Has the vinyl revival gone too far?

[dreamover]

From: http://www.avclub.com/articles/has-the-vinyl-revival-gone-too-far,93610/

 

by Jason Heller




March 13, 2013

 

This week, after decades of egregious neglect, a definitive piece of our American heritage will finally be unearthed and returned to its full, resplendent glory: Kenny Rogers’ 1977 album The Gambler.

At least that’s what Rogers’ publicist would like you to believe. On March 12, The Gambler was given a deluxe reissue on LP, a lavish production that includes remastered sound, 180-gram vinyl, and “restored” artwork. See? The Gambler
is like a Van Gogh, a long-lost masterpiece of Western culture that’s being valiantly snatched away from the ravages of time and obscurity.

Only it isn’t. You can still find a perfectly playable vinyl edition of The Gambler for 99 cents at any flea market, thrift store, or garage sale in the land. Barring that, try the nearest Dumpster. If you don’t have a turntable, you can just as easily pick up a used CD (or cassette or 8-track, for that matter). The Gambler, as Rogers’ publicist is proud to point out, has been certified platinum five times over. There are millions upon millions of spare copies floating around the globe, just looking for a home. Or at least a landfill.

Granted, if you want to hear The Gambler that badly, you can simply listen to it on Spotify, Rdio, Sirius, Pandora,  YouTube, or the nearest karaoke bar.

I have nothing against The Gambler. I grew up on that record. And I like Kenny Rogers, enough to have given his recent memoir a favorable review. I also love vinyl. At the height of my record-collecting mania a decade ago, I had amassed more than 6,000 LPs. I like vinyl for many of the same reasons I like Kenny Rogers: the nostalgia, the warm sound, the, um, large packaging.

When I saw a press release for the new, deluxe LP reissue of The Gambler, though, the thought hit me: Has the vinyl revival gone too far?

Soon after the turn of the millennium—as the economy was hitting its first post-9/11 slump and the music industry was feeling the squeeze of file-sharing—vinyl hit rock bottom. In 2002 I was just finishing up a 10-year stretch of employment at Wax Trax, a fiercely independent record store in Denver. Wax Trax specializes in vinyl. In the early ’00s, it almost went out of business. Many of its brick-and-mortar brethren across the country didn’t make it. Vinyl sales had seen a steady decline since the introduction of the CD in the ’80s, and it seemed logical that the LP—like so many other formats before it—had finally become obsolete. After all, the 21st century was upon us. What could be less
futuristic than a spinning slab of plastic scratching against a needle?

Vinyl, however, did not go gentle into that good night. Crate-digging DJs and producers kept the flame alive, imbuing used vinyl (even beat-up old copies of The Gambler) with the sacred aura of archeological artifacts. This, in turn, sustained demand for new releases on vinyl. Fans of punk, hardcore, and metal—many of them somewhat reactionary by nature, which I know because I am one—also refused to let vinyl slip away. Even indie-rock labels got back into the
vinyl game, issuing download codes that could be redeemed by purchasing new LPs by, say, Spoon or Animal Collective. By the time 2010 rolled around, CDs were still declining in sales, but vinyl was on the upswing.

Record Store Day played no small role in that. First “celebrated”—in the same way that Black Friday is celebrated—in April of 2008, the annual event was created as a way to draw attention (and customers) to brick-and-mortar record shops. This was accomplished by offering exclusive, limited-edition vinyl releases. Split 7-inch singles,
reissues of out-of-print LPs, and extravagant boxed sets became available for one day only, and only at your friendly neighborhood record store. It didn’t matter that speculators swooped in and bought up
as many of these instant rarities as they could, which would then pop up on eBay for exorbitant prices. Neither did it matter that this was a manipulative marketing scheme, plain and simple. If this is what it took to keep vinyl alive, fans convinced themselves, so be it. 

Something happened, though. Record Store Day got big. It became an event. Major labels and mega-successful bands—who were in on the “holiday” from the start—began to play a larger and larger part. The grassroots veneer fell away, and it became more transparent: It had always been a way to herd consumers into stores, devised by an industry
that keeps clinging to outmoded models of the past rather than learning to innovate and adapt to new technologies.

No one’s twisting anyone’s arm, and I’m not saying people are getting ripped off. But when things like the deluxe  Gambler reissue are being timed in anticipation of Record Store Day—this year’s falls on April 20—I can’t help but feel that the vinyl revival has jumped the shark. Even The Onion recently poked fun at the fact that ubiquitous works like Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours—a far better album than The Gambler, to be sure, and one with far more millions of copies in existence—are now being treated like holy objects. It’s a fucking record. Seriously, Rumours? I adore it. But when I worked at Wax Trax, I also used to fill our dollar bins with it. Last time I stopped by, they were still there.

