Vinyl: new is well forgotten old

Photo Acid Pix CC BY

A few years ago, the idea to buy (and even more to produce) vinyl records seemed hopelessly outdated.
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Nevertheless, vinyl is now a popular medium, the presence of which in thematic stores (for example, in Audiomania) is taken for granted - the albums of performers of various genres come out on vinyl: from the reprint of Creedence Clearwater Revival to Taylor Swift.

How are things in the industry as a whole?

Indeed, the vinyl industry is now experiencing what critics call the “second birth”: discs and cassettes are replacing cassettes and CDs. Some observers believe that the active revival of the old format began in 2007, when the so-called Music Store Day was established (the third Saturday of April, in 2016, the holiday will be on April 16).

On this day, new albums are on sale worldwide in stores selling “records” (about 400-500 releases occur on this day). In order to maintain the interest of the audience, the ambassador of the holiday is annually appointed from among popular musicians (“ambassadors” were, for example, Iggy Pop and Jack White, whose album Lazaretto has become one of the best-selling vinyl records since 1991).

The statistics confirms that the hype around vinyl was not for nothing: According to a Nielsen report , vinyl sales were 53% higher in the period from January to March 2015 than in the same period of 2014 (and for the entire 2014, sales in the USA were 9.2 million records - despite the fact that in 2007 only a million vinyl records were sold in the States).

In fairness it should be noted that the sales of vinyl compared to other carriers remain insignificant. But in general, since 2009, sales of records grew by 260% - a serious figure, considering that vinyl in the late nineties seemed to be yesterday afternoon.

They note the increased demand for vinyl and Russian record sellers, including Audiomania:

We started selling vinyl records and did not lose, now their turnover is millions - not by the number of copies sold, but by revenue. Demand is growing constantly, do not have time to buy records

- Timofey Shikolenkov, director of marketing and business development in Audiomania

Who produces vinyl

Mark Fayderb, manager of Universal Music, called the day of the music store "the best thing that ever happened" with independent music stores. However, not only shops, but also indie labels that release many of the releases that fall on this day, as well as factories producing their own records, benefit from this holiday.

Creating a small company for the production of vinyl in the United States right now is a pretty good business: the demand for vinyl far exceeds supply. Labels and performers who want to release their vinyl record, are forced to stand in line for production - manufacturing companies sometimes make batches of plates with a delay of 2-3 months, some sacrifice product quality - and still do not meet the deadlines.

It would seem that with such a stable growth of interest from the public, the niche of vinyl producers should have been filled fairly quickly - however, several factors hinder this.

The first of these is that in the 90s the vinyl industry practically “got up”, in connection with which factories producing machines for the production of vinyl records and metal matrices (negatives from which records are “stamped”) were massively closed. Because of this, there is practically no competition in the market of press manufacturers, and new machines cost fabulous money: recently, only Record Products of America has released new presses in the States.

Two hand presses from this manufacturer will cost $ 130,000 - to cover such costs, small factories for the production of records would have to increase the price of their goods at least four times.

In this regard, companies that make vinyl records both in the USA and in Europe (about 40 such productions work in the world) have to start up old machines of the 70s or even 60s, which have been in conservation for a long time. The exception is, perhaps, United Record Pressing in Nashville, USA - this relatively large company can afford to acquire new presses, but even they have to go for different tricks to get hold of the machines for producing master disks - the last of which is the company, according to leadership, acquired from the Church of Scientology (the followers of Ron Hubbard for some time recorded his performances on vinyl).

The price of new machines turns out to be an "overwhelming" entrance barrier that prevents anyone from engaging in the production of records, the number of used and ready-to-use presses is also small - all this does not allow the vinyl industry to gain momentum as quickly as labels would like.

Another problem is the lack of qualified personnel in production. “It's hard to find a qualified pressman now. It's a kind of craft, ” says Mark Rainey, owner of Cascade Record Pressing in the United States. “The demand for compactors should push more young people to learn this profession, because experienced compactors are already retiring.”

However, the production of vinyl gradually comes to life. Even using old machines, independent producers of vinyl produce about thirty or forty thousand records per month. For larger plants, this figure is twice as much - the American manufacturer Gotta Groove Records stamps 80,000 records per month. And vinyl giants like the Czech GZ Media produce up to one and a half million records a month, while not using all the presses available at the plant - and, apparently, they are not going to stop on the achieved results.

What is now losing vinyl

It is worth noting that the new wave of interest in vinyl "cheered up" and manufacturers of record players. Timofey Shikolenkov in one of the episodes of the podcast “Sound” actively discussed the theme of the myths about vinyl, including the topic of players:

It is worth understanding that those players who stand with grandparents, have served their time. The technologies have gone far ahead, and those players were not even domestic ones - they were mainly intended to reproduce fairy tales well. This is not what the mainstream is doing now - vinyl is released for those who are very fond of music.

"Love music very much" on the player "Electronics 3.2.3" will not work, because the quality of playback will be appropriate. This is the lowest level of domestic player, it is suitable for the museum.

- Timofey Shikolenkov

And if record manufacturers release vinyl mainly on old equipment, then at factories for the production of players everything is arranged according to the latest technology. For example, at the Clearaudio factory, which specializes in turntables, machines that need to be managed manually are used only for prototyping and training beginners (modern CNC machines are used in production).

