I remember when LPs hit £3.99 in 1976. Indexed for inflation, that’s about £25 today. Buying an LP as a schoolboy in 1976 was a big decision. The challenge today is that so many people expect things to be dirt cheap or free - how often to we hear ‘I can access a gazillion albums for £10 a month. That’s fine for the consumer but less fine for the artists who are doing teaching or decorating to make ends meet.
I, like @JonathanG have been really enjoying Daisy Jones, but the only really good song is Patti Smith’s wonderful Dancing Barefoot. Maybe everyone should buy a copy of Wave and support a real artist, rather than a generic fabricated band.
Back around 1970-ish, when a standard price for LPs in my local record store was 37/5 (37s5d), equivalent to £1.87, i was led to believe that in the USA records were a lot cheaper, more like £1. (Pre-internet of course, so not the sort of detail readily checked). The reason for the difference was said to be different duty/tax. The difference between the USA and UK price today seems better than it had been 50 years ago.
As for absolute price, based on consumer price index inflation that 37/5 in about 1970 is equivalent to maybe around £32 or so today. The then mail order only Virgin Records was cheaper. So prices today do seem rather more expensive - but then I guess sales were a lot greater in 1970, so it is unsurprising that cost per unit is more today. It is CDs that are cheap today - they started at about £10 when they came out, abpnd haven’t gone up anywhere near to inflation.
How can vinyl or cd’s compete with streaming?
Especially now streaming sounds so good.
That said my daughter who is 16 asked for a record player for Xmas and buys records when she can afford them - she says the attraction is they are more ‘special’ and well worth the money!!!
I presume you mean online streaming?
For someone starting now with zero or only a small music collection it makes every sense (assuming they have a decent internet connection). It does not make so much sense for people with a decent music collection and who only infrequently finds new music to their taste. And one thing to be aware of is that streaming services have been known to change their stock list, such that some things that may be available today might not necessarily be available tomorrow, next month, next year, or in 10 years time (let alone 50!), so for any music that you want always to be available, in perpetuity, it makes every sense to buy it and not rely solely on streaming online.
My Dad was at medical school in the early 70s and said that the purchase of a DG vinyl represented a whole month’s-worth of disposable income for him. I therefore treat the two I’ve inherited from him with particular care:
Some of the shops I worked in had a cassette player for the store which you could load up. The mechanism would install/eject the cassette and push it around a plastic housing, turning it over in the process. C90s preferred – the 120s often jammed
Ah yes - I stream from a NAS but generally speaking to me streaming is using something like Spotify or Tidal. Personally I use Tidal via Roon and it sounds marvellous. If I didn’t have so many records and cd’s collected over several decades I would be happy streaming.
I only stream online to sample music new to me, using free services - I have a rooted dislike of subscription services, not wishing to be only able to play music if I keep paying (and if the supplier keeps my favourite music available). But then I have a decent collection and don’t have a strong desire for new, and don’t frequently find new music to my taste.
I think new album prices are over inflated but presumably they are selling?
HMV can be ridiculous in their pricing. Rough Trade also.
My local shop who is predominantly a second hand shop has a small range of new vinyl at excellent prices.
A couple of examples Neil Young - Barn £15. Pink Floyd - Animals remix £20.
He is still making money at those prices but it’s not his main income stream.
Last time I was there I got the feeling that they are targeting the student population, they seem to have a lot more money than I did. Then, given the size of the student population, they are probably what keeps the shops and cafes in central Bristol going.
I agree on decent second hand records being the sweet spot at around the £10 mark. I’m quite well off with disposable income but £35 for a record is just ridiculous and terrible vfm
This is true HH. I have plenty of Vinyl that I bought in the late 80’s that still have price stickers on and many are £8-9. As you say, that’s at least commensurate with current price. For me, the difference is that today I’ll pay £30-40 and get a record that sounds cr@p and has somehow been sabotaged and despoiled somewhere between pressing and packing. With so much high quality streaming available so cheaply it would be a stretch to justify £30-40 a disc even with perfect quality, but I prefer Discogs or Charity Shop sourcing of originals, scratches and all.
HH not actually true although I do get your sentiment. There’s lots session muso’s that are scratching around trying earn a buck. I’m sure the session band that worked on the show would appreciate a bit on recognition not to mention the cash.
Here in New Zealand, Aurora is NZ$75.00 from my favourite store, which is about £38 at the moment. And the recent 2018 Remix release of Animals is $88.00 (about £44.60). The Veils new double album is $68.
Last year we were paying $55-60 for a single disk release. A big increase post-Xmas, and there almost seems to be a dynamic pricing model like airline tickets - Animals must have recovered its costs many times over since its release yet it’s the most expensive of the three I mentioned.
