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Vinyl getting priceier as CDs get cheaper?
 

offline Ceri JC from Jefferson City (United States) on 2007-01-05 03:52 [#02026667]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Show recordbag



I've noticed that CDs (particularly albums) are getting
increasingly cheaper, to the point where they're now what I
consider a fair price for an album (around £9).

Vinyl singles/EPS, however, seem to be getting more and more
pricey. Strangely, Vinyl albums are staying about the same.

Could the difference in price be down to companies knowing
that cds are generally bought by more casual fans (the ones
who are more likely to pirate the music instead if it's too
expensive), whereas those who collect vinyl are likely to be
prepared to pay more/not pirate it?

Is it just that there's less demand for vinyl, so pressing
costs have risen?


 

offline hanal from k_maty only (United Kingdom) on 2007-01-05 03:58 [#02026670]
Points: 13379 Status: Lurker | Followup to Ceri JC: #02026667 | Show recordbag



people are just not buying vinyl anymore,there of course
will always be the hardcore fans.
since buying final scratch,i myself have only been buying
cds,apart from the odd 12".


 

offline w M w from London (United Kingdom) on 2007-01-05 03:59 [#02026671]
Points: 21452 Status: Lurker



That hat seems to make your incredibly small head seem
almost normal sized.


 

offline Ceri JC from Jefferson City (United States) on 2007-01-05 04:15 [#02026675]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to hanal: #02026670 | Show recordbag



Do you now buy CDs and mp3 them yourself? What vinyl do you
still buy, 12" only releases? I think it's only a matter of
time before I get a final scratch/Serato, I just paid £70
for 12 Singles/EPs and can't really justify the cost any
more. :(


 

offline hanal from k_maty only (United Kingdom) on 2007-01-05 04:27 [#02026679]
Points: 13379 Status: Lurker | Followup to Ceri JC: #02026675 | Show recordbag



to be honest,its the second hand 12" market that still
interests me.
i like to spend a couple of hours in vinyl exchange on a
sunday.
but even doing that works out far to expensive,so yeah i
think buying vinyl scratch does indeed pay for itsself over
a short time.
and of course,studio perfect mixes done live is a great
bonus.


 

offline hanal from k_maty only (United Kingdom) on 2007-01-05 04:28 [#02026680]
Points: 13379 Status: Lurker | Show recordbag



every time i go to a mates house now i take the macbook and
rape the cd collection.


 

offline Ceri JC from Jefferson City (United States) on 2007-01-05 04:42 [#02026683]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to hanal: #02026679 | Show recordbag



The only reason I've not done it sooner is when I've pirated
things before (music software aside) I've not really valued
them. When I had my playstation/dreamcast and gameboy
chipped, I played them less than before, even though I had
more games. I suppose I'm worried the same would happen with
music. IE I'd end up DLing loads and never listening to it
all.


 

offline Drunken Mastah from OPPERKLASSESVIN!!! (Norway) on 2007-01-05 05:34 [#02026690]
Points: 35867 Status: Lurker | Show recordbag



I think someone linked an article saying that the world was
running out of vinyl.

also check the weight of the vinyls; you pay per gram.


 

offline Combo from Sex on 2007-01-05 05:52 [#02026693]
Points: 7540 Status: Regular



I still purchase CDs (mainly albums) and Vinyls (mainly
Singles/EPs). As soon as I started to listen to music with
my awesome (expensive) handphones, I (really) realized that
the mp3 sound was just not as good as CDs/Vinyls. And I
prefer vinyls over CDs becuz the sound is even better. So I
guess I'll go on purchasing vinyls (new and second hand) as
long as they are sold and don't cost too much money. But I
don't mind purchasing CDs when the Vinyls are not
available.

By the way, I noticed that I listen to the music with much
more attention when I play a Vinyl than when I play a CD and
a lot more than when i play mp3s (that I (shamefully) often
don't play from start to finish). I believe that it's just a
problem with not being able to wait and it doesn't depend on
he format, but as a matter of fact, I'm a lot more patient
with Vinyls so I enjoy music more with them and that makes
me think that they are better.

It's pure nonsense for me to blindy follow the advances of
technology if it's only to listen to music the best way
possible. the bad sound quality is one of the reasons why
I'm strongly against all those ringtones and also against
walkmen. I'm also one of those who prefer paying for seing a
film at the movies on a wide screen rather than watching at
home on divX, and that isn't (only) a matter of Law there.

