[Vintage-Audio] Vinyl making a comeback?

[Salmons, Michael]

That's nice to hear. I think what the article says about mp3s is true:
you download a whole hard drive of music and it feels like you have
nothing. I've been there, doing that for about a year and am now
questioning its value myself.

I remember loving my record collection and stereo when I was younger, in
the seventies mostly. I built a large collection, painstakingly, one to
two titles at a time, over many years. I'm sure you can remember what it
was like to have to save up a while for an album, that's how my whole
collection was formed. I would realphabetize it on a regular basis, then
dedide I wanted to arrange by genre, then back to strictly alphabetical.
Then CDs took over and I have never been statisfied with the technology,
either the form of the media or the sound, but wasn't really sure why-
after all, the sound was technically perfect, and the format is more
practical: smaller, less prone to warpage. Occasionally I'll encounter
some digital music that was obviously recorded with care on analog
equipment, and it sounds fine to me. But nothing like the old days. I
thought I was just being nostalgic, although I have to say independent
of any nostalgia, albums used to be prepared in a careful manner.
Artwork was carefully considered and how the artwork would be presented
on the sleeve was obviously of great importance. Look at some of the
great album sleeves from the seventies, like Jethro Tull- Living in the
Past, Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the Moon, The Who- Quadrophenia just to
name a couple. Elaborate inserts and booklets were sometimes included.
CDs? Half the time I can't even read the liner notes.

I've been suffering with a hodgepodge of older stuff- I can't enjoy life
without an old Kenwood tuner in the house- while at the same time trying
to accommodate new media forms, most notably a DVD setup for the family.
Well, I'd decided I'd had enough.  In the past several months I've been
building two vintage systems (in the unused basement room, naturally)
with the goal of reproducing records with a high degree of sonic
satisfaction for not a whole lot of dough, as I don't have a whole lot
of dough. I do have some records that were itching to be played again
after many years of laying unused, though, and that was reason enough. I
built the systems with two foci in mind: one, a sort of era of great
solid state silverface equipment, with speakers that were most likely
used around then as well; the second system is more of a post-silverface
era set, but still when vinyl was king, right before CDs took off. It's
taken me about six months to find the pieces I want (or something very
close) and, remarkably, most of the the things I've wanted have come up
for sale on ebay. So, I've been buying when it's reasonable to do so.  

The results have been supremely satisfying. Both systems sound great, in
different ways. It seems like it's been ages since I've heard music the
way I expect it to sound, and both systems faithfully reproduce it. I
find that FM radio is much more satisfying now, too. I found myself
listening to the news the other day because I thought I had pegged the
microphone the NPR guys were using; I'm quite certain it's SM-7s since
I'm very familiar with the sound. Having this older stuff that is so
faithful to quality reproduction, it seemed like a cinch to pick it out.
There are a few weak points but I'm ironing them out over time: the
amplifier for one setup is just right, the amplifier for the other one
was more of a hunch and it's turning out to be okay, maybe not quite
what I want, but good enough, light years beyond the nondescript black
boxes in the living room.

I went to a local used record dealer yesterday and found more new
releases (mostly reissues, but some actual new stuff too) than I have
seen in a long time! I talked to the owner and he said yeah, business is
better than it ever has been and his sources have all kinds of titles to
choose from nowadays. It warms the cockles of my heart to hear that, and
to read this article you sent around, Bob. Thanks. 

-----Original Message-----
From: vintage-audio-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:vintage-audio-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Robert
Nickels
Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2007 8:40 PM
To: Vintage home and professional audio equipment from 1975 back
Subject: [Vintage-Audio] Vinyl making a comeback?

The following story is copyright The Guardian News and Media 2007, but I
thought it was worth sharing here.

