that vinyl records were very popular all the time in the underground music environment and I am talking about the environment with jazz backround - funk, soul and then disco, hip hop house and techno music. The main reason for that is because vinyl was a perfect DJing medium and the whole musical culture was always referring to the good old vinyl.

In the meantime we had the whole 90's dominated by tapes and CD's especially and the music industry was working the way it always worked - musicians made the music for the labels and labels were selling the music to the crowd.

Then all of the sudden we had mp3's and it's successor - streaming.

This whole enormous revolution which happened only in few years caused an incredible change in the crowd's perception of musical products like albums and songs. All of the sudden everything was affordable, everywhere and for everyone and it caused a devaluation of music - I am talking not only about devaluation in terms of money but about aesthetic and personal value as well.

This whole phenomenon made people wanting to be more conscious about what they listen to to actually buy music again. When we buy some piece of music we really consider if it's worth our time and money. It almost always has a great result making our musical library more valuable to ourselves.
But right now people don't buy as much CD's as in the 80's or 90's - it's not cool or modern anymore. Right now when we actually buy physical music we buy it in the purest and most beautiful form possible - the big 12" disc in the beautiful cover which we play putting the needle sofly on the record's surface and relaxing to the sound of forever.

Questions:

1. Do you have any records? If not have you ever seen or played ye olde good vinyl?
2. What do you think about music industry we have today?
3. If you ever were to buy a record for $1000 what could it be and why? Or why not?

Comments

I don't have any records, but I have seen vinyl in use. I don't think that it is good solution, because the quality of record is definitely much worse than for instance at CD or normal mp3 at the computer. The music industry we have today is definitely very big and offers a lot to music lovers, we have variety of genres, hundreds of artists, and almost everyone can show their's work publicly and become famous. I would never buy record for 1000$ or for any amount of money, because for me it is waste of money. We have so many options of listening music online for free like YouTube, Spotify of simply radio, that we don't have to pay for it. I understand that those people needs gratification, but as we now they have a lot of money and don't need our support.
Marcin Konarski said…
My parents have multiple records at vinyls and they sometimes listening to it, so I had a change to listen to it as well. In my opinion this just looks vintage and for me the quality is not so good and what is the most important it is inconvenient. I can't change the volume easily, choose the particular song, play all the time just one song or skip to the next one. I don't like such solution so I will never buy or use them personally. Speaking about today's industry I have to admit, that offers a lot, and I am the most happy about Spotify and the ease of looking for old songs that I like or new songs that I hear in radio, also the chance to listen to remixes of popular songs is very cool for me. I would never buy such expensive record, because as I said I don't like this solutions and I don't think that it is worth such amount of money.
Unknown said…
Oh! Big mistake my friend! The quality of music on vinyl nowadays is absolutely great and many times as good as Wav of Flac music. As it is for me I still haven't found a record for $1000 to buy :D
Unknown said…
Thank you for your thoughts :) as i said earlier vinyls produced today have an excellent soud quality so it is really no such a big difference and anyways i like to hear this tiny silent cracking :)
Unknown said…

I love vinyl, I love look at it, but I have never before read about history of vinyl's world. Thank to you, now I know this hstory.Thanks it is very interesting.
My family have many vinyl, but unfortunately tha player are wrong, so we can’t to listen screeching music :P
Now, music industry has two faces - good and bad , btw. as always. One hand music which have a sense, which has a big value like for example ( of course this is my subjective opinion) : Kortez, Katarzyna Groniec, Dominika Barabas and on the other hand bad music, which hasn't value, like for example every disco polo and cheap pop.
I'm sorry if I hurt someone from you.
I don't have any vinyl records myself, but I heard many. I woudn't agree that listening to vinyl is the 'purest' form of listening to music (whatever that means). Especially that, sure many albums nowadays are distributed also on vinyl, but most of them are still tracked digitally, so there's no real advantage on having them on vinyl. Some retro artists will record their albums on tape and that's suited best for vinyl, but these are in minority.

Also distribution through the internet gives many independent artists a chance to actually have their music recognised, even worldwide. Something that vinyl distribution is oftentimes too expensive for. Vinyl will never be able to surpass digital distribution. Will it become more popular than it is right now? Probably, but it still will be more of a hobby, not a general way to distribute music.
Unknown said…
I love vinyls. My dad has a lot and my best friend's dad literally hoards them :D I definitely agree there's a reinassance of vinyls going on. It's vey interesting that you've mentioned how small digital formats/streaming actually helped with that. Vinyls are expensive, so people really have to think through the decision to buy one.

