Why are records still around?
- Chloe Karis
- Oct 15, 2021
- 7 min read
You wouldn’t have heard it here first, but yes, vinyl records are back and if anything, more popular than ever.
Damian Rose, manager of Vinyl.com.au, Australia’s biggest online record store said he’s been in the industry since he was 16 and has been collecting vinyl for as long as he can remember.
“Setting a record to a player and hearing that thickness of sound and being able to examine and read the record’s sleeve and notes gives you a much closer relationship to the music and artist you are listening to,” he said. It’s great to search for music on your phone and find what you want but “there is something fun and romantic about searching through old crates of records in record stores and finding that gem of a lost album or something you didn’t even know existed”.
People are buying vinyl for authentic sound, artwork, colour, or picture discs. “Some of the colour variants are beautiful and much more exciting to the standard black vinyl releases in the past,” he said. Consumers find it exciting getting a new colour vinyl by your favourite artists and watching it spin on your record player. “Vinyl is [a] highly collectible format as well and these limited edition variants only increase in value,” he said.
Mr Rose loves getting a new album, “the excitement of unwrapping it and putting it on, I usually sit back and listen as I have a good look through the sleeve and album cover”.
Warwick Brown, owner of Greville Records, said vinyl is “the real thing and the [way] artists intend their music to be heard”. Streaming platforms almost “crippled the vinyl industry” but more recently they’ve “seen a massive surge in vinyl popularity and it continues to grow”, he said. “It’s vital to support musicians by buying their music” because streaming has made artists struggle with income. “Artists need to survive so they release their music on all formats to generate income.”
Located in Prahran, Greville Records is one of Melbourne’s oldest record stores, which opened in 1978. Mr Brown said customers still come in and buy records because “it’s the most enjoyable way to listen to your favourite music”. He said records have “a magic to it, so hard to explain but it just does”, on why people find enjoyment and continue to buy vinyl. It’s more real to “sit back and enjoy a record collection”, he said.
But when did vinyl originally start? And why did we end up going back to buying these flat discs again after going from cassettes to CDs to mp3s and now to digital and streaming?
Timeline
1877
Thomas Edison invented the first phonograph, similar to a record player. It was developed through his previous creations of the telegraph and the telephone. The phonograph had two diaphragm and needle units, one to record and one to play sound with a tinfoil covered cardboard cylinder.
1886
Emile Berliner started on his invention of the gramophone, taking ideas from Edison’s phonograph. Berliner also invented the lateral-cut flat disc record. The gramophone could play the seven-inch flat disc, made from shellac, at 70 revolutions per minute (RPM). Berliner’s inventions were the beginning of what vinyl and record players are today.
1901
Victor Company created the Red Seal 10-inch vinyl. These could be played at 78 RPM and was the most popular size for about 50 years.
1948
Peter Goldmark invented the long play (LP) 12-inch record. The LP holds about 21 minutes per side, playing at 33 1/3 RPM, perfect for an album. Still to this day, 12-inch records play at 33 1/3 RPM. 10-inch can hold about 12 minutes on each side at 45 RPM instead of 78 RPM. Seven-inch plays at 45 RPM instead of 70 RPM, allowing one song to be played on each side.
How are records made and are sales increasing?
“There’s a lot of TLC that goes into overseeing the press, maintaining the quality throughout the run”, said Paul Rigby, co-owner and directing manager at Zenith Records, a pressing facility in Melbourne, Australia.
“Cutting will take about an hour for both sides, your platting will take about six hours and the cycle time on the record is about 40 seconds,” Mr Rigby said.
Once they have received the master (music), they transcribe the audio onto lacquer master plates and create nickel stampers via an electroplating galvanic process.
Then it goes into the vinyl press and they extrude the plastic into a plus sized form. The labels and biscuit go in the press whichcomes down with 120 tonnes worth of pressure, at about 140 to 160 degrees Celsius, then it cools down while under pressure.
They can do different colours and designs of records, but it needs to be all poly vinyl chloride (PVC) plastic. For splatter designs it “involves making a coloured cake and then pressing that into preheated beads that splatter through”, he said.