I’ll admit, I don’t buy vinyl anymore. The reason is simple: After 15 years as a rabid, almost religious collector of LPs, I realized I was spending way too much money on it. That realization had hit me many times before, usually when I was trying to scrape together rent money—even as my tiny studio apartment was mostly devoted to groaning record shelves, while my bed and TV were kind of shoved in the corner as an afterthought. 

But I realized something else: I just wasn’t an audiophile. Like some people who say they have fibromyalgia or gluten intolerance, far more vinyl collectors think they’re audiophiles than actually are. Owning a decent turntable does not turn your ears into trembling flowers, unable to bear the bitmapped harshness of digital. It began to dawn on me—me, someone who had preached the sanctity of vinyl from my record-store pulpit for so long—that I couldn’t really tell the
difference between a 7-inch and an MP3. Or rather, I could tell there was a slight difference, but it wasn’t enough to justify the huge portion of my income that I was spending on vinyl. Not everyone who buys records is an ersatz audiophile; the physicality of records is always cited as a major reason for their continued existence, not to mention
the more substantive packaging and artwork. The cover of The Gambler, after all, is pretty damn sweet. But as a  collector, I knew when to walk away, and I knew when to run.

That said, I don’t want vinyl to go away. I still applaud the vinyl revival, in theory if not always in practice. There’s a whole new generation of ravenous young record collectors coming of age right now, though, and they’re going to face an even tougher time than I did. Which is a shame. I’m reminded of this passage from Bob Mould’s autobiography, See A Little Light, where he reminisces about record stores in the ’80s and the vital role as human bulletin boards that they played in the music scene:

"Nothing is more telling than when someone pulls that one-square-foot piece of cardboard out of a bin […] If he pulls

20 Jazz Funk Greats

by Throbbing Gristle, you perk up and take interest in what he might pull next. We’d do this dance around the record store with each other, and that was one way to find like-minded people. We don’t do that dance now. Now you read someone’s blog or use a search engine or do social networking."

Or go to a Bob Mould show. But seriously: Record Store Day helps propagate this kind of connection and community, and for that I appreciate it. But dealing with today’s prices, and with so much engineered scarcity, record collectors are at risk of burning out a lot faster than they once did—especially with so many cheaper, more practical listening alternatives constantly beckoning.

Like any other human resource, vinyl collectors are finite. The same goes for vinyl itself. If LP collecting is to survive into the 21st century, it needs to be sustainable. Hell, even on a strictly green level, shouldn’t we be buying—and thereby recycling—all those used copies of The Gambler, rather than pressing hefty new ones on 180 grams of petroleum product? The market bears what it will, true, except for when it won’t. In any case, strip-mining the fans—and, yes, fetishizing vinyl too much—is what might turn the vinyl revival into little more than a gamble.

[tonyfranciosa]

I agree that $40 reissues of albums that can be had in their original pressing in the $0.99 bins are ridiculous. The "revival" hasn't gone to far on the consumer side. Once again, any trouble in the music industry can be laid at the feet of the greedy labels who think people are dumb enough to overpay unnecessarily for a release that no one was asking for... these resources would be better spent elsewhere.

[GradedOnACurve]

Read this yesterday and was going to post it. I think in terms of the "mainstream" where NBC reports from United record pressing its getting ridiculous. In terms of the independent labels (punk, hardcore, metal, indie etc) it will hopefully stay strong as long as production costs don't spiral out of control.Thats my main concern. Can't wait to see these too in the $0.99 bin.

[collectivemike]

I think that article is forgetting about the most important aspect of the whole vinyl revival... your average joe doesn't like buying used things.

[Guest deathbydrums]

a lot of times its about collectibility

[snowwhat]

There are a billion LPs that I don't care about, but as long as people are buying/digging a record, I'm happy.  When Kenny Rogers and other chud like it get deluxe re-issue treatment, above anything I think that's just wasting resources.  But on the bright side, maybe these mistakes will be another nail in major label coffins.

[kk-downing]

Great article and it's a discussion my friends and I have had many times. When it comes to deluxe reissues of dollar bin records I've always thought "what's the point?" All it says to me is that it didn't take long for corporate greed to get back into the vinyl game. Though it has to be incredibly short-sighted. Is there really a market for some of these records (The Gambler being a GREAT example)? I doubt it. 

[snowwhat]

Also, 

[tonyfranciosa]

that being said, I've got *new* records from David Bowie and Suede preordered. 10 years ago even that would have probably not happened. Well, maybe Bowie, but not Suede.

[noalarmplanet]

I think it's an important point that crate-digging not go away. Its important to have a wide ranging selection of LPs and tastes. 

 

Not 15 copies of blink 182 records.

 

Some of those dollar records are worth your dollar.  