By the way, in the very office of Clearaudio a huge family-owned (the company itself also grew out of the family business) library of vinyl records of classical music is kept (photo tour of the office and the Clearaudio factory is here: 1 , 2 ).

Vinyl as high art ...

So why did vinyl abruptly become so popular? Most likely, there are several reasons for this. First, the increased popularity of vinyl is associated with the perception of it as an “elite” carrier. In this case, elitism can be interpreted differently.

You can consider elitism as a synonym for money: if before a simple player was in almost every home, now a high-quality device for playing records can cost a lot. And this is not to mention the components, that the expensive player is, in fact, one of the iconic elements of the interior: having appeared in the room, it must take its “pedestal” and (along with the plates) forms a peculiar atmosphere around it.

This technique is skillfully played up in modern cinema. Truly a huge record library - one of the most powerful stylistic "centers of gravity" in the office of the "best lawyer in New York" Harvey Specter from the TV series Suits. And in the film “Mechanic” with Jason Statham, the record library and the vinyl player are not just the “heart” of the killer’s home, but also the full-fledged participants of the action movie (those who watched the movie immediately recall what they are talking about).

In both cases, the vinyl record player and the music collection are not only the decorators' way to declare the “status” of their owner, but also an interesting artistic technique, which makes it possible to reveal the character of the characters. Which brings us to the second variant of the interpretation of the concept of “elitism” of vinyl - vinyl as a symbol of elite culture (aristocratic, self-sufficient, fundamentally closed), implies that the process of listening is a kind of sacred act, a special ritual.

According to this view, those who choose vinyl as a musical medium are willing to spend time and energy preparing for drying (clean, wipe, blow off dust, take a place “in the first row”), and listen in this format not “anything but”, but only sweet heart melodies. This, in some way, even deliberate “ritual”, by the way, is beautifully shown in the same “Mechanics” - remember how much screen time there is given to the process of listening to a vinyl record.

In the case of vinyl there are some tactile sensations. It’s one thing to download a file, press a button and listen to it, another is to take an envelope from the shelf, remove a record from it, gently wipe the dust with a brush, put it on the player, turn on, enjoying the process

- Timofey Shikolenkov

Modern cinema loves to exploit images of a vinyl record and a record player as attributes of the rich life of a modern intellectual (by the way, in this case vinyl on movies, they don't usually listen to pop and rock, but jazz and classics are another pebble in a dandy garden) Such parallels can not fail to attract the attention of the audience.

... And as a subculture

At the other end of the spectrum of vinyl fans is a subculture, just the opposite - young hipsters, active participants in the “musical party”. For them, vinyl as a symbol carries a completely different emotional charge and its popularity is formed from other components.

Firstly, vinyl is a living testimony of the “retro era” - and within this subculture everything that has something to do with the “vintage past” is highly respected.

Secondly, the youth subculture (be it hipsters or other characteristic representatives) appreciates everything independent: be it indie labels, independent young performers, small (and, of course, independent) music stores selling fruits of the labor of these same musicians and labels ( An excellent cine-like image of such a representative of vinyl fans from among the youth subcultures, completely opposite to the image of a rich dandy, was embodied on the screen by Jesse Eisenberg in Ultra-Americans.

That is why in the USA, for example, modern production of vinyl very often leads to the centers of attraction of modern youth subculture: for example, Cascade Record Pressing has settled near the city of Portland, famous for its strong music scene.

Many people attribute the success of United Record Pressing in Nashville to the fact that this city, with its historical connection to country music, attracts musicians - including those popular with young people (in Nashville, for example, Yelawolf recorded the latest album of American country rapper - he came out including vinyl).

The local community is the mother of pop music too. We do not run from modern technology. It just seems to us that using a ribbon microphone or analog tape is much more romantic. On the other hand, it is harder to work this way - and this, on the contrary, is good, because it adds value to the final result.

- Ben Swank, co-founder of Third Man Records

“Related materials” also play a significant role in the popularization of vinyl among young people - Jack White's Lazaretto album, already mentioned above, for example, came out on vinyl accompanied by a 40-page booklet, a poster and photographs. In such a company (vinyl packaging is almost always a serious job for a designer) the record becomes an artifact - rather a symbol than an information carrier.

Exactly the same role is played by modern technologies in the production of the plate itself - for example, the American vinyl manufacturing company Gotta Groove produces 40% of its entire production in color (PVC granules used for the production of a plate (in this case, the plate, judging by everything, will be Pink colour).

Employees of Gotta Groove note that with the current level of technology, a variety of objects and substances can be “sealed” into the disc - and musicians (as well as their audience) perceive this idea with great enthusiasm. For example, the factory received orders for the creation of transparent vinyl records, in the body of which the performers wanted to place the ashes from the burnt Bible, finely chopped bills and even blood (for most of these proposals, the manufacturers of the records refuse to do so).

Naturally, such a bright (and in some cases even frightening) object ceases to be perceived as a musical carrier - a souvenir whose place is framed on the wall (in this case, even the absence of a player is not a hindrance when making a decision to buy a record).

Vinyl today is a philosophy, a collectible, a choice of independent music lovers and just a musical medium with its own characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. Let us hope that he is with us seriously and for a long time - whatever the reason for his return.