While far from its heyday in the seventies, vinyl is enjoying somewhat of a second wind. If the turn of the millennium signified a shift towards digital and convergence, an audience has appeared recently that craves something tangible and more bespoke. Vinyl has managed to hang on in there - with a large debt to DJ culture, despite digital advances in that field - and has not only survived, but managed to grow of recent. The touchpaper in the form of the phenomenon that is Record Store Day has now become a yearly cultural symbol for the format, that has, for better or worse, transcended back into public consciousness.
A brief illustration of vinyl then and vinyl now. Sales are still tiny in comparison, but 2017 just saw a 25 year high hit. Right now, it is on the up.
Indeed, Record Store Day is by far the dominating headline and one which has been started to attract a negative taint in recent years. Its early days saw the faithful of vinyl, the indies, making bespoke releases or considered limited editions for sale in local record shops. It embodied the wonder of crate digging for gems, knowing full well that you were crafting a collection completely distinct from the rest of the general public, and a far cry from the algorithm served all you can eat buffet of Spotify. A fresh audience who grew up on CD, educated by digital, were suddenly waking up to a new way to consume. Costly, awkward to store, but so very personal. In tandem with this growing public consciousness, the “novel” concept of vinyl only DJ sets became a selling point on a flier, second hand prices of the then retired Technics SL1200/10 shot up, and vinyl only imprints began to thrive.
My "local" PIccadilly Records in Manchester on Record Store Day. Imagine if it was like this every day and not just once a year.
Then came the shift. Never shy to miss out on marketing a seasonal event, the majors appeared once again. Just about every major release from the past has now resurfaced again on vinyl, as picture disc, as coloured vinyl. The once individual lists that each shop issued now feature a usual suspects parade and are derided as the likes of Ed Sheeran decide to get in on the scene with a blue and black mixed colour pressing. The quality is still there, but it’s getting harder to shine through, with records needing to peacock their colours to attract attention.
And what of these colourful limited editions? Coloured vinyl was the exception back in the day but is now prevalent, often commanding a higher price and in much more limited supply. Derided for sound quality issues in the past, they have somehow managed to sidestep audiophile concerns as they become unplayed collectors items in cellophane wrapping.
In terms of colour, vinyl is best in its natural clear form. Although, for ease of use when spotting grooves, black became the iconic standard. It actually turns out that your choice of colour ends up impacting your listening experience, with white and grey pigments suffering particularly poorly in terms of surface noise. There are other factors too. Cooling down the presses to do smaller runs of colour before switching back to the larger volume of mainstream black makes for less than optimal manufacturing conditions, with those tiny runs suffering the most.
Lay's Portrait 01 is a bit of an under the radar hit for me, but have I sacrificed audio quality by opting for a white pressing?
Would the general public notice such degradation? For those who choose not to enshrine their purchases away as investments, no. With the increasingly popular all in one briefcase style players, you’re not going to notice anything through their tiny speakers. You also won’t notice a cheap and cheerful needle cutting a permanent whine tone through your audio as the combination of functional balance and vibrations, from said inbuilt speakers, remorselessly gouge the grooves.
While they were retired briefly, the industry standard for DJs, the Technics SL1200 and SL1210, were re-issued recently. This came with a caveat - the asking price was three times what they were originally.
There are wider implications of the resurgence of. As vinyl dipped, the call for pressing plants decreased. Over time they closed, leaving only a few key players in the industry servicing the indie faithful. As the demands of production has ramped up, the indie lifeblood has found themselves out in the cold in favour of the huge sway of the majors. When looking at putting out a new release, a label can be looking at a delay of near to 100 days before their pressing can be fulfilled. While there are newer plants coming into play, it makes you wonder what sort of hole would appear if the majors once again whip the rug from under vinyl's feet. It is not too much of a stretch of the imagination if enough mainstream dirge remains unsold in hastily erected pop-up stalls in supermarkets.
Showing Bitcoin how it is done, Prince Of Denmark's eight disc extravaganza quadrupled in price on the second hand market in a matter of a fortnight.
While this sounds like a lot of doom and gloom, the resurfacing of our beloved shiny black discs is heartening. From a DJ's perspective, nothing quite comes close to the tangible hands on experience of working two records together on decks. Christ, it is harder, but it is so much more exhilarating. From a record collectors perspective, with some labels strictly sticking to a vinyl only manifesto and limited edition runs numbering in the hundreds, it is creating idiosyncratic collections around the world. It is also creating desire, as the second hand market explodes around the desirability of hard to find releases. The original HODL. Long live vinyl and may it continue to ride the crests and dips of popularity.
