It is – although I’d like vinyl prices to be kept ‘affordable’, as some of the stuff is plain silly now, albeit one doesn’t know the background costs, which have escalated due to raw material and energy costs, plus limits on capacity. It would be interesting to see a market split of what you might call ‘expensive re-issues’ against new stuff.
I think I’m right though that HMV have closed some stores, so demand may be localised/focused on the bigger cities? Be careful not to confuse the health of HMV with the Oxford Street store, as this is a very chunky bit of real estate which, in times now, would likely not be easy to re-let – cynical old me thinks HMV may have been given some ‘help’ from the landlord to re-establish the store.
You asked for evidence Dan and I have already responded. This thread is about the inclusion of vinyl in the ONS basket and not about approval or otherwise of vinyl. Unfortunately your responses are about an entirely different thing, which is whether there has been a “resurgence” of vinyl. That’s not an issue I have addressed. Let’s briefly address that then.
FWIW it’s very clear at this point that whilst vinyl sales have increased year on year a detailed analysis of the BPI figures shows that the increase is reducing every year and that sales are overwhelmingly either of huge or heritage artists. The market for new music on vinyl, which would be a key indicator for the real health of the market, is negligible in comparison. Sales of audiophile turntables do not reflect the increase in vinyl sales as they are largely people replacing old stuff or upgrading. The largest number of turntables sold remain for USB conversion to digital although there’s some evidence that people under 40 are simply purchasing those cheaper machines to play vinyl or have one near vinyl they wish to look at. As regards floor space then in Manchester, for example, Piccadilly Records floor space is overwhelmingly vinyl nowadays. Interestingly their largest sales remain online purchase of CDs. It’s not the narrative they sell but there you go. We all say what we need to say to get by. This of course is before one gets into the environmental costs of vinyl which will ultimately provide an upper limit on what can be achieved. I’m not sure why it matters that vinyl might have note financial value in any element of this discussion so I won’t address that.
To link this back to the topic then, it’s fair to say that whilst vinyl sales have increased there is zero case for them being in the ONS basket.
Clearly it’s ludicrous to ask for “evidence” of what my friend’s son asserts but then it’s also not exactly difficult to see that it’s fairly obviously true. The relevant purchase for the ONS basket would be streaming or CD.
Back in 1990, newly released CDs were around £11-13. Say the average was £11.99, which equates to £38.97 in today’s money.
In context, today’s value for vinyl’s £30-£40 doesn’t seem that high. However, I used to moan about the prices back then. Obviously, in today’s market, the cost of CDs, for me, is a bargain.
I regularly purchase CDs but have, on odd occasions, been unable to purchase specific albums in the format, which in turn have been released on vinyl; L’Rain’s highly regarded albums are an example of this. These examples tend to be American rather than British artists. I imagine this will become a regular occurrence over the coming years.
CD and vinyl bring food on the table even if your name is not Taylor Swift.
It’s nice nice artists can make some money so I’m sure CD/vinyl sales are welcome. I’d guess vinyls and CD give about the same and I know people in my age (i.e. really ancient) listening on Spotify but buying the vinyl just to have the cover - some kind of proof they actually like Lloyd Cole!
Maybe one could save some CO2 or whatever by just selling the covers. But it would probably not feel the same would it.
Lorde used a disc-less format on her Solar Power album (2021), where you got a CD cover and access to download the album to save on the CO2 emissions of a shiny disc. To my knowledge, no one has repeated this format since.
I was delighted to see our local HMV survived a few years ago and maybe 30% or more of the ground floor was dedicated to vinyl.
I don’t go into town that often these days so rarely go there but last time I did vinyl had been relegated to the 1st floor with less space overall which seemed a negative to me.
Vinyl prices are generally too high for me these days whereas I’d have purchased readily a few years ago.
What is interesting though is that so many smaller labels/artists have vinyl for sale directly from their websites so maybe the big retail stores are not as essential.
The one thing thst did annoy me with HMV was that they had so many records stuffed onto the shelves it made browsing (which used to be fun) incredibly difficult as things were so tightly packed - fine if you knew what you wanted and could grab it if it was there but not conducive to flicking through albums across several shelves.
What I do love about this thread is happily proclaiming the value of vinyl because it costs more than CD. No one pausing and asking “Maybe I’m being ripped off here?” Busy replacing that £3 DSOTM with the £40 version, which is louder, cleaner but worse.
In my experience older vinyl sounds better than newer vinyl. I try to buy used. I have 2 CD copies of DSOTM one is SACD and 2 vinyl copies. With vinyl again the earlier one is better. The more modern 180g vinyl in general doesn’t sound as good.
It all depends on how the vinyl record is recorded. If it is mastered from a CD it won’t sound better.
It’s not simple at all unfortunately. Remastered vinyl records may sound the same or worse than CDs.
