Can anyone explain the vinyl renaissance?

[Newman]

Hooray for Taylor Swift!
We're being overtaken by a fashion industry...

 

[Axo1989]

Hooray for Taylor Swift!
We're being overtaken by a fashion industry...

Ok.

So far, Lana Del Rey’s ‘Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd’ remains the biggest vinyl release of the year – with 33,568 copies sold on the format since its release in March. This is followed by Taylor Swift’s ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’, which was the biggest-selling vinyl release of Q3, with 29,649 sales.

Start at the top. Tell me about LDR and fashion. Then work your way down the list. I'll assume its doesn't mean "women" or "artists @Newman doesn't like". But I've been wrong before.

 

[Newman]

You want to make this about my attitude to women? That's such a disgusting insinuation that I'll let it sit there for everyone to see.

Or perhaps you think that 'fashion' means clothing and makeup and specifically for women??????????? Talk about naive...

 

[IAtaman]

Upwards and Onwards...still renaissancing...

Vinyl sales up nearly 15 per cent in 2023​

Vinyl sales up nearly 15 per cent in 2023

Artists including Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey and Blur have aided the sales

www.nme.com

Right, so basically the "explanation" of Vinyl renaissance is that Taylor Swift started selling vinyl successfully, seeing the profits, other artists followed?

 

[Newman]

Yes, at least according to the article that Matt wants to draw attention to.

 

[Audiofire]

Right, so basically the "explanation" of Vinyl renaissance is that Taylor Swift started selling vinyl successfully, seeing the profits, other artists followed?

The vinyl renaissance is explained by the loudness war that was supposedly about profits, so vinyl and its dynamic waveform ends up sounding better, thread solved or it is just marketing propaganda that causes the dynamic boost in profits (which has no meaning and truly caused irrational behavior).

 

[Galliardist]

Ok.



Start at the top. Tell me about LDR and fashion. Then work your way down the list. I'll assume its doesn't mean "women" or "artists @Newman doesn't like". But I've been wrong before.

I'm pretty sure the highest selling albums represent a "fashion" whether it's Taylor Swift or the Beatles, who it's likely to be in digital this week. Newman is only stating the obvious, but it's always been a fashion industry. 50 years ago Pink Floyd were in fashion....

Anyway, let's talk numbers for Swift. Her most popular album sold a massive 29,649 vinyl copies in the US in the period concerned, as noted (though the new release will do more, I guess). She probably has that many tracks (note the difference of course) streamed every few minutes. If she announces a concert, that number of tickets sells out in seconds.

Perspective. Vinyl sales are irrelevant, except to some independent artists who finally see some money from selling small numbers of LPs at a decent profit, and to a few audiophiles. CD sales are supposedly a little higher this year. Probably much the same, and probably each format is suppressing the other.

So here's my explanation - there is no vinyl renaissance, just a couple of small hobbyist groups with money who converge on buying a few LPs. When a 21st century LP sells five million copies, let me know and I'll revise my opinion.

 

[drewdawg999]

It's Tay Tay's world, we're just living in it:

Taylor Swift’s ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 With Biggest Week in Nearly a Decade

Taylor Swift’s "1989 (Taylor’s Version)" debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, scoring the superstar her 13th No. 1 on the chart.

www.billboard.com

The article states that 1989 (Taylor's Version) has sold 693,000 copies on vinyl in its first week, a modern-era sales record. That's a lot of vinyl! Previous record was held by Midnights at 575,000 units in its first week.

 

[Galliardist]

It's Tay Tay's world, we're just living in it:

Taylor Swift’s ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 With Biggest Week in Nearly a Decade

Taylor Swift’s "1989 (Taylor’s Version)" debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, scoring the superstar her 13th No. 1 on the chart.

www.billboard.com

The article states that 1989 (Taylor's Version) has sold 693,000 copies on vinyl in its first week, a modern-era sales record. That's a lot of vinyl! Previous record was held by Midnights at 575,000 units in its first week.

That's a fair amount and shifts the bar somewhat.

