Vinyl records on the rise!

The House of Oldies record store in New York's West Village.

Photo by Will Oremus / Instagram

For the first time since the iTunes Store launched in 2003, sales of digital tracks and albums declined last year, Billboard reports. Analysts blame the rise of streaming services like Spotify and Pandora. Sales of CDs also took a big hit, as did album sales overall.

Meanwhile, one format quietly posted huge gains: vinyl records. LP sales were up an amazing 32 percent from 2012, continuing an improbable growth trend that began in the early 1990s and took off around 2007. In fact, as The Oregonian's David Greenwald points out, this was the sixth straight year in which vinyl long-players have recorded their highest sales mark since the advent of Soundscan in 1991. The absolute numbers are still small: 6 million units, or about 2 percent of all album sales in the United States. But the growth has been startling, as you can see in the chart below from Statista, my favorite German statistics portal. (Statista has a short post of its own on the trend.)

Illustration courtesy of Statista.com

What's going on here? As my Slate colleague Forrest Wickman reminded me, the rise of vinyl is probably best understood against the backdrop of the simultaneous decline of the CD. (Wired's Eliot Van Buskirk predicted this as long as six years ago.) As digital music has migrated from compact discs onto hard drives—and, increasingly, the cloud—collectors interested in a physical copy of their favorite albums no longer see a reason to prefer CDs to LPs. In fact, many prefer the latter, whether for the sound quality, the nostalgic appeal, or simply the beauty of the vinyl record as a design object. CDs and cassettes had their virtues as media, but aesthetics was not among them.

Does this mean we can all go back to calling them record shops?More broadly, the vinyl boom can be seen as yet another manifestation of the societal fetishization of all things "vintage" and analog, which is pretty clearly a response to digitization, corporitization, globalization, and probably some other izations I'm not thinking of right now. Within the music industry, vinyl's renaissance is also tied to notions of "the album" as a cohesive artistic statement, usually by an actual band. Although 2013's top vinyl record belonged to Daft Punk, three out of every four LPs sold were rock albums, Billboard observes. And about 65 percent were sold at independent music stores.

Vinyls are coming back

Sales of vinyl LP records have doubled in the last 12 months to their highest level for a decade.

Around 550,000 have been bought so far and the record industry body BPI is predicting that more than 700,000 will be sold by Christmas.

An online poll of 1,700 vinyl buyers found that 86 per cent of them said it was their favorite music format. A third of today’s LP fans are aged under 35.

Record sales: The number of sold vinyls have doubled in 12 months, with 550,000 sold in 2013 alone

Recent releases on vinyl from artists such as Arctic Monkeys and David Bowie have helped, said BPI chief Geoff Taylor.

‘The LP is back in the groove. We’re witnessing a renaissance for records - they’re no longer retromania and are becoming the format of choice for more and more music fans. 

'This year has been a treat for vinyl aficionados with releases from Daft Punk, David Bowie, Arctic Monkeys and Black Sabbath,’ he said.

 

‘While sales only account for a small percentage of the overall market, vinyl sales are growing fast as a new generation discovers the magic of 12 inch artwork, liner notes and the unique sound of analogue records, often accompanied by a download code for mp3s.

‘As we look forward to new LPs from Arcade Fire, Paul McCartney, Pearl Jam, and Jake Bugg in the run up to Christmas, the vinyl revival looks set to continue.’

While Daft Punk currently leads the charts for the biggest-selling LP of the year with Random Access Memories, it is Manchester’s Brit-pop pioneers, Oasis, who hold the title for the top two best-selling LPs since Official Charts records began.

Oasis’s album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory has sold more vinyl records than any other release since 1994, narrowly edging ahead of the band’s debut Definitely Maybe which takes the number two spot.

Kim Bayley, director general of the Entertainment Retailers Association, said: ‘Record Store Day has been incredibly important as a catalyst for the resurgence of vinyl. 

'The fact that indie record shops managed to sell a huge £2m worth of vinyl in one day puts paid to the idea that either vinyl or record stores themselves are on the way out.’

The news coincides with new information published by the BPI which provides insight into vinyl consumers, their purchasing habits, and why the format is enjoying such a comeback.

While the poll shows 35 to 44 year olds to be the largest consumer group, but younger buyers are also seeing the appeal of vinyl recordings, with over a third aged under 35.

Just under half of respondents were married, but women have some catching up to do as men made up more than 87 per cent of buyers.

The research also revealed that the primary factors considered by vinyl buffs when deciding whether to purchase LPs relate to the quality of the pressing, the price and the packaging. 

When quizzed further on why the format is considered superior to CD or digital music, respondents praised the enjoyment of the process of playing a record, the quality of sound and the cover art as the main reasons.

Of all the iconic cover art to be produced, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon was voted the public’s favourite album cover with The Clash’s London Calling and The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band also being cited as favourite vinyl sleeves.

-Daily Mail

Vinyl Record Maintenance

If you can take care of a pet rock, you can take care of your vinyl collection. It shouldn’t be a challenge, and most advice is a no-brainer, but there are certainly a few tricks that can prevent damage in the long run.

Here are the basics:

1. Don’t stack records: records are made of a polyvinyl chloride that is soft and malleable. The weight of stacked records and other weighted objects can deform the circular shape and distort the sound producing grooves that guide the needle, a problem that cannot be fixed. The best way is to sort them vertically, but be careful not to pack them too tight, as this will have the same effect you are trying to prevent.

