Vinyl is back.....Again!

[Jimbo]

How many times does the vinyl revival get played as a news story? Many of us who love the medium have already seen the price rocket in recent years which means I only buy if it is a fantastic album which now is about 2 a year! The rest I buy from discogs for many reasons not least price and originality. Only once have I had an issue buying second hand which is far less than I can say for new vinyl.

Anyhoo here is another vinyl revival article to kick off the year but I suspect most of us know the story now before we even read it?


https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...am-music-price

[AJSki2fly]

He makes some good points in the article.

Unfortunately as more new records have been produced it seems the quality control is not all that it could be. I have had to return a couple of ne albums back to Amazon last years, one off-centre pressing and the other was just a bad pressing and very noisy that IMO should have never left the factory.

I have also noticed that sellers are also starting to push prices rather unfairly. The new Peter Gabriel I/O is a good example, I pre-ordered from What Records and got the Bright Side version for £29.00 and the Dark Side for £32.99, I have no idea why there is a difference in price between the two versions. Burningshed.com are £33.49 for either version, if you look on Amazon you will see prices vary from £39.99 to £52.15, HMV are charging £39.99 of either copy, Juno £34.99 for either version, RoughTrade £37.99 for either. So just what is the actual recommended retail price for this release, your guess is as good as mine. But I think it is fair to assume that there is quite a bit of profiteering going on, this seems to be par for the course nowadays.

[Macca]

The big record shop chains all went bust first time around - HMV, Virgin, Our Price, Andy's, Tower...

This time maybe they are making sure they are profitable?

[Jimbo]

The record companies or whoever is pushing up the price will simply loose me at a customer if they take the piss. I have already turned down buying a fair number of records this year when I have seen what they are selling for.

I have hundreds of great albums already and it would need to be a truly great album before I buy. Sadly this is very often not the case today as there is so much mediocre stuff being produced.

My last album purchase was a second hand mint early pressing of Kraftwerk Trans Europe Express. Stunning recording and sound and fantastic quality. Oh and the music wasn't bad too!

[Wakefield Turntables]

For me it's more about getting to know a label. My latest fetish is DECCA, especially the SXL's!!! I'm really digging the Phase 4 releases and respect them for what they are, usually very well recorded music with some legendary musicians and producers. I'm getting to partner specific cartridges with specific lables. The older lower output Shure carts M55E sound amazing even with .7 stylii, imagine them with a JICO special. My Tonepoets go very well with my SPU's. I'm also researching older RCA Living Stereo releases amongst a few others. I could easily go into Wakefield and spend £10-20 and come back with 5-15 new albums every week to try out. Far cheaper than splurging £30-50 on just one so-so release.

[Macca]

supply and demand might play a part in the prices. Nothing like as many pressing plants as there used to be.

If you can sell the whole run at fifty quid each you'd be daft to charge thirty.

That's not profiteering it's just how it works.

[rmcin626]

He makes some good points in the article.

Unfortunately as more new records have been produced it seems the quality control is not all that it could be. I have had to return a couple of ne albums back to Amazon last years, one off-centre pressing and the other was just a bad pressing and very noisy that IMO should have never left the factory.

I have also noticed that sellers are also starting to push prices rather unfairly. The new Peter Gabriel I/O is a good example, I pre-ordered from What Records and got the Bright Side version for £29.00 and the Dark Side for £32.99, I have no idea why there is a difference in price between the two versions. Burningshed.com are £33.49 for either version, if you look on Amazon you will see prices vary from £39.99 to £52.15, HMV are charging £39.99 of either copy, Juno £34.99 for either version, RoughTrade £37.99 for either. So just what is the actual recommended retail price for this release, your guess is as good as mine. But I think it is fair to assume that there is quite a bit of profiteering going on, this seems to be par for the course nowadays.

If you are buying new from a retailer you need to do quite a bit of research, as to price variations as you have pointed out.

After reading a post on Steve Hoffman, I started following David Hughes of Revolution Records, which has been interesting, he gives you details of future releases with the opportunity to reserve a copy and you pay once its been released , the have only I have bought so far was a Steely Dan Gaucho which was just under £32 incl. 24 tracked postage.

[struth]

still goty lots of the stuff but no system now to play it. thought about a btooth one just for occasional use, but yes prices have been high and continually increasing as far as they think the market will take. if salers slow then you see some outlets selling a bit cheaper

[Jimbo]

So what price do you chaps think is a fair price for a slab of the black stuff at todays prices.

My last record purchase was back in the early 1980s and I bought Pink Floyd The Final Cut for £7.99.


Here is an interesting articles that does some of the homework

https://vinyl-club.com/history/how-m...st-in-the-80s/

[Barry]

For me it's more about getting to know a label. My latest fetish is DECCA, especially the SXL's!!! I'm really digging the Phase 4 releases and respect them for what they are, usually very well recorded music with some legendary musicians and producers. I'm getting to partner specific cartridges with specific lables. The older lower output Shure carts M55E sound amazing even with .7 stylii, imagine them with a JICO special. My Tonepoets go very well with my SPU's. I'm also researching older RCA Living Stereo releases amongst a few others. I could easily go into Wakefield and spend £10-20 and come back with 5-15 new albums every week to try out. Far cheaper than splurging £30-50 on just one so-so release.

That's as maybe, but the Decca Phase 4 recordings were deliberately distorted in a attempt to compensate for tracking and tracing errors during replay.