To conclude, I'll be glad to be able to listen to music on a
new format, where the sound quality is at least as good as
Vinyl (DVD audio or something) but I'd regret the Vinyl
sensation (unbeatable in my opinion when you DJ), the
beautiful large artwork and the feeling that you're special
because you listen to Vinyls (are we more than 0.01 % of the
population?); and of course there'd also be a bit of
melancholy...


 

offline Combo from Sex on 2007-01-05 05:54 [#02026694]
Points: 7540 Status: Regular | Followup to Combo: #02026693



*if it's not (paragraph 3, line 2)


 

offline Brisk from selling smack at the orphanage on 2007-01-05 06:08 [#02026697]
Points: 4667 Status: Lurker



Quite simply, vinyl manufacturing costs a fortune. I used to
work for a record label and they normally pressed about
500-1000 copies of each record. When you combine
manufacturing costs with distribution fees, you're not gonna
make much money. In fact, unless they sold all the copies of
the record, they struggled to break even.

They have since entered the digital download market and they
make much more money from MP3 sales. I spoke with them about
it and they said pretty much every independent dance label
is in the same situation.

I predict in about 5-10 years (and possibly much sooner),
digital downloads will make up the bulk of music sales,
surpassing even CD. It is a real shame for the vinyl market
as I love the medium (and still buy shitloads of it), but
its is just too expensive for artists/labels to manufacture
and increasingly too expensive for DJ's and collectors to
buy. A deadly combination!


 

offline 1up from greater manchester (United Kingdom) on 2007-01-05 06:15 [#02026699]
Points: 2302 Status: Regular | Followup to Brisk: #02026697



aw shit. i'm gonna bin all my records now.


 

offline Combo from Sex on 2007-01-05 06:22 [#02026702]
Points: 7540 Status: Regular



I hope that true music lovers would never pay for cheaty
quality music. Time will reveal the true music lovers and
distinguish them from the people who just listen to music
because it's trendy.


 

offline Ceri JC from Jefferson City (United States) on 2007-01-05 06:24 [#02026705]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to Brisk: #02026697 | Show recordbag



Have vinyl pressing costs as a whole dramatically increased,
or is it because (generally) fewer copies are pressed
nowadays (now that vinyl is a dying medium) and that it
costs a lot for the inital set up for a vinyl run, but then
less (per record) for larger runs (of which there are no
longer many)?


 

offline goDel from ɐpʎǝx (Seychelles) on 2007-01-05 06:29 [#02026709]
Points: 10225 Status: Lurker



Vinyl singles/EPS, however, seem to be getting more and
more
pricey. Strangely, Vinyl albums are staying about the same.


That's probably because pressing singles costs as much as
pressing albums nowadays. The cost is less in the content,
but more in the disc itself. And in that aspect there's not
much difference between a single and an album. Don't hold my
word for it though. I'm not an expert!


 

offline Brisk from selling smack at the orphanage on 2007-01-05 06:32 [#02026710]
Points: 4667 Status: Lurker | Followup to Ceri JC: #02026705



Lemme see if I can find a quote w/cost breakdown.


 

offline goDel from ɐpʎǝx (Seychelles) on 2007-01-05 06:37 [#02026712]
Points: 10225 Status: Lurker | Followup to Ceri JC: #02026705



This is an interesting read: LAZY_TITLE

It has got lots to do with the higher oil-prices apparently.


 

offline Brisk from selling smack at the orphanage on 2007-01-05 06:40 [#02026713]
Points: 4667 Status: Lurker



Lacquer Cut
0 £0.00

Delivery
0 £0.00

Processing
1 all metalwork positve and stampers a+b £125.00

Test Pressings
10 test pressing (min. 10) £15.00

Delivery of Tests
1 standard £8.75

Setup Charge 0 £0.00

Runs
600 12" unit £312.00

Sleeve Printing
0

Films
0 £0.00

Plates
0 £0.00

Pantones
0 £0.00

Finish
0
Sleeve Shipping
0 £0.00

Stock Sleeves
0 £0.00

Inners
600 white paper inners £18.00
Sleeving Charge
0 £0.00

Centre Labels
1 1000 x 1 col £85.00

Stickers
0 £0.00
Sticker Charge
0 £0.00

Inserts
0 £0.00

Extra Printwork
0 £0.00

Export Cartons
5 export carton £3.95

Destinations
1 First box £4.80

Quantity
4 further export box delivery £14.40

Additional Costs 0 £0.00

s

total price ex vat £586.90

vat@17.5% £102.71

TOTAL PRICE INC VAT £689.61

----

Note that laquer cutting/mastering isn't included here as
the boys master elsewhere. So slap another £100-200 on that
price.