73, Bob W9RAN

*Back in the groove: young music fans ditch downloads and spark vinyl
revival*

*** Sales of 7in singles rise by 13% in first half of year
*** New bands and collectors turning to old format

*Katie Allen, media business correspondent* *Monday July 16, 2007*

*Guardian*

The format was supposed to have been badly wounded by the introduction
of CDs and killed off completely by the ipod-generation that bought
music online.

But in a rare case of cheerful news for the record labels, the latest
phenomenon in a notoriously fickle industry is one nobody dared predict:

a vinyl revival. Latest figures show a big jump in vinyl sales in the
first half of this year, confirming the anecdotal evidence from
specialist shops throughout the UK.

It comes as sales of CD singles continue to slide - and it is not being
driven by technophobic middle-aged consumers. Teenagers and students are
developing a taste for records and are turning away from the clinical
method of downloading music on to an MP3 player.

The data, released by the UK's industry group BPI, shows that 7in vinyl
sales were up 13% in the first half, with the White Stripes' Icky Thump
the best seller.

Two-thirds of all singles in the UK now come out on in the 7in format,
with sales topping 1m. Though still a far cry from vinyl's heyday in
1979, when Art Garfunkel's Bright Eyes alone sold that number and the
total vinyl singles market was 89m, the latest sales are still up more
than fivefold in five years.

For record stores, the resurgence has meant a move from racks of vintage
Rolling Stones and Beatles releases to brand new singles and younger
buyers. "The student population seem to be loving the 7in," says Stuart
Smith, who runs Seismic Records in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. He
sells 300-600 records a week and is preparing to launch an online store.

"I'm still not sure about the MP3 generation. You can have a full hard
drive and nothing to show for it. Record collections are very personal. 
You can view into a person's soul really," he says.

The customers rummaging through racks at his store, a small room above a
skate shop, are students and DJs.

When Mr Smith opened the vinyl shop in early 2005, digital download
sales were rocketing and, amid rampant piracy, global music revenues
were several years into their current downward spiral.

A shop selling LPs and 7in singles didn't sound like the most promising
business plan. But when his employers at the local outlet of music chain
Fopp - now closed down - decided to stop selling vinyl it was something
he couldn't resist.

"I just couldn't understand why they decided to turn their backs on it. 
I saw an opportunity to do something I love doing. I've been a collector
myself for years," says the 31-year-old. "It's just one of things. It
just felt right."

Two years on, the White Stripes' Icky Thump has just notched up the
highest weekly sales for a 7in single for more than 20 years. Retailers
and record labels put the rising vinyl sales down to bands rediscovering
the format and to music fans' enduring desire to collect. It's not
unusual for fans to buy a 7in but have nothing to play it on, says Paul
Williams at industry magazine Music Week. "It's about the kind of acts
that have very loyal fan bases that want everything to do with that
act," he says. "They maybe will buy the download to listen to, but they
get the vinyl to own. It's looked at like artwork."

HMV agrees that vinyl is back from the brink, and the chain has been
rapidly expanding its record racks to meet rising demand. The group's
Gennaro Castaldo cites the huge popularity of "indie" bands, such as
Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys, which enjoy loyal followings among
teenagers and students, especially during the summer festival season.

"Labels have realised that it's cool for bands to release their music on
vinyl, especially in limited edition form, which makes it highly
collectible," he says.

London company Art Vinyl has built a whole business out of the format's
visual and tactile appeal by selling easy-to-open frames to display
records and their sleeves.

For fans, buying and owning a record can provide a welcome change from
the anonymity of online downloads, says Art Vinyl's founder Andrew
Heeps. "If you go into a record shop to buy something, you feel part of
something," he says. "The fact that last year we sold over 9,000 frames
to people says an awful lot about where the market is going."

Cara Henn, a DJ and regular Seismic Records customer says going to the
store puts her in touch with her peers and has hammered home the vinyl
trend. "I've really been getting back into my vinyl. I love it," she
says. "I like to hear crackling, as if it's actually real. Especially
with drum'n'bass, DJs are really encouraging fans to buy vinyl."

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