Got… Vinyl?
Posted by Steve Allen | Filed under SoGospelNews.com Articles
The economy has been the primary topic of conversation in America’s living rooms and in the media. Sales are slumping in nearly every industry. Many people are finding themselves in the unemployment line. The music business is no exception. It has been feeling this financial crunch for several years now. In 2007 CD sales decreased by nearly 50 percent. Last year, sales numbers fell another 50 percent from there. Despite horrific music sales, there were two areas of growth: paid downloads and vinyl record sales.
Most people are aware of the growth of digital music downloads. At this point in time, downloads are not a major source of revenue in gospel music. If trends continue as they have, this may likely change over the next 10 years.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) just released a figure stating that vinyl record sales doubled in 2008. Existing record shops in major metropolitan areas found vinyl record sales soaring and in response had to open new stores to meet the demand.
Audiophiles have long argued that vinyl sounds better than CDs and MP3s. Many secular artists are releasing albums on vinyl with a coupon for downloadable MP3s. This allows customers to have the vinyl record for home and a digital copy to burn on a CD or to load on a MP3 player.
However, vinyl does have its drawbacks. Records warp, are not easily portable and with every play, degrade slightly in quality. These limitations are minuscule for those who appreciate the aesthetic value and “fatter sound” a CD does not offer.
People listen to vinyl differently than CDs or MP3s. It is an active listening experience as opposed to an experience that is passive in nature. A vinyl record offers larger artwork and liner notes than a CD. Most MP3 downloads don’t even include artwork. If they do, it’s in a digital PDF format. iPods and other music players are convenient (and convenience sells), but they have changed the way we listen to music. iPods tend to provide background music for listeners during workouts, commutes and chores around the house. Listening to a vinyl record requires participation. After four or five songs, the record needs to be flipped over. The listener does not have the ability to make a 40 song playlist of favorites.
Record players are showing up in stores across the country. It has never been easier to transfer an old vinyl collection to CD with the USB equipped record players that have recently infiltrated the market. Teenagers are trading in iPods for their parent’s old record collections.
If this trend continues, it could be a great thing for the entire music business. Not only because the listening experience of vinyl is more interactive, but also because they are extremely difficult to pirate. There is much evidence that shows music consumption is higher than ever, however, the population as a whole is only purchasing about 50 percent of what it consumes. The rest is either traded or downloaded illegally. Will the vinyl trend continue? Let’s hope so. Maybe people will stop viewing music as a background for the mundane and realize the joy and satisfaction that comes with putting an LP on a turntable.
Steve Allen
http://www.squareonestudio.com
thank's for the interesting information...