Also worthy of note is this is for 600 12" records with only
paper inners and 1 colour center labels (aka grayscale or a
single pantone). AKA the bare minimum. If you want 4 colour
center labels and lavish printed sleeves/stickers, you're
gonna be paying MUCH more. And after all this, distributors
get most of the money from your records. Great huh?


 

offline goDel from ɐpʎǝx (Seychelles) on 2007-01-05 06:41 [#02026714]
Points: 10225 Status: Lurker | Followup to goDel: #02026712



Lots of redundant text, so here's the important part:

The plastic resins that vinyl records are made of are of
course fossil fuel based. And since most of us live at some
distance from a pressing plant shipping costs will continue
to increase. Likewise, postage costs will no doubt be
increased repeatedly to cover rising fuel costs in the
coming years. There seems to be big resistance to pay much
higher prices for records, as prices have gone up a lot just
in the past few years. While I think it's some times easier
to rationalize a higher record price than a higher door
price at a gig, I am concerned that rise in price will just
mean fewer people bother to buy records at all. Which brings
me to the digital music craze. I must admit that I've warmed
up to digital music quite a bit over the past few years.
While I am 100% a vinyl record collector, I can see the
efficacy of trading digital music files. From an
environmental perspective I think the world would be vastly
better off without most of the CD and vinyl in circulation
today and just go straight to digital format. That said,
hardcore belongs on 7" vinyl, the most crucial format.



 

offline Brisk from selling smack at the orphanage on 2007-01-05 06:45 [#02026715]
Points: 4667 Status: Lurker



In comparison, digital downloads cost the artist/label
exactly NOTHING. And places like beatport/traxsource give
the artist/label a much larger share of the sale price than
you'd get from actual distributors.

This is why the digital download market is so tempting right
now. I mean, beatport is built right into Traktor...


 

offline goDel from ɐpʎǝx (Seychelles) on 2007-01-05 06:47 [#02026717]
Points: 10225 Status: Lurker | Followup to Ceri JC: #02026705



In other words, it looks like it that the size of the
pressings is not the key-factor for vinyl being so expensive
nowadays. The whole logistics proces behind making and
distributing records is getting more and more expensive,
regardless of the amounts that are being pressed.


 

offline Ceri JC from Jefferson City (United States) on 2007-01-05 06:54 [#02026720]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to Brisk: #02026715 | Show recordbag



Thing is, I know how little it costs them to make/host mp3s,
so I resent paying "near CD" prices. £7.00 for a DL of an
album when you can get the cd for £8.00 is a joke. I'd be
far more inclined to buy mp3s priced at about 40p a track or
£3.50 for an album. From the sounds of it, even at that
price the artist would still make more than from a vinyl
release.

Ta for the info on vinyl costs goDel and Brisk.


 

offline goDel from ɐpʎǝx (Seychelles) on 2007-01-05 06:56 [#02026721]
Points: 10225 Status: Lurker



From an environmental perspective I think the
world would be vastly better off without most of the CD and
vinyl in circulation today and just go straight to digital
format.


Interesting. Never thought of it that way.


 

offline goDel from ɐpʎǝx (Seychelles) on 2007-01-05 07:01 [#02026724]
Points: 10225 Status: Lurker | Followup to Ceri JC: #02026720



In other words, there are HUGE margins in the digital
downloads-industry. Prices are held high artificially by the
normal music-industry. To keep the buying of real cds/vinyl
interesting for the buyer, the prices of the digital
downloads have to be comparable to the music you buy in
normal stores. Even though, selling digitally costs a
fraction of selling the real deal, so to speak.


 

offline Combo from Sex on 2007-01-05 07:01 [#02026726]
Points: 7540 Status: Regular | Followup to goDel: #02026721



You'll need more hard drives tough.


 

offline Brisk from selling smack at the orphanage on 2007-01-05 07:02 [#02026727]
Points: 4667 Status: Lurker



I agree regading album prices. I do think most digital
download sites charge way too much for albums. But standard
single/ep downloads (as in, the 3-4 tracks you'd find on the
12") normally work out at about £2.99 or thereabouts which
isn't so bad.

Remember though, the artists/label will still make more
money from digitial download sales than vinyl/cd sales. So
if you want to support them more, digital seems to be the
way!

Personally, I buy vinyl singles/eps and CD albums. I will
only buy web releases if they're web exclusives (which is
becoming increasingly more common btw).

I also rip everything to MP3 anyway to listen on my
computer/portable player. Ripping 12" singles takes long
enough, but 2xLP albums just takes the piss really,
especially when you consider the ammount of post-recording
editing that needs to be done too. Hence why I prefer CD's
for albums.


