There is an ongoing, unresolved argument as to whether vinyl really does sound warmer than digital music files, as analogue-lovers would have it. The truth is that few of us could tell the difference, on a high end sound system, between a 320k MP3 and vinyl, if both were taken from a properly mastered source. The appeal and revival of vinyl, then, does not rely on this audiophile myth, especially since players such as the cheerfully tinny, self-consciously cute Crosley Cruiser portable turntable (see picture above) become increasingly popular with young vinyl-buyers. In short, vinyl is simply Read more ...

Welcome to the first theartsdesk on Vinyl of 2016. Last year saw vinyl go from a surprisingly successful retro underdog format to a profitable investment for major labels, notably Universal. This resulted in much grouching about bottlenecks of new indie material that couldn’t get onto vinyl because of pressing plants being hogged by endless cheapo repackages of old Queen albums and the like. 2016, however, should see the manufacturing end leap forward to meet the demand. Newbilt Machinery in Germany have copied the design of existing machines in old record plants, updating them with Read more ...

As theartsdesk on Vinyl concludes its first year of existence, vinyl is on the rise. There are justified moans that the boom is being taken over by predictably-curated, low quality, major label reissues aimed at 50-something men, causing the likes of Tesco to announce they’re entering the vinyl market. There’s truth in these claims, but “taken over” is too strong. These re-releases are a presence that sometimes hinders the swift appearance of more intriguing music and it can affect pricing, but there’s also an all-round blossoming of interest in vinyl which has a wider ripple effect. Vinyl is Read more ...

Heading into the final straits of 2015, it’s pleasing to read announcements by the BPI (British Phonographic Industry), the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and Nielsen Soundscan that the year has been the biggest for vinyl sales this century. The sales figures are, respectively, a year-on-year rise of 35% and 56% in the US and the UK, with Europe following the pattern. We might expect the market to mainly consist of middle-aged men but, again, research by respected music business analysts MusicWatch runs counter to that, with nearly half of all sales to under-25s and 44% to Read more ...

Let’s not get carried away. The news, announced at the end of September, that vinyl sales generated more money than the combined income of Spotify, Vevo and YouTube’s free services sent waves of celebration through the record-loving community. $166 million vs. $222 million – yaaaaaay! Vinyl sales up 52% on last year and now accounting for a third of all physical sales – yaaaaaay again! But the truth is that paid subscribers to streaming services – as opposed to the “free” advert-funded model - raised over a billion dollars in income. Google “Vinyl sales now 1970s” and there are plenty of Read more ...

The New York Times recently wrote that, “For the music business over all, vinyl is still a niche product, if an increasingly substantial one.” How substantial is slowly becoming clear with dramatic rises in vinyl consumption over the last year. The biggest pressing plant in Europe, in the Czech village of Lodenice, last year produced 14.5 million records, while across the US during the same period 13 million were sold, with around 50% of the buyers under 35. It is, of course, a drop in the ocean compared to vinyl’s glory days but, with predictions of a rise in consumption of up to 50% over Read more ...

In October a special tribute will be paid to the late great DJ Frankie Knuckles, the man who defined house music in the 1980s. A former bank In Chicago, now known as the Stony Island Arts Bank, which houses an archive relating to black culture, will be showcasing his gigantic record collection. It's unclear how it will be accessed - or even if it will be made generally available to the public, like a record library - but it's pleasing that the story of underground New York disco turning into Chicago house (and then heading out and taking over the world) is being physically documented in such Read more ...

One of vinyl’s more controversial corners is the postal subscription club. Sign up to one of these and, for a fee, a number of records are sent to your home. The draw is supposed to be exclusivity of content or simply trusting the taste of a faultless musical guru. Subscription is thus, to put it mildly, a mixed bag. Sites such as Wax&Stamp are typical. Their policy is to send two-per-month, one chosen by them and one by a guest selector. Most of the real success stories, though, are labels with solid reputations, such as the longstanding Fortuna Pop and Too Pure singles clubs. Flying Read more ...

It's becoming clear that the appeal of vinyl is two-fold. On the one hand there are older buyers who are returning to it as a validation of their own life journey though music and, on the other, there are young enthusiasts whose honeymoon with virtual music has tailed off and who enjoy vinyl's physicality. And then there's the whole dance music DJ subculture too. All three groups are small fry – boutique collectors' markets – compared to the world of streaming and downloads, but they are growing again. If it is a bubble, it's a long way from bursting. Our monthly theartsdesk on Vinyl assesses Read more ...

The big vinyl storm in the US media over the last month has been a kerfuffle about VNYL, the service that hoped to do for vinyl what Lovefilm used to do for DVDs. The idea, backed by a hefty and successful Kickstarter campaign, was VNYL would send members three records, based on their stated tastes and chosen by connoisseurs. These could be listened to and returned, to be replaced with others. Sounds like a dreadful idea. Vinyl is delicate and surely one of its pleasures is ownership? If there are scratches, they've been earned at your own parties and late nights. Unlike MP3s and CDs, vinyl Read more ...

Record Store Day – 18 April – has been whipping up discord among independent labels. Notably, Sonic Cathedral are boycotting it, instead releasing 365 copies of an EP by Spectres and Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, one a day, over the next year. The problem, these voices of protest say, is that that while Record Store Day used to be a fun-fuelled opportunity to focus on especially curated releases by smaller operations, ones who cared about music, now it’s simply a chance for the majors to rake in bucks off the back of “a Mumford & Sons 7” or an overpriced Noel Gallagher 12”. Worse, the Read more ...

Did you know there's a heated debate going on about “hot stampers”? As the resurgence in vinyl continues, there are those who wish to attribute value to their own knowledge and to their vinyl collections. In the e-consumer trenches, where audiophiles heatedly discuss purchasing and repurchasing classic albums, there’s been much debate about major label reproductions from digital masters, about how they lose the richness of the originals. On the other hand, finding a “hot stamper”, a version cut early in the album’s pressing run, when the metal stamp from which it was imprinted was fresh, is Read more ...