I LOVE The Beatles. I've studied their music, album covers, history and all. Of course, their original vinyls cost a fortune; it's a dream to own a first-pressing of theWhite Album. Recently their label, Apple Music, has remastered the old albums and now they're a lot more affordable. Still, there's a huge difference in what you get, buying the remasters. I researched the opinions before I decided to buy. Finally I got the new version of the famous Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and... I'm not satisfied. The technology made a HUGE progress, but, in my opinion, they went too far. The sound is much too clean and flat; it lacks the distinctive 'space' and the tiniest scratches you could hear on an old vinyl.

I absolutely don't mean to criticise the vinyl comeback, but I wanted to show that the marriage of the old and the new produces various results. Especially as it's not perfectly analogue; although the techniques now allow for great quality of the source material, the music isn't recorded on tapes but digitally. There's still a certain compression to the final version.
Unknown said…
I have a lot of records but most of them belong to my parents. We had an old vinyl player when I was little and in high school I bought one for myself but...I rarely used it. It was a nice gimmick and had a nice feel to it but I left the player and records when I moved out and I don't keep any videos, music or virtually anything on dvds, cds or records. I kind of get the need to own a real copy of some truly nostalgic or great piece of music but I wouldn't like to have a collection of my own. I would much rather download music and have an easy access to it any time I want than to let it gather dust on the shelves. I truly don't think I would ever buy a record for $1000 even if I could afford it.
Unknown said…
Yeah i have all of my music in digital form as well! As a matter of fact i have many albums both digitally and on vinyl, but sometimes I buy some stuff that is "VINYL ONLY" and believe me you can find some gold in there :)
Unknown said…
YES! Remasters can be sometimes very harmful to the original sound of an album! I totally get what you are saying and i agree with you in many cases, although there are some remasters that are good and not TOO CLEAN :D Dark Side of The Moon is a quite good example I think.
Unknown said…
Haha i think that this is THE PUREST form of listening to those who perceive it that way - everything is subjective. Poland is still a bit in the behind comparing to Germany or UK in which there is a lot of people lostening to vinyl. I think that the newest way to sell the vinyl is the simplest one - you get the vinyl PLUS all digital downloads from that album so You can listen to it on every device you want :)
Unknown said…
Thanks! Glad you liked this sneak peek! Actually every taste is subjective so i really don't see any reason to apologize - somebody can be even fan of the (in my opinion) worst of the worst like Justin Bieber or Skrillex, BUT - if they like this music if it makes them feel what they like to feel, no one can take it from them because it is simply what they genuinely like. That's it!
Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said…
Personally I don't possess any vinyls but my aunt and my grandma do have some and I remember listening to my grandma's Elvis Presley record :) Fun fact - when I was in primary school I used to live in a town where vinyls were produced so we got the subject covered in our music lessons.
Music industry has changed a lot and as far the "carrier" is concerned - I'm glad. Vinyls look cool but I need portability. I always liked spending time outside with my walkman then discman then mp3/mp4 player ;) My problem is that I rarely listen to a whole album of one artist. Best case scenario is that I have a self made various artists playlist. Because of that I'm a big fan of music streaming services. That leads to your last question - I would never buy a single record for that amount of money. Right now I pay 8 zloty a month for unlimited music (offline feature included) so obviously I wouldn't switch it for a physical record for a $1000 :)
Unknown said…
To be honest, I have never listened to "good old vinyl". I have one player at home, but it is not working. Maybe finally I'll get myself and repair it, because my parents have quite collection of vinyls.
Nowadays music indsutry have changed a lot, we use new media to obtain music, like streaming and downloading. When I truly like some music that I listen to on spotify or youtube, I buy the disc, to express my respect for artist who created it.
I don't think I have ever been listening to music that would be worth paying 1000$ for.
Unknown said…
I love vinyl records! My father had a large collection vinyl records but a lot of them actually doesen't work because of time destruction. Recently I collect CD records with my favourite musicians. I remembered funny situation during buying CD records in Empik when salesman asked me - am I a music lover (meloman). It was funny because in my opinion today when industry is dominated by mp3 and streaming music we forget about records! I often try to buy CDs because I want to support the music industry and musician. It's my thanks for work creators of album (not only musician, also videoclip creator and cover designer). If I ever were to buy a record for $1000... for sure I would buy record which I love the most. It's hard to decide in this moment, I'd have to think about it :)



Unknown said…
I don't have any vinyls, but I would love to have one. I'm not sure but I might have still running Vinyl player. Nowadays I'm not buying music on CD, I prefer to download It. For me one CD disk is not worth more than 1-2 $ so I'm not a big fan of buying it for like 30$. But if I would be able to buy Vinyl records with contemporary music- I would do that.
Pat said…
My parents used to have lots of vinyls - they even used to buy me audiobooks made on vinyls.

