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HD Vinyl (Is the bubble about to burst?)


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"an Austrian company Rebeat Digital will use a process called 3D-based topographical mapping which gives it many different advantages during the manufacturing process.

It claims that this new process will cut manufacturing costs by 50 percent and cutting time by another 60 percent. This would be important to upgrade from current manufacturing processes that are both time consuming, expensive and bad for the environment.

The HD portion of the vinyl comes from what they claim is 30 percent greater running time and greater volume plus double the audio fidelity."

http://www.musictimes.com/articles/67977/20160317/hd-vinyl-arrive-three-years.htm

More articles:

http://stoneyroads.com/2016/03/louder-and-better-hd-vinyl-not-so-distant-dream

http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/is-hd-vinyl-coming-to-a-turntable-near-you-636013

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I don't get why you'd want that. All I can see from the bubble bursting is less releases, not cheaper prices.

The "bubble" refers to inflated market caused by supply and demand. More plants = more competition, which means cheaper prices for labels/band and ultimately the customer.

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The "bubble" refers to inflated market caused by supply and demand. More plants = more competition, which means cheaper prices for labels/band and ultimately the customer.

 

I always understood "the bubble" as drastically increasing popularity, not infrastructure shortage. But going by your description, are the current price hikes a proportionate result of higher manufacturing costs? (genuinely asking, as I never kept track) If yes, then you're right. If the increase is heavily disproportionate though, I don't see the burst having much of an impact, as the other major reason for higher prices is what I perceive as the bubble.

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I've always equated the 'Vinyl Bubble' to the concentrated market (ala The Internet Bubble - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble) and referred to the burgeoning popularity as The Hobby™.

If there's anyone here runs a label that releases vinyl, can you chime in on this? I'm genuinely curious as to whether or not the increasing cost of records is reflective of the newer manufacturing costs. Off the top of my head I'm pretty sure that new Tender Defender release was pricey because of the pressing plant's rates.

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A lot of the currently price inflation also falls in other areas....such as damages during shipping now have to be taken into account as every "new to the hobby" kid with a crosley is returning vinyl for corner dings, which means that stores are being pickier and pickier on what they're bringing in, which means distributors are more picky as well. Shipping prices continue to rise while this is happening as well as distros using more packing material to ensure product arrives without corner dings. Additionally the majors got back into the vinyl market and the licensing fees are high on any of their artists which causes the over all price to be higher....because of this, they're kind of setting a precedent on prices and other distros an labels are able to raise their prices knowing that the consumer will pay it because they're buying $35 single LPs sourced digitally of (insert major label pop artist here).....there are so many contributing factors to the arbitrary inflation of prices inside this "bubble"

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I've always equated the 'Vinyl Bubble' to the concentrated market (ala The Internet Bubble - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble) and referred to the burgeoning popularity as The Hobby™.

 

Gotcha.

 

But yeah, birdwell made some great points as to why I don't believe more pressing plants would really result in lower prices. Not that they aren't absolutely necessary, of course.

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Right....when product gets returned and is deemed unsellable it either gets sent back to the distro or the label (which costs money) who either repackages it or tosses it....reworking the packaging costs money....not the primary cause of $30+ LPs but a contributing factor non-the-less

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Wow. I didn't know that people returning records with corner dings was one of the main causes for record prices reaching up toward $30 an LP. Can someone who runs a label confirm this?

Sell a record here. You'll see. It has to be pristine for the collectors. Good thing, though. I still have SKM's Benji because of this mentality. When I needed to sell it, it had a corner ding about the size of an ant's pubic hair; dude was like, "I really want this album so bad on vinyl... but the corner ding is ruining it for me." I shit you not.

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Sell a record here. You'll see. It has to be pristine for the collectors. Good thing, though. I still have SKM's Benji because of this mentality. When I needed to sell it, it had a corner ding about the size of an ant's pubic hair; dude was like, "I really want this album so bad on vinyl... but the corner ding is ruining it for me." I shit you not.

 

Pics of ant pube ding or gtfo.

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I don't see how a new high tech manufacturing process has anything to do with the vinyl bubble. Manufacturing processes are improved with tech all the time for just about anything you can buy.

The manufacturing process hasn't changed much over the last 68 years, how can anyone be certain?

I'm just looking at this like any other product sold in America. The easier and faster it is to produce, the cheaper it'll become. Kinda like when a fancy import costs more than an American made vehicle. Besides, don't you think major labels would prefer people buy several LPs a month opposed to a few a year?

But whatever, if LPs continue to cost dumb amounts then I'll just continue to only buy 1 or 2 every few months.

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Manufacturing costs have remained relatively the same over the past decade, save for the cost of inflation and also being dependent on how the stampers are made.

The rising costs are attributed mostly to labels cashing in on the demand. Why sell it for $8 wholesale and only make a few bucks per unit when you can sell it for $20 wholesale and triple your investment? Then distribution channels take the same mentality and charge $25 bucks so that they get their cut and - at last - retailers mark it up a few more bucks so that they get a profit.

The stores and retailers are at the tail end of this chain and make very little off of each very expensive release. That's why RSD isn't a hugely profitable day for stores. They might see a big dollar sign, but the gross margin is negligible.

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