Every year gets busier, “during COVID, it’s gone to the next level”, he said, “sales in vinyl had just gone through the roof”. Their entry point is 150 units and they’ve usually been used to runs of 150 to 200. “500 and 1000 were considered bigger runs, now we’ve got orders of 4000 and 10,000.”
Vinyl sales have increased each year. In 2020, vinyl revenues grew by 23.5 per cent worldwide, compared to 2019 when it grew by 6.1 per cent. Sales in America increased by 28.7 per cent, the first time since 1986 where revenues from vinyl were greater than CDs. In the 2021 mid-year report sales grew by 108.2 per cent in America. The 2020 vinyl revenues in Australia increased by 32 per cent compared to 2019 when it grew by 6.7 per cent.
Purchasing and limited editions
Records are purchased online and in record stores. Some are exclusive to certain stores such as the artist webstore, indie, Record Store Day (RSD), Roughtrade, Spotify, TikTok, Amazon, Urban Outfitters, Walmart, Target US, JB Hi-Fi, or HMV. Exclusives can be on the vinyl itself (colour or picture disc), or an alternative cover/artwork inside.
Musicians often release multiple copies of their album. In 2020, Taylor Swift announced her eighth studio album folklore. She released eight different webstore exclusives, each variant included a different colour vinyl, album cover and inner artwork. She also released an exclusive red variant with Target.
Paul Ross, manager of Discrepancy Records, said artists release multiple variants to create interest, collectability and to drive sales. He said there are multiple reasons why records have become more popular.
“People in the age range of 50 to 65 plus who grew up with vinyl have fallen back in love,” he said. “RSD has significantly contributed to the resurgence” of the popularity of vinyl again. And the “niche formats and genre have become very popular” such as the coloured, limited editions and video game soundtracks.
Discrepancy Records is Australia’s largest vinyl record retailer located in Melbourne’s East, providing more than 100,000 online and 8500 in store.
“They [consumers] enjoy the format, there is a lot of extra material that can be included with an LP or box which can’t be replicated in CD format, or at all through digital,” Mr Ross said.
The best selling records at Discrepancy this year is Kanye West’s My Dark Twisted Fantasy, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon.
“We sell thousands of these three LPs every year with sales increasing yearly", Mr Ross said, "it’s not untypical we would sell 500 plus of each a month”.
Taylor Swift’s evermore, Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever and Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour are Vinyl.com.au’s biggest new releases this year.
For classic albums, again, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours was a best seller including The Beatles Let It Be and David Bowie’s Changesonebowie and Changestwobowie. Another huge seller was the soundtrack Bluey: The Album, a children’s television show.
Greville Records best sellers are Amyl and the Sniffers’ Comfort To Me, You Am I’s The Lives Of Others and SAULT’s NINE.
Consumers
Alanna Matteo started collecting records in 2019 when Shawn Mendes released his single If I Can’t Have You. Since then, she’s found joy having a physical copy of the music she loves. “I love the sound of records, as it’s clearer and has a nostalgic feeling to it,” she said, “I’ve always been a collector and I like that I have the ability to buy a vinyl in a variety of colours and pressings from my favourite artists.”
She’ll listen to them in her bedroom while reading a book, cleaning or just relaxing. Ms Matteo said she usually listens to vinyl by herself, but if she does have friends over, she’ll put on an album they both like. “Or I just force my friends to listen to my favourite album.”
Ms Matteo said Shawn Mendes' self-titled album is her favourite on vinyl, “this album holds such a special place in my heart”.
Her favourite pressing in her collection, is Lorde’s album Solar Power, the JB Hi-Fi exclusive sun marbled orange. She said the design reflects the concept of Lorde's album, “her detox from technology and newfound environmental consciousness”.
Sandy Stenos has been collecting vinyl since October 2019. He’ll spin an album while busy or wants background music “but often there’s no rhyme or reason”. Occasionally he listens with his mum, but mostly it’s on his own, but plays them loud enough, other people