I was browsing the TNT Audio site, when I came across an article announcing a new set of recordings on vinyl, released by Warner Bros, on the “Because Sound Matters” imprint.
After the blurb about the quality of the base material and the quality of the pressings, due to new technologies, the sting in the tail arrives. The first releases by Linkin Park cost $100 each. Hmmmm.
I read in the Guardian, that a lot of young people, who previously were buying vinyl are turning to CD, as they have discovered they can buy more music on the cheaper CD format. I hope this is not setting us up for the $100 CD album.
Right now we are more like in the age of the $15 for 5 albums era. I buy a lot of CDs. Nearly all new. And I see a couple trends:
About 80% of the CDs I have bought in the past 5 years have come in carboard sleaves, not jewel cases.
Nearly all have been in the $10-$15 bracket
Many old great bands have box sets where 5 albums (in cardboard sleeves) are bundled together for $20.
My last batch of CDs was clearly intended for ripping. 3 albums split over 2 discs with half of one album on one disc and the other half on the other. You have to rip it if you want to group it properly by album.
While I love vinyl too, I’m not too keen to be held hostage for $100 pressings. Half the fun is finding an affordable album from the 70s or 80s that somehow was never played in a bargain bin. I’ve a couple albums that just sound stunning. The sleeve in terrible condition from time gone by, but the vinyl itself was clearly rarely played. [edit] The point being those vinyl finds were also $10-$15. Even if some aren’t always great even after cleaning, $100 buys a lot of trial and error that is more hit than miss.
I think there is a resurgence of CD in some genres of music such as Black Metal which I buy a lot of. Most bands now release CD’s along with vinyl and whilst they are smaller print runs you often see multiple pressings now as they sell out. Most CD’s cost me £10-15 outside of shipping & import.
The BIG benefit to me of CD over vinyl for genres such as Black Metal is the fact they will play through. Black Metal is an immersive experience and getting up to change the record multiple times would break this. The sound quality can often purposefully be less than perfect as well so buying a format based on what sounds best is not as important. The cover art is often incredible though and vinyl can really show this off! Ultimately I can acquire more music via the CD route than vinyl and I think younger people getting into music who want something physical have realised the same. Buy one record of a popular 80’s/90’s band for £25-£40 or get on Music Magpie and get 4 CDs for £5…
People are not daft, CD’s have now hit that critical age I think where people see them as ‘old’ the prices have been rising for a few years now. The glory days are certainly over and CD’s are back to the prices (second hand) they were before the collapse of the format. Certainly in the Metal genres of Black, Doom, Death, Post, Djent, Extreme, Gothic etc
$100 for a record is greed in my opinion, sure people will buy them, they will focus on popular and collectible bands but I hope sales are poor and quality releases become normal and not prices massively above the norm.