From Forbes Magazine: [www.forbes.com]


The Record Album Re-Turns
Zack O'Malley Greenburg
Forbes Magazine dated July 18, 2011
Why some insiders believe LPs will outlast CDs.

Put a psychedelic pop band and a bird-obsessed electronic duo together, and you get sensory overload. That's what happened when the groups Dom and Ratatat played Manhattan's Terminal 5 last fall: Throngs of teenagers in fluorescent sunglasses bobbed to seizure-inducing videos of gyrating white budgies. Though calmer, the scene at the merch table came with its own surprise--Dom wasn't selling CDs. The band's only sonic offering was an LP with a download code.

So why would Dom--a band made up of twentysomethings, all raised in the compact disc era--decide to hawk vinyl to a crowd young enough to be guests at Justin Bieber's birthday party? As it turns out, the group launched its debut album last April on vinyl only; it wasn't until February that Dom officially released its music on compact disc, after landing a deal with EMI.


"The reason we sell vinyl is that there will always be a market for it," the band's lead singer later explained via telephone - he identifies himself as Dom but won't reveal his full name "until I pay all my bills". "The people in the crowd probably already downloaded the music anyway, and they'll buy the record because of the big artwork and because it's something you can hold on to."

The evidence of vinyl's comeback is much more than anecdotal. The last three years have each set successive records for vinyl sales in the CD era. In 2010, 2.8 million LPs were sold, up 14% from 2009--and more than any other year since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. Vinyl sales now account for 1% of all album sales in the U.S., compared to 26% for legal digital downloads; CDs make up the rest.

Vinyl's lasting appeal stems from a heady stew of nostalgia, tangibility and, perhaps most important of all, sound quality that musicians and fans often prefer to any other medium.

"Digital is zeroes and ones, man, anyway you look at it," says Chuck Leavell, keyboardist for the Rolling Stones. "Whether it's a CD or a download, there's a certain jaggedness to it. Vinyl wins every time. It's warmer, more soothing, easier on the ears."


As more and more music moves to iPods, hard drives and the much-ballyhooed cloud, a counterintuitive question is beginning to emerge: Could vinyl outlast the compact disc in the long run? Five years ago that notion would have seemed laughable. Now industry insiders are taking the possibility seriously.

"Vinyl will definitely outlast CDs because of the resonance, the sound," predicts Lyor Cohen, chief of recorded music at Warner Music Group. "The quality is closest to the way the artist wants you to hear it. Neil Young is working on analog digital sound-- sound that was intended to be heard as he made it."

As Dom shows, the appeal of vinyl isn't limited to legacy acts like Young. Though the Beatles' Abbey Road was the top-selling LP of 2010, offerings from Arcade Fire, the Black Keys and Vampire Weekend claimed the next three slots. When the Fleet Foxes' Helplessness Blues debuted at No. 4 on Billboard's charts in May, over 20% of the 44,000 physical copies sold were vinyl. In April Panda Bear's Tomboy sold 14,000 copies in its first week, with vinyl responsible for 37% of all sales--more than CD or digital.

The latter album benefited from the fact that it was released the week of Record Store Day, an annual worldwide celebration of independently owned music stores marked by concerts, cookouts, parades and special releases like the Foo Fighters' vinyl-only covers album, Medium Rare. This year Record Store Day led to a 220% week-over-week increase in LP sales; 14 new vinyl album releases sold more than 1,000 copies in the week. Those sales weren't limited to aging hippies who've never powered up a computer: Roughly nine of every ten LPs sold included a digital download code for the same album.

"It's easy to assume that people who do vinyl only do vinyl," says Mike Jbara, chief of WEA, Warner's U.S. retail sales and marketing company. "But the most successful formats in physical retail are the ones that come with a digital download."


For independent record stores, which sell 71% of all LPs, vinyl is becoming a lifeline even as megastores like Tower Records and HMV have gone the way of the 8-track. David Shebiro, owner of Rebel Rebel Records in Manhattan's West Village, reckons 60% of his sales are of the vinyl variety, up from about 10% in the late 1990s. He believes the main reason behind vinyl's comeback is a desire to conjure up the magic of buying music--a feeling that's been lost in the era of immediate gratification offered by Apple and Amazon.

"There used to be this anticipation when you bought a record," he says. "You'd take it back with you on the subway and rip open the packaging, and you couldn't wait to get home and play it. That magic of anticipation has gone with downloading."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the market for special edition vinyl releases remains strong--and the recordings run the gamut. There are boxed sets like Slayer's 11-record collection ($140) and the Rolling Stones' 13-record compilation ($310), both released last year. Others are narrower in scope but similar in price, like the White Stripes' Under Great White Northern Lights, a boxed set that includes two LPs, two DVDs and a 208-page coffee table book with photos of the band's Canadian tour ($255).

Shebiro worries that a frothy market for vinyl may have record companies a little too excited. While the bulk of LPs now come with download codes, he says, labels sometimes omit digital access for superstar releases because they think consumers will still pony up for MP3 separately. He also worries that the labels will raise wholesale prices on vinyl, which will either squeeze his margins or drive the retail price beyond its current average of $18, thereby alienating potential buyers.


According to Jbara, though, there are no changes in the works. "I'm not aware of any event that has us fundamentally rethinking the pricing around vinyl," he says.

One reason LPs may have trouble overtaking CDs in the near term: Vinyl is notoriously hard to care for. "There are technical aspects you have to be aware of if you want to preserve a record," says Leavell. "If you're going to have that big collection, you better make sure it's temperature controlled and always played with a stylus that isn't worn out." Another: CD players continue to be a staple in cars and computers.