(chunk deleted - I misread the article).

For comparison, With the Beatles sold that many LPs in the first two weeks of release, in 1963.... in the UK.

 

[Galliardist]

Infographic: Despite Comeback, Vinyl Is Still Far From Its Glory Days

This chart shows the rise in LP sales in the United States.

www.statista.com

This looks like a fair assessment. Probably a slight underestimate given that not all direct sales by bands will be found. It would be interesting to see more numbers from other countries.

I reckon CD sales may be underestimated more. I looked at the part of my collection purchased since 2010 today - out of around 400 CDs and a few SACDs in that time, about 100 are private label releases bought at concerts and such, and not available on streaming services for the most part (some only available on Apple Music and two only on Tidal).

Still, vinyl is somewhere between the drop in the ocean I implied above, and a "renaissance" of the size often implied.

 

[Galliardist]

Ah, here's Australia.

Australia: unit sales of vinyl albums 2022 | Statista

In 2022, more than approximately one million vinyl records were sold in Australia, a slight increase from the previous year.

www.statista.com

Much lower per capita than the US, it seems. Maybe that explains a bit about who argues what here?

 

[Galliardist]

UK Vinyl Sales During 2022 At Highest Since 1990 - Clunk Magazine

Vinyl sales in the UK continue to grow year on year with 2022 being the highest since 1990.

clunkmag.com

The UK slips somewhere in between. There's a list of top selling albums for 2022 here. It looks like there are two distinct markets, musically speaking.

 

[IAtaman]

UK Vinyl Sales During 2022 At Highest Since 1990 - Clunk Magazine

Vinyl sales in the UK continue to grow year on year with 2022 being the highest since 1990.

clunkmag.com

The UK slips somewhere in between. There's a list of top selling albums for 2022 here. It looks like there are two distinct markets, musically speaking.

Arctic Monkeys 2022 album is called The Car not Care.

How clunky of them.

 

[Bob from Florida]

For the past few years Walmart and Target have a section devoted to vinyl. While we have yet to see a successor to Peaches appear, the fact that you can buy records at Walmart and Target does mean something. It means there is money to be made by selling records.
The days when you could buy a mint copy of "Jazz at the Pawnshop" at a used record store for $5 are long since over. - Yes, my copy of that album was purchased for $5 at such a shop in Decatur, Georgia back in the mid 1980's when idiots were dumping amazing record collections.

 

[MattHooper]

Right, so basically the "explanation" of Vinyl renaissance is that Taylor Swift started selling vinyl successfully, seeing the profits, other artists followed?

Of course Swift and others followed...they followed the trend: a vinyl renaissance which has made vinyl significant again, culturally and financially. They didn't create the revival; they were pulled in to it.

Anyway, let's talk numbers for Swift. Her most popular album sold a massive 29,649 vinyl copies in the US in the period concerned, as noted (though the new release will do more, I guess). She probably has that many tracks (note the difference of course) streamed every few minutes. If she announces a concert, that number of tickets sells out in seconds.

Perspective. Vinyl sales are irrelevant, except to some independent artists who finally see some money from selling small numbers of LPs at a decent profit, and to a few audiophiles. CD sales are supposedly a little higher this year.

"Irrelevant" will always be essentially a subjective description.

But people (who downplay the vinyl revival) so often point to how it's a streaming world now, and vinyl sales pale in comparison to the number of streams. The first thing to point out is that streaming is in a sense not directly comparable to physical media in terms of it's significance and engagement for the listener. I mean, my wife will say to Alexa "play Backstreet Boys" and I'll be subjected to hours of Backstreet Boys songs (ready to put screwdrivers through my ears). My wife is barely listening, the music is constantly streaming those songs while she's doing any number of things, even when she's in some other part of the house not listening, it continues to stream. She's become a "Swifty" too, and so it's the same with Swift's music in our home "Play Taylor Swift" and it just streams endlessly in the background, adding to her streaming numbers. So the way streaming is used can in of itself naturally inflate the numbers, especially in terms of the listener engagement. Whereas physical media like vinyl, when people play the record, they tend to really listen.