However, I don't have the record player right now, and I don't really feel the urge to buy one. I own a lot of CDs (like Marta, I like to show my support for the musicians and bands), but I rarely play them - most of the time, I just stream the music from Spotify.

I don't know if I would like to buy a vinyl for $1000, it doesn't seem the fair price. I'm not really a collector of rare editions, so it's not for me :)
Unknown said…
1. Do you have any records? If not have you ever seen or played ye olde good vinyl?
No not really, I listen to the music mostly in the car or when I'm walking so its not really an option for me.

2. What do you think about music industry we have today?

Its doing better than ever before :D

3. If you ever were to buy a record for $1000 what could it be and why? Or why not?

Not really, music quality is not as important for me, so getting a vinyl just to get it is not my thing but i get it why people do it
Unknown said…
I have an collections of old vinyls, some classic artists and bands. I like that kind of oldschool stuff.

But I don't really know if I will buy some good vinyls now, there are a lot of ways to listen to music now, also great quality speakers and headphones so I think I prefere that new technology.
Unknown said…
Well I do have some vinyl records as I once bought vinyl player on flea mart for something like 5 euro. I have to agree that it has it's magic to listen to music in such way. Unfortunately I had to leave it in basement as it's 'needle' broke and replacement parts costed like 1000 PLN. Although I don't think I would be using it for very long time. I prefer music industry the way it is right now because it gives us all we need at a hands reach. Streaming music from sites like youtube or services like deezer or spotify gives us enormous amount of possibilities.
Unknown said…
Personally I don't have records, but my parents do. It's some good old fashioned rock and heavy metal like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Judas Priest and etc.
For me they sound great, but I am not sure about the necessity to buy vinyl to listen to music, I am not that kind of person who is looking for purity of the sound. For me mp3 is good enough to listen to it on my way to the university or work.
In case of spending 1000 euros it is definitely the last thing I will think about. Again, I don't need this quality of sound, all I need a good pair of headphones, mp3 or wav and avoiding people on lecturing me on what music I should listen and in what format, for sure you can get it for less than 1000 euros.
Unknown said…
Haha, thank you for your opinion. I love VNL but i use mp3 and streaming as well!
Unknown said…
Well, there is a lot of new music released on wax! I see a lot of people actually connect vinyl with mainly older music :P
Unknown said…
Thank you veeery much in the name of Music Industry :)
Unknown said…
Oh yes! There is a lot of quality vinyl from new artists! :)
Unknown said…
Thanks for ya thoughts!
Unknown said…
There is a lot of good price simple minimalistic turntables! So it is not THAT expensive - a good player with USB interface costs about $250-350. Well the expensive game starts actually when you start buying a lot of music! :)
Unknown said…
Haha one can say it is too fair and the other might say it is ridiculous! :)
Unknown said…
Haha yeah if you got all ypu need that is perfect! :) I dream myself that one day i will hear a record worth $1000 because if it would have a value like this to me then i can't imagine how good that muisc would be!
Moode said…
Thanks for the nice article, vinyl record are going through their revival.
In my house I have a very large music collections stored on these large plates, there are definitely more than 100 pieces. I also have a functional turntable, which from time to time with my family we listen to music. Definitely I would buy another vinyl plate because now the prices of vinyls are very similar to the prices of CDs.
Unknown said…
I got a record player as a birthday gift once, I still have it but sadly something broke in it and I probably should get it fixed. I have a couple of vinyls but I always wanted to have a bigger collection. Listening to vinyl records was a really positive experience, I even liked getting up to turn the record. I really dont like Cds. Maybe this will sound weird but with age I dont listen to as much different and music is not as important to me as it used to. I pay for spotify for my day to day music needs but if I were to collect music it definitely would be vinyl records. Im not surprised that vinyls are popular again, I absolutely understand the need of having something physical, not just a file.

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