[thejesseb]

Some of those dollar records are worth your dollar.  

 

Totally. I actually like to buy cool looking, cheap 7" when I see em and just throw em into the package when someone buys something from me. Who knows maybe theyll like it.

[rudeboydh]

Or go to a Bob Mould show. But seriously: Record Store Day helps propagate this kind of connection and community, and for that I appreciate it. But dealing with today’s prices, and with so much engineered scarcity, record collectors are at risk of burning out a lot faster than they once did—especially with so many cheaper, more practical listening alternatives constantly beckoning.

 

This would be the only thing that I could see burning me out of the hobby.  I just hate worrying about missing preorders and shit and if I miss something, it going for obscene prices on eBay.  Just wish I could not worry about it sometimes, you know?

[derby625]

Some of those dollar records are worth your dollar.  

 

I love $1 LPs. So much great music is out there and it's great when you can pick up an entire album (where you may know the artist or just one song) for cheap to enjoy.

 

$0.25 45's are awesome too.

 

There are just so many n00bs in vinyl. I love looking through people's collections on discogs and seeing zero variety. Pick up an 80's New Wave album. Get some Peter, Paul, & Mary. EXPAND. (plus this stuff is cheap)

[jhulud]

THE HOBBY!!!
 

[rudeboydh]

Agreed!  I have a probably as many or more old records than I do new.  If anybody likes classical on here, there's so much good stuff at thrift stores.  I have a whole 6 LP box set of classical guitar, another 7XLP Debussy box, and a box of 9XLPs of all Beethoven's symphonies I got all for stupid cheap.

 

I also am collecting Chicago 1-10.  I think I'm missing only 1 or 2 records.  But I love Chicago, probably one of my favorite bands from that era.  I'm also working on a Police collection, trying to pick up all their full lengths when I see them for cheap.

[Guest]

Major labels gotta know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em.

[Guest]

Major labels gotta know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em.

 

 

 

/thread.

[rudeboydh]

Major labels gotta know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em.

 

WOULD LIKE BUT OUTTA LIKES!   

[somethingvinyl]

I wrote an article like this, albeit in my head but similar nonetheless, when I saw the reissue of Rumors last RSD.

[bear801]

Well it sucked trying to find releases in the 90s/00s.  But the collector aspect has gone the way of baseball cards and comic books.  I just want decent prices.  I know it won't be $8 like it was at Kmart when i was a kid but under $18 or 19 for most makes sense.  I'm not helping things though seeing that i just bought the blink album.

[daegor]

tl;dr  but yeah, this:

 

 

Read this yesterday and was going to post it. I think in terms of the "mainstream" where NBC reports from United record pressing its getting ridiculous. In terms of the independent labels (punk, hardcore, metal, indie etc) it will hopefully stay strong as long as production costs don't spiral out of control. Thats my main concern. Can't wait to see these too in the $0.99 bin.

 

The mainstream bubble will pop at some point, they're pushing it too far.  The indie label hopefully will continue to build.

[SpazzyMcGee]

I agree with some records being too idolized much like Rumours. I also think even if it was reissued, don't make it a huge box set or even an anniversary edition. If its already in large quantities, just make a few new.

This resurgence reminds me of beanie babies or furbies, only in the sense that they both are a popular trend. But unlike stuffed toys, records will still remain a valid hobby and popular medium for music. I think records are nearing their peak craze levels but I also think it'll even out.

This is coming from a person who started collecting last July. I'm a fanatic for sure but I think I've always liked vinyl, just never had a player to facilitate my love for music.

[moonbeams]

I think that article is forgetting about the most important aspect of the whole vinyl revival... your average joe doesn't like buying used things.

 

Exactly. The record companies want to sell their product, if there's a demand, they'll meet it. 

[moonbeams]

This is a really stupid article.

 

1. It lambasts a reissue of a record that sells well (used). That means there is demand for it. Reissuing it pumps more money into the market. Straight up used sales hurt distributors (who get you the records) and labels (who make the records). If no new blood is produced, the industry will die.

 

2. 

I’ll admit, I don’t buy vinyl anymore. The reason is simple: After 15 years as a rabid, almost religious collector of LPs, I realized I was spending way too much money on it. That realization had hit me many times before, usually when I was trying to scrape together rent money—even as my tiny studio apartment was mostly devoted to groaning record shelves, while my bed and TV were kind of shoved in the corner as an afterthought. 

But I realized something else: I just wasn’t an audiophile.

 

The author admits that he doesn't get it. If you're not buying records for superior sound quality, you're wasting your time and money. I buy variants, but I listen to everything. Vinyl is about fidelity. If you don't get why it sounds good, you'll end up writing a stupid article.

[noodle]

THE HOBBY!!!

 

 

i laugh everytime you post this... so awesome.