But those hardware bases are on the decline: Witness the MacBook Air, which contains no CD drive, and the increasing availability of Bluetooth MP3 players and satellite radio in cars. Cassettes and their random manglings at the hands of devious tape players seemed to be facts of life a generation ago. Perhaps a generation from now the world will be largely devoid of skipping CDs and cracked jewel cases.

Decades, centuries, millennia from now, when only cockroaches are left, which format will remain? "The cockroaches, I think they'll prefer listening to vinyl," says Cohen. "They'll probably use the CDs as mirrors to doll themselves up."

:-)


Great!!!!

The fact that Chuck Leavell endorses vinyl proves that CDs are superior.

Vinyl will always have a following and it will, IMO, outlast the compact disc. However, digital music is the present and will be so in the future.

One final point: although many prefer vinyl for the sound, many collect out of nostalgia. I can't envisage too many purchasing CD's down the line for the same reasons. Collecting vinyl can be fun.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-07-05 01:41 by Big Al.

It's pointless to buy a vinyl album of a digitally recorded album for the sound experience: it's zeros and ones with pops in it being the only difference.

""Digital is zeroes and ones, man, anyway you look at it," says Chuck Leavell, keyboardist for the Rolling Stones. "Whether it's a CD or a download, there's a certain jaggedness to it"

Yep but it could hav been so much better if, like Neil Young, you had said it in the 80's Chuck. Now that CD is semi-dead that's not really brave...

I still buy CDs. Still the number one selling medium for music last I read. And I hope to be able to for a long time as long as there are albums being made. I love vinyl but I live in a small house so CDs make a lot more sense. I like the hard copy, even if it is smaller than a vinyl album. Still better than a download as far as I'm concerned.

Great article.
The problem I've found is quality turntable and speaker systems....
I try to explain to my neice that with a download and cd, you hear, with vinyl, you feel it, literally, the hum just before the needle hits the groove and the vibration of a sonic blast. CDs just don't have that and never will.

I was really attached to my vinyl collection until they just became too cumbersome and dusty. I held on to the "greats", the classics, but threw the rest away. I conceded to the digital age late, but when I did, i did and now I'm realizing how utterly disposable cds are. At first and for a long time, I just liked the convenience of cds. With a good sound system, great speakers, any cd will sound great, so I didn't miss vinyl - it was a new age and I was through with nostalgia.. etc...
But what a crock. CDS scratch if you breathe in the wrong direction and unlike a record, that scratch is permanent. If you listen to a cd alot, it just eventually becomes unsable. SOmetimes, they mysteriously scratch. I bought a two-disc Aretha Franklin compilation last year, listened to disc 1 for months non-stop. Its worn, but still ok. I finally discovered disc 2, which I had never removed from the package, and after one week of listening to it, it just skipped all over the place.....and that's that for disc 2.
I could be more careful, i could use an iPod blah, blah but a download just isn't there....,, feels weightless...
Vinyl just lasted and there was something durable, permanent about it. They would only warp under extrememe conditions, and scratches could be manipulated, smoothed out. My 19-year neice is fascinated by vinyl and has never heard what a real good album sounds like. I used to have giant Kenwood speakers that would just blast a record, but no one makes that stuff anymore.
If I could find a good old-school turntable, I'd love to go back to vinyl just to show her what she's been missin, but those old records have a feel to them you just don't get from cd. Its not just nostalgia.....



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011-07-05 02:25 by stupidguy2.

At the end NOTHING will last, including those 'insiders'

I've been following for quite some time here,
I'd like to start discussing, and not just reading..
Hope to have some fun with you guys and excuse my English as I'm French..

Just couldn't believe Chuck Leawell would say something about digital sounds.
I just can hardly stand his digital keyboards, that he keeps playing live with the boys...
But anyway, some cd's I've had for a long time now, and they're still allright.

Quote
DragonSky
I still buy CDs. Still the number one selling medium for music last I read. And I hope to be able to for a long time as long as there are albums being made. I love vinyl but I live in a small house so CDs make a lot more sense. I like the hard copy, even if it is smaller than a vinyl album. Still better than a download as far as I'm concerned.

I totally agree with you.

I LOVE VINYL and I love the concept of the modern LP being sld with a certificate allowing you to download a digital version of the album for use in your iPod, car or whatever. It's the best of all worlds and I support it emphatically.

My favorite line from the article:

"Digital is zeroes and ones, man, anyway you look at it," says Chuck Leavell, keyboardist for the Rolling Stones. "Whether it's a CD or a download, there's a certain JAGGEDNESS to it...."

Well, it's 1%. If you read the headline, one could assume it's already 30, 40 or more % again ...

For me, vinyl was always love and hate. Love - not exactly for the sound, but more for the piece of art. Nothing can beat the looks of vinyl albums, or even that of a vinyl singles! Hate - I had more than enough bad pressings, crackling and surface noises that used to drive me mad.

However, more than a decade agao a studio experience with a friend's band opened my eyes. They recorded their album on analog 24multitrack. When they mixed it, they produced analog and digital stereo masters at the same time. Played back to back, it became obvious that the analog master sounded better - warmer, punchier, more like real music, more "rock'n'roll" if you get what I mean. Whereas the digital master sounded cleaner, but a bit lifeless in comparison.


That was on expensive studio speakers, though. The difference became much lesser evident the cheaper the equipment got. And of course, that was more than a decade ago. Todays CDs can sound much better if remasters are not extensively brickwalled (but that's another story).

For "normal ears" with "normal equipment", a well-done CD remaster nowadys can be more than enough. Plus, you have no scratches and surface noise. And all this needle and finetuning fetishism.

For me, going back to vinyl is not the right answer. The question is how to manage to bring analog warmth and punch to the digital medium. SACDs like ABKCO's Stones remasters were more than just one step into the right direction. And probably more than my increasingly older ears required.