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50% of U.S. vinyl buyers don't own a record player

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Re: 50% of U.S. vinyl buyers don't own a record player

#241
post #102
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sometimes see how artists who I follow on Bandcamp write about their struggle with ordering the production of vinyls, shipping delays and troubles, etc. I'd rather them spend this time on doing their art, or going on with their lives. If you want to give an artist a token of appreciation, send them money . I always increase the suggested price of an album or track on Bandcamp to some interesting-looking number. To…

I struggle to figure out how you came to the conclusion that a soulless money transaction is somehow comparable to buying a custom made vinyl album someone spent time on.

The cover might gotten the relevant input from the band but the vinyl itself has only a handful of options and plenty of them are just black.

But come on do you listen to music of a band becase they are great in taking pictures? Or because they are really really good in standing next to a vinyl press?

No

You appreiciate their music and you don't need a commercial token to do so.

Re: 50% of U.S. vinyl buyers don't own a record player

#242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mispelled cassette

> cassette cassette can get to fuck. They were and always are, a shit medium.

I spent too much of my life rewinding cassettes with a pencil to save batteries, get right to fuck.

Re: 50% of U.S. vinyl buyers don't own a record player

#243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m increasingly conscious of being an outlier here. I prefer physical, for a variety of reasons (ownership being one of them), but also prefer CD to vinyl. Nobody loves CDs any more and I don’t get it. I own vinyl, I like vinyl, but CDs are objectively better and somewhat easier to store.

I love both for different reasons. CDs sound better, they can be ripped and archived and can be carried around without any loss in their digital form. On the other hand, vinyl is great for intentional listening. Putting that hour aside to brew a nice cup of coffee and listen to something while exploring the feelings the album evoke, then get a break to flip/change the record and continue. It's a kind of personal care…

> CDs are for listening to the music, and vinyl is for listening to yourself

This is amazing

Re: 50% of U.S. vinyl buyers don't own a record player

#244

Guilty party, here. I feel I can explain myself though, or at least offer context about why I own about a dozen records and no way whatsoever to play them. I’m a recovering audiophile. I got into the hobby because I enjoy technology in its myriad aspects, and had discovered that good speakers can make things sound better . As I began accruing CDs and re-ripping into lossless audio, I also began collecting vinyls via…

You are not a recovering audiophile at all, you are still fully in that rabbithole. Instead of enjoying music you ramble about your neighbor shaking and isolation etc.

You also didn't pivoted into preservation, it just happened because of whatever 'audiophile' thinking you think you have.

At the end you just stream music as everyone else.

Which is fine.

Re: 50% of U.S. vinyl buyers don't own a record player

#245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But sadly often horrible mastering.

That’s not the mediums fault. I’m sure during the 70s and 80s there were equally horrible vinyl masterings.

The mastering problems the early CDs suffered from was the move to analog to digital.

Re: 50% of U.S. vinyl buyers don't own a record player

#247

I oversee pressing for over 150k+ records a year. We eliminated download cards a while ago because the redemption rate was so low. I wouldn’t doubt if the number of buyers who don’t own a record player is even higher tha 50%, and that the percentage of people who actually play the records is actually 10-20%. I don’t have data on that, it’s just a hunch. Many of us in the indie music industry (hip hop sustained record…

I buy vinyl for the album cover. If somebody were to sell me a digital download which also ships me an empty slipcase, I would buy it, for almost the same price that I pay for vinyl. I do have the record player, but I don't think I've used it more than a dozen days in my life. There's a lot of value to the physical artifact, but the precise nature of the physical artifact is up for playing with.

The best example to me why I buy vinyl without a record player is the Flying Lotus - Your Dead album art. It is an incredible work of art:

https://www.turntablelab.com/products/flying-lotus-youre-dea...

More and more though I would rather just buy merch to support the artist.

Re: 50% of U.S. vinyl buyers don't own a record player

#248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am the youngster in this case and I am going to tell you something but we really need to move off of spotify. I never really got onto spotify. I was always the youtube kind of guy, although I recently started listening to youtube music when I realized that my youtube feed was being impacted and youtube music's a better way to listen I guess We really need to get to pen-drives first before CD as well I guess. Like d…

> If someone is forced to buy a CD player just to play CD's, it just adds more friction I recently had a relative complain that they have to find and buy a CD player to listen to their music when they aren't in the car. I pointed out that they already have several in their home. Multiple game consoles and their bluray player supported playing CDs. The loss of CD drives in computers is unfortunate, but the format is s…

I was bummed to find out the PS5 cannot play CDs. Ended up buying an Onkyo CD player that I like and it wasn't very expensive, but it would be nice to not have another black rectangle in my living room.

Re: 50% of U.S. vinyl buyers don't own a record player

#249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was going to ask, when are the youngsters going to discover CDs? Much less prone to degradation to vinyl, lossless ripping, superior quality.

If it is to happen, CDs and CD packaging would need a rebranding. Part of vinyl popularity is the large sleeve surface that provides a large canvas for a piece of art. Another part is that you get a physically large analogue object that, while previously would be cumbersome, has become interesting in a heavily digital age.

My daughter is in to K-Pop and they do an excellent job on CD packaging. It's sometimes a very high quality photo book.

Re: 50% of U.S. vinyl buyers don't own a record player

#250

I oversee pressing for over 150k+ records a year. We eliminated download cards a while ago because the redemption rate was so low. I wouldn’t doubt if the number of buyers who don’t own a record player is even higher tha 50%, and that the percentage of people who actually play the records is actually 10-20%. I don’t have data on that, it’s just a hunch. Many of us in the indie music industry (hip hop sustained record…

> It’s a lot of plastic. A lot of waste. Compared to the plastic waste produced daily it's a drop in the ocean. And at least this is kept and collected. > even though it arguably is the best and easiest income generator for artists Digital is nowhere "the best and easiest income generator" for musicians. A common complain from musicians is how, with the advent of online music, sales craterred, and musicians despite h…

I will spend more in a month on a digital download at times than what I would've paid Spotify in years.
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