Posted on 01/06/2009 12:43:43 PM PST by weegee
Sales of the vinyl single are now back up above the million mark in the UK
Downloads and iPods are all very well, but for many musicians, your latest song just hasn't been released until it's been forced on to a small, grooved plastic disc at a pressure of more than 2,000 lb per square inch.
...The 45 rpm single is about to reach its 60th anniversary and despite repeated predictions of its demise, sales are rising once again...
Most people think of records as being made of black plastic, but it turns out that coloured vinyl is as old as the seven-inch single itself.
The first 45 rpm disc, Texarkana Baby by country-and-western singer Eddy Arnold, was issued by RCA in the US on 31 March 1949.
It was made of green vinyl, as part of an early attempt to colour-code singles according to the genre of music they featured. Others included red for classical music and yellow for children's songs.
...Seven-inch sales peaked in the UK in 1979, when a staggering 89 million of them were sold, but once the CD hit the market, vinyl of all kinds went into sharp decline. In 2001, annual singles sales dipped below 180,000.
...But who is actually buying all these singles? According to the British Phonographic Industry, which represents the British music business, a new generation of bands is attracting younger buyers.
...The BPI admits that seven-inch singles may be even more popular than its figures suggest, since they are based on shops that report to the Official UK Charts Company, which compiles the weekly Top 40.
As it acknowledges, many singles are sold through specialist retailers, which do not necessarily have their sales figures canvassed for the charts...
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Turn tables have made a comeback in recent years. Easy to find, Bed Bath and Beyond was selling two different models for a while (I’m guessing they were part of “beyond”). CDs still can’t beat the rich sound of vinyl, or the ritualistic aspect of prepping vinyl for play.
Did you use Sony Sound Forge to removed the scratches and pops? It does a pretty good job of cleaning MP3 recordings made from records.
He just sold a 34' boat (sleeps 6) named, DILLIGAF.
gnip...
>>Dead cat bounce?<<
Although I am a vinyl fan, I suspect you are right. The chart implies a “very slowly fading” fad over the last three years.
Playing vinyl is an experience. It forces you to listen to the music. If you are going to go to all that trouble between songs (or between sides on LPs), and that needle wear, you should be enjoying it.
However, as people work through the “actively listening” phase and get back to the 21st century paradigm that listening to prerecorded music is something you do “while you are doing something else” the hassle of flipping records, buying expensive needles/cartridges, etc. will move people back to what is convenient.
Vinyl sounds better than CDs only insomuch as the original masters from which the pressings are made are not victims of the current loudness war. Cd’s that are not victims of this war pretty much blow all vinyl out of the water.
I currently have a little under 600 albums of pretty much all genres, three turntables (two of which are extremely good), six cartridges, and whenever I sit down to just “listen to music” it is either vinyl or open reel. The lions share of my actual listening is MP3 from Limewire.
Oh, loudness war here. It is real: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=loudness+war&aq=0&oq=LOUDNESS+
>>You can still buy turntables. I have seen them in Best Buy and Circuit City.<<
Heck, the place to buy a NEW turntable is Guitar Center.
They are all over the place on Craigslist. I’ve sold two myself.
>>Heck, I listened to music this weekend on MWT, Sr.s reel-to-reel player.<<
Enjoy it while you can. I came up against this with a few tapes: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=reel+squeal+binding&spell=1
Turns out open reel tapes are only good for a few decades. If you have the expensive backcoated tapes, fuggitaboutit. In my case, after playing one for about 30 seconds, my heads were all gummed up and had to be seriously cleaned.
NOS is worthless, depending on the brand.
>>Ive turned a lot of scratchy old vinyl into less scratchy MP3s!<<
I started to do that until I discovered it was faster to just find the songs on limewire. I let someone else do it and I just copy theirs.
I have a lot of Firesign Theater from limewire that was obviously pulled off vinyl.
These were from the 1960s.
Not sure what they are made out of. But stored in a constant 53 degree, medium humidity basement (which also happens to be our wine celler, which is why I know the temperature).
When I listen to vinyl or tapes it is like driving an MG TC on a country road. It aint a modern Porsche, but it has a different charm. It isn't about raw cornering g's.
Heck, which of these is "better"? I suppose it depends on what you want to do...
The MG, sure. But a Cayman? Pfft.
(For the record, I love Porsches. Have a 356 Pre-A, 550 (yes, real), 964 (pink, the second pink one we own, for Mrs. MWT, our most recent acquisition) and a 993Turbo).
Notice no water-cooled on the list.
I just threw that one out there... ;)
Revived 45 heads for 60th birthdayWhat did the heads say to the birthday celebrant?
LOL.
Oh, wait, never mind... [blush] the reason that link didn’t change color is that there’s a question mark in it... :’)
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