That said...if, because it's a streaming world, vinyl sales are so insignificant, that would suggest that the top selling artists would be the least interested in releasing on vinyl. It would be the little indie bands who are most compelled to make money with vinyl, since most except for the top artists make little from streaming revenue. Vinyl sales should be so insignificant big "streaming" acts wouldn't bother.

And yet what we see is that virtually all the top selling artists are compelled to put out their music on vinyl! Why? Because it really is a significant factor, in terms of cultural cred these days, but also for earning additional money.

Take the current example of Taylor Swift.

As per the Billboard article: Her new 1989 album sold 693,000 copies on vinyl in its first week. A quick look at prices for her double LP range from around
$40 to over $100 depending on the version.

So if we round it off and say they are selling for $50/LP, then 693,000 X $50 = $34,650,000. !!!!!

This is what I could find for how much Taylor's music makes from streaming:

This is how much money Taylor Swift makes from her re-recorded albums

Taylor Swift is in the process of re-recording her early albums, on top of creating new music. But how much money are these re-records bringing in?

scrippsnews.com

"After analyzing Spotify data, a recent estimate says the three re-released albums are potentially bringing in more than $8.5 million per month in streaming royalties alone."

About $102 million per year from streaming.


So to compare:

For streaming her 3 big albums, Taylor's music earned 102 million dollars over a year.

Her SINGLE Vinyl release for this year sold 34 and a half million dollars....in a single week!

I can see why Swift...and other top selling artists in streaming also see vinyl as quite significant.

 

[Toltek]

The days when you could buy a mint copy of "Jazz at the Pawnshop" at a used record store for $5 are long since over. - Yes, my copy of that album was purchased for $5 at such a shop in Decatur, Georgia back in the mid 1980's when idiots were dumping amazing record collections.

Wuxtry rules!

 

[Bob from Florida]

Wuxtry rules!

That could be the place. It was next to Rainbow grocery.

 

[Newman]

So to compare:

For streaming her 3 big albums, Taylor's music earned 102 million dollars over a year.

Her SINGLE Vinyl release for this year sold 34 and a half million dollars....in a single week!

LOL, I’m sure most readers are not fooled by your apples-to-oranges ‘comparison’. As if Swift personally pockets every dollar from vinyl sales…

But one thing is certain and I have raised before, and your US$40 to $100 price per record reinforces: for audiophiles, the price per song for vinyl is insanely high, and in terms of sound quality and quantity, insanely poor value. What a monumental rip-off!

And, as has been evident from earlier in this thread, the popularity of buying vinyl seems very disconnected from the popularity of playing vinyl. Investing for money’s sake, collecting for collections’ sake (people photographing their complete Taylor Swift vinyl collection side by side with their complete Taylor Swift T-shirt collection).

The overall vinyl renaissance is an industry, a beat-up, a rip-off, and yes I’m not afraid to say it, more about the fashionableness of being cool than about sonics.

Yay!

 

[Axo1989]

You want to make this about my attitude to women? That's such a disgusting insinuation that I'll let it sit there for everyone to see.

Or perhaps you think that 'fashion' means clothing and makeup and specifically for women??????????? Talk about naive...

No, I said that probably wasn't it. But I was curious why you invoked "Taylor Swift" and "fashion overtaking us" as negatives in your response to @MattHooper's post. Unless I misunderstood, and you were being positive. If so, say so.

There was also a chance you'd explain why you might think the artists listed in the article—starting at the top with Lana Del Rey—are selling due to fashion as opposed to say artistic merit. But that was a long shot.

 

[MattHooper]

LOL, I’m sure most readers are not fooled by your apples-to-oranges ‘comparison’. As if Swift personally pockets every dollar from vinyl sales…

What a strange comment.

No one is trying to "fool" anyone...and everyone knows artists don't pocket all the money for their album sales - no more for streaming than for vinyl.

See in the dictionary: red herring.