Vinyl Is Selling So Well That It’s Getting Hard to Sell Vinyl...vinyl records are now the music industry’s most popular and highest-grossing physical format. Getting them manufactured, however, is increasingly a challenge.

NY Times ^ | October 21, 2021 | Ben Sisario

[DoodleBob]

...Left for dead with the advent of CDs in the 1980s, vinyl records are now the music industry’s most popular and highest-grossing physical format, with fans choosing it for collectibility, sound quality or simply the tactile experience of music in an age of digital ephemerality. After growing steadily for more than a decade, LP sales exploded during the pandemic.

In the first six months of this year, 17 million vinyl records were sold in the United States, generating $467 million in retail revenue, nearly double the amount from the same period in 2020, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Sixteen million CDs were also sold in the first half of 2021, worth just $205 million. Physical recordings are now just a sliver of the overall music business — streaming is 84 percent of domestic revenue — but they can be a strong indication of fan loyalty...

Yet there are worrying signs that the vinyl bonanza has exceeded the industrial capacity needed to sustain it. Production logjams and a reliance on balky, decades-old pressing machines have led to what executives say are unprecedented delays. A couple of years ago, a new record could be turned around in a few months; now it can take up to a year...

...

Music and manufacturing experts cite a variety of factors behind the holdup. The pandemic shut down many plants for a time, and problems in the global supply chain have slowed the movement of everything from cardboard and polyvinyl chloride — the “vinyl” that records (and plumbing pipes) are made from — to finished albums. In early 2020, a fire destroyed one of only two plants in the world that made lacquer discs, an essential part of the record-making process.

[hardspunned]

I might be able to find an old scratchy copy of In-a-gatta-da-vida. What do you think it’s worth?

[Gay State Conservative]

I've had a serious love of music...just about every kind of music...since I was a kid. I've spent tons of $$$ on equipment and LPs. But with the advent of CDs,CD burners and my area's library network I've amassed a collection of about 6,000 songs,all in perfect fidelity (with no pops),most of which I love. And I can play them in my car and on my phone!

LP's? No thanks! CDs are one bit of modernity that I love.

[LastDayz]

Nice.... played with one of those when I was a teenager and first heard The James Gang - Walk Away among other great bands of that era.

[rolling_stone]

I've still got vinyl, tape (2 track Teac) and tubes..to go along with my compact discs and digital audio. I can tell the difference between digital and good quality vinyl (even though my hearing is not what it used to be) sometimes you see in you mind where the different instruments are on the stage imo better sound stage and sound imaging..the tubes add warmth and may actually be less accurate but more pleasing to the ear..they also help heat the house in winter and give off a pleasing red-orange glow.

[entropy12]

Now you tell me! I gave away my collection of 500+ vinyl records to a church donation place, 10 years back.

[rktman]

I got some tapes.

[Ben Hecks]

...and to think I tossed my Garrard Linear Tracking turntable.

You too? I moved and gave away all my vinyl and a linear tracking turntable made by Pioneer coupied from a more expensive unit. Later sold my 4 chan discrete open reel which I still regret.

[Fledermaus]

Duh NY Times, vinyl went dead so pressing companies went bye bye.

[Fledermaus]

Same here.

[Gay State Conservative]

I went Beta,VHS,Laserdisc,DVD,Bluray and now 4K. Lots of $$$!

I had a similar journey with music...LP,reel-to-reel,cassette,CD,SACD and DVD-Audio.

[Not_Who_U_Think]

Re: 70’s crappy vinyl. I think that the 1973 oil shortage spurred the degrading of the vinyl used for records. 45s from the 60s are practically indestructible - although they were so hard they sometimes cracked.

When they went to a cheaper formula, not only did they warp, but the grooves turned into garbage after a few plays. Radio stations had a heck of a time trying to keep up with cue-burned records. Something with a quiet beginning, after being cue-ed up on a turntable a couple of times, had a terrible scratchy sound. Certain companies (Columbia, I’m looking at you) were particularly poor quality.

[ArcadeQuarters]

Same. The hipsters can go back to scratches, skips and hiss.

[one guy in new jersey]

How’d you keep the jewel case hinges from breaking, eventually causing CDs to scatter hither and yon? Hated that problem and it prevented me from continuing to purchase CDs after being a reasonably avid vinyl LP collector.

[Bubba_Leroy]

Here is a republished copy of the same article without a paywall.

Vinyl Is Selling So Well That It's Getting Hard to Sell Vinyl

[SamAdams76]

Now that takes me back. The reel-to-reels.

Used to tape hours of music right off the radio onto those reels. In particular Casey Kasem's Top 40 and the Dr. Demento Show. As well as something called the King Biscuit Flower Hour (and for years I thought it was "King Biscuit Flour Hour").

[Tijeras_Slim]

I hope not. I still have 8TSD. There are some songs I uncontrollably flinch expecting the “click”.

[Mark17]

Digital only for me too. 😀😊👍

[one guy in new jersey]

Tell me, though, that you did not appreciate the comforting sound of bacon cooking on the grill to be found in the backing track of this tune:

Robert Plant

Your Ma Said You Cried In Your Sleep Last Night

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eo-e8rZFjKk

[Gay State Conservative]

I always treated my LP's as if they were delicate,ditto my CD's.I have them all categorized (title,artist,etc) in an Access file and stored on a great storage shelf.

[CivilWarBrewing]

I still cherish my Hendrix ‘Electric Ladyland’ double LP with the naked ladies on the cover by Polydor, hehehe