 

offline goDel from ɐpʎǝx (Seychelles) on 2007-01-05 07:02 [#02026728]
Points: 10225 Status: Lurker | Followup to Combo: #02026726



And those ARE getting cheaper and cheaper, of course.


 

offline Ceri JC from Jefferson City (United States) on 2007-01-05 07:16 [#02026736]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to Brisk: #02026727 | Show recordbag



I must admit, unless it's a particulary good track on the
album that hasn't been released on 12" elsewhere, I tend to
get CD versions of albums these days.


 

offline Combo from Sex on 2007-01-05 07:41 [#02026753]
Points: 7540 Status: Regular | Followup to goDel: #02026728



Yeah, but from an environmental point of view?


 

offline goDel from ɐpʎǝx (Seychelles) on 2007-01-05 07:45 [#02026757]
Points: 10225 Status: Lurker | Followup to Combo: #02026753



From the environmental point of view it seems better to buy
one harddrive of 1 TB, than buying all the albums you could
put on that harddrive, don't you think.


 

offline Ceri JC from Jefferson City (United States) on 2007-01-05 07:51 [#02026761]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to goDel: #02026757 | Show recordbag



I agree. I think DVDs may go the same way (DL and stored on
a v. big HD) eventually.


 

offline goDel from ɐpʎǝx (Seychelles) on 2007-01-05 07:55 [#02026763]
Points: 10225 Status: Lurker



I think I'm going to buy some stocks of harddrive
manufacturers. Business is booming, and will be even more
booming in the future! All intellectual property will be
shared over the internet instead of actual carriers like
cds.


 

offline goDel from ɐpʎǝx (Seychelles) on 2007-01-05 08:02 [#02026765]
Points: 10225 Status: Lurker



On a tangent, I hope Bleep will focus more on the
distribution of lossless formats. If everything would be
available lossless, I'll forget about cd's completely.
They're a waste of space anyways. One harddrive, or hundreds
of cd's collecting dust. They're a waste of space AND of
natural resources.


 

offline Brisk from selling smack at the orphanage on 2007-01-05 08:23 [#02026767]
Points: 4667 Status: Lurker



speaking of hard drives...


 

offline dave_g from United Kingdom on 2007-01-05 08:43 [#02026773]
Points: 3372 Status: Lurker



I don't really like digital downloads. They are not
tangible. They have benefits and with flac are great
quality, but I would much rather have something real to hold
and look at.

I was listening to analord 5 lastnight, and it was nice to
go to my record collection, goto the afx section and pull
out a big wadge of records all with interesting pictures and
bits.

Maybe if digital downloads came with nice 12" sleeves with
decent artwork I would be a bigger fan....saying that I was
very impressed with kompakt when I downloaded GAS and
printed my own CD covers and bits, but that was because I
could burn a CD with cover, just wouldn't have been the same
if it was just some bytes on a HDD.


 

offline Chihiro from twins land on 2007-01-05 08:47 [#02026774]
Points: 4650 Status: Regular



i am really not looking forward to the day mp3's will
completely take over!!!


 

offline goDel from ɐpʎǝx (Seychelles) on 2007-01-05 09:06 [#02026777]
Points: 10225 Status: Lurker | Followup to dave_g: #02026773



Although I understand where you're coming from, this need to
be able to hold something and look at it, is just a habit.
That physical value is mostly emotional. Whenever the price
you'd have to pay to be able to hold something, is becoming
far higher than the need to actually hold it, this emotional
need will vanish like snow in the sun. And that moment WILL
come. Prices are getting higher and higher. There's no way
back.
Rationally speaking, it's better to get rid of cd's
immediately. There's absolutely no need for them, apart from
the emotional value.


 

offline dave_g from United Kingdom on 2007-01-05 09:21 [#02026780]
Points: 3372 Status: Lurker | Followup to goDel: #02026777



Emotions make us human.
I don't want an empty house with a machine which is the TV,
computer, music machine, hub, whatever. and no possesions
cos they're digital now... ooh lovely, where's the Borg to
digitise me too?

It's really quite bad, but I think technology peaked in the
80's.


 

offline Ceri JC from Jefferson City (United States) on 2007-01-05 09:27 [#02026785]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to dave_g: #02026780 | Show recordbag



I agree. How far do you take it? Is it foolish to have
posters/prints/photos on your walls as they can all be
stored on the PC? What about books, should I replace
hundreds of books with ebooks too? What about decorative
qualities in furniture- perhaps it ought to be 100%
functional to save on raw materials?

Enviromentalist puritanism must stop! :D

"Whenever the price
you'd have to pay to be able to hold something, is becoming

far higher than the need to actually hold it, this emotional

need will vanish like snow in the sun."


goDel: Once you talk really silly money, yes that's true,
but think of record collectors now. You get people who are
prepared to pay £500 for a rare record (and not all of
these are the super rich- I've met some people who live in
tiny houses and drive bangers, but have at least one £100+
record), rather than a bootleg for free. This would suggest
that the price threshold is some way off.


 

offline goDel from ɐpʎǝx (Seychelles) on 2007-01-05 09:28 [#02026786]
Points: 10225 Status: Lurker | Followup to dave_g: #02026780



I don't think you've got my point. I wasn't saying we should
deny our emotions and buy mp3's, but that the point will
come that the price that we have to pay becomes higher than
the need to physically hold a cd. With the effect we rather
buy our music digitally. And that's a consequence of the
emotios which make us human, as you were saying.


 

offline goDel from ɐpʎǝx (Seychelles) on 2007-01-05 09:35 [#02026789]
Points: 10225 Status: Lurker | Followup to Ceri JC: #02026785



Those collectors are extreme cases. You're talking about 2%
of the market at most. For 75% of the market that threshold
is much lower. As a counterexample to your collecters, some
people already prefer digital music over physical,
collectible items. Saying that's 2% of the market as well is
not far fetched.


 

offline goDel from ɐpʎǝx (Seychelles) on 2007-01-05 09:50 [#02026798]
Points: 10225 Status: Lurker | Followup to goDel: #02026789



Moreover, those collectors will pay those big bucks only for
specific records. Not music in general.
Personally, I think we're already near that threshold. I'm
not addressing specific instances. Everybody will have his
own thresholds. Most people will even have different
thresholds for different music. But in general that
threshold is pretty close. If the music industry would
decide to raise the prices of normal albums with 5 bucks,
but the prices of digital albums would stay the same, there
would be a significant increase of digitally sold albums.


 

offline Combo from Sex on 2007-01-05 10:29 [#02026810]
Points: 7540 Status: Regular



By jumping on the "convenient" bandwagon, you guy surely
accelerate the death of vinyls, cds and physical formats.


 

offline Combo from Sex on 2007-01-05 10:34 [#02026813]
Points: 7540 Status: Regular



As a matter of fact, when you download a MP3 (or lossless
format) on soulseek then decide to purchase the vinyl, you
actually have something different in your hands. When you
download a mp3 on soulseek then decided to purchase the MP3
(or lossless format), you only have the same thing in your
hand. In my opinion, that won't prevent music lovers from
purchasing MP3 because the genuine music lovers probably
want to support the artists. But that could prevent other
people from purchasing their music.


 

offline futureimage from buy FIR from Juno (United Kingdom) on 2007-01-05 10:36 [#02026814]
Points: 6427 Status: Lurker



I made a rule for myself:-
If I can get it on good quality vinyl for the same price
(ish) as the CD, I'll get the vinyl.


 

offline Combo from Sex on 2007-01-05 10:37 [#02026815]
Points: 7540 Status: Regular



No need to add: "what if your hard drive crash?".


 

offline Combo from Sex on 2007-01-05 10:39 [#02026817]
Points: 7540 Status: Regular



Next Chrismas, I'm gonna offer my nephew a bunch of those
Autechre MP3s and pretend I paid for them.


 

offline goDel from ɐpʎǝx (Seychelles) on 2007-01-05 10:53 [#02026825]
Points: 10225 Status: Lurker | Followup to Combo: #02026813



That's probably the most important question the music
industry is dealing with now. Would people still be willing
to pay for music, if that music was sold only digitally.
What would the effects of a purely digital market be? Would
it still be profitable?
Personally, I agree with you. If the market was purely
digital, people would still be willing to pay for their
music. Or at least as willing as they are today. Perhaps
even more willing if the industry would lower the prices.
And in a purely digital market that shouldn't be a problem
at all.
Current industry seems to try to keep the situation as it is
today as long as they can. Until the market is purely
digital, they're able to keep the prices of digital music
artificially high. And worse, they're convincing politicians
they should raise tax on harddisks for the music industry.
The industry is playing a dirty game.


 

offline w M w from London (United Kingdom) on 2007-01-05 11:02 [#02026829]
Points: 21452 Status: Lurker



We will get to the bottom of this economic mystery.


 

offline Combo from Sex on 2007-01-05 11:14 [#02026836]
Points: 7540 Status: Regular | Followup to goDel: #02026825



To be frank, I'll be glad that the music industry completely
implode, perhaps we'll have a better support for the artists
and not for the people who make big money by exploiting art.


 


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