While vinyl has undoubtedly been enjoying a surge in popularity the likes of which we haven’t seen for 30 years, sales are slowing down. And many think quality is to blame.
Some assume that as much as 80 percent of new vinyl and reissues being pressed today are started from digital files.
With vinyl enjoying the best sales since the 80s, why risk the end of the renaissance when proper masters are still readily available?
According to Neilsen Music data, vinyl sales jumped by a whopping 38 percent in the first half of 2015, right at the beginning of the wax resurgence.
In 2016, the growth was 12 percent. Now in the second half of 2017, that figure has only risen by two percent. It’s a grim numeral, and the thought that record sales may have already hit a plateau isn’t one we’d like to entertain.
Speaking to Channel News, Analogue Planet editor Michael Fremer spilt the beans on what you’re really getting when you buy some new wax:
“They’re re-issuing [old albums] and not using the original tapes. They have the tapes. They could take them out and have it done right – by a good engineer. They don’t.”
Whether it’s deadlines, laziness or straight-up cash money holding back the majors (and likely some indie labels) on this, it needs to halt. Some people fall in love with vinyl for their aesthetic and physicality, sure, but the die-hard collectors driving the comeback are the audiophiles.
Via Channel News.