2. Don’t leave you records next to a heat source: Like most plastics, vinyl has a low heat capacity and will begin to melt at temperatures rising from 70 degrees F. This means that heaters, ovens, microwaves, fireplaces, and other places that receive direct sunlight are poor places to shelve your records. I would suggest a bookshelf in a room with a moderate temperature.

3. Moisture is a vinyl serial killer: Once your record covers and sleeves get wet, they will start to mildew, and aside from smelling terrible, they will be worthless. If you are storing them in a garage, don’t store them on the ground or next to a water supply.

4. Don’t Leave your records out of the sleeve: The sleeve is like the force field on the Millennium Falcon, once the shields are down, all the knicks and scratches will add up and eventually render the record unplayable. Would you participate in a fencing match naked? Hopefully, you get my point.

5. Don’t play your records with a dull needle: Although cartridges can last several years, it is important that the needle remains sharp. Otherwise, as the needle dulls it will increase in surface area, and the effect is kind of like trying to jam something large into a small hole. As I explained earlier, once the grooves are compromised there is very little you can do to salvage them.

6. Be careful to whom you lend your records: Just as you wouldn’t lend your car to a random person you met in Compton, you should take similar precautions when lending records. Make sure that the lendee will care for your precious collection with the same meticulous care that you would. Small children, drunk friends, and crazy ex-girlfriends are a few examples of people you might want to think twice about lending to.

General Maintenance:

When it comes to vinyl a little tender love and care every now and then can go a long way. Serious damage is typically the result of long-time neglect.

For example, if you handle your records frequently, it doesn’t hurt to wipe them down with a fiber-less clothe (the type of cloth you would wipe your glasses with) and some gentle ivory soap; stay away from alcohol, sticky substances, and corrosives.

This will eliminate residue build up and dust particles that get trapped in the sound grooves. It’s particles as such that are responsible for those snaps and pops that most vinyl lovers live for; however, if not washed occasionally, your vinyl will sound like a bowl of Rice Crispies. This is also bad for your needle as the dust will collect on the tip.

With this being said, if you plan to store your records away for a long period of time, consider putting them in airtight boxes or purchasing poly-sleeves. Also, keep in mind that record covers are equally if not more valuable than records themselves so bent corners, wrinkles, scratches, and tears can seriously impact a records total value.

The best way to protect covers is to rack them vertically and to purchase poly-bags (European style record jackets). Finally, the best way to prevent damage to records is to take care when playing them. Be careful when changing tracks, try to handle them by the edges, return them to their sleeves when done, etc.

Alright, now that you know the ins and outs of record maintenance, you can sit back, relax, and get groovy.

- See more at: http://www.recordpressing.com/2011/04/properly-maintain-vinyl-collection/#sthash.DwxEZwqY.dpuf

How I do it.

Groovy baby!

Why I convert My records to digital audio

When it comes to music, some people take it more seriously than others and we are living in an 

age where analog sounds are starting to be fewer an further between.

I have noticed some "Audiophiles" out there debating whether or not converting their records

into a digital format is worth while or not.

Seeing this, I cant help but laugh to myself because in my mind.. you are preserving the record itself by 

saving it from being used too often, and you are still enjoying the music from the record even though it might not have a "true" analog sound, it still has the same pops and cracks that tend to remind us of pulling

out our parents Doors records and discovering the 60's in 1993 when your just a kid.

My goal in doing this is to preserve the sound quality as best as possible and to help preserve the condition of the records themselfes to help prolong their life.

What I do

First things first, I get my studio mixer, my record player and my collection. 

I hook up my the phono channel from the record player, into a small analog microphone pre-amp

that was my grandpas, run the amplified signal into my mixer, then into my laptop.

You can use any recording software you wish, but I hate freeware as the quality usually only goes up to

16 bit audio, where when you are dealing with music freaks, you want to try to preserve as much

as the natural sound quality as possible, so try and find something that will let you record and render in 24 bit audio, but if it is for your own personal enjoyment, by all means use Audacity.

When I'm recording a record, I do a test song first to get all the levels right as high as i can without anything clipping, and then I am ready to record.

I basically just let the record play, and monitor the input levels to insure there is no clipping or distortion.

After it is all done, depending on what someone ask's me to do, I go and divide the two recordings (side A and side B) into their respective parts and render each song individually, save it to CD or MP3 we are done!

The whole process takes about as long as it takes to listen to the record, plus how long it takes you to divide the songs and render them into your desired audio format.

Demographic?

Well, This is a new age in music and entertainment. Now we can carry music around with us anywhere we want to go without worrying about the condition of the original recording, because even that is digital.

The people most interested in doing this are:

 A) the Baby boomers, the ones born around the turn of the second world war who still listen to a lot of the classic bands and records and have that passion for that warm crisp analog sound. 

B) Djs and Producers have been doing this for a number of years, People like MC Hammer and Quincy Jones got very popular by sampling analog sounds and making them digital signals to tweak and twerk into their songs. And finally,

C) The modern day Musician and all round none mainstream kids/people who also share the same passion that their predecessors do, and love being a apart of the retro music lifestyle that comes with being a vinyl junky.

All in all, more and more people are converting their parents and even grandparents libraries for them because lets face it.. Digital, though far less special, is way easier to share, like, distribute and enjoy. So may as well enjoy your records without letting them chance getting wrecked or ruined, and maybe your kids will find a record player and rediscover the 60's in the 2020's.

-Ben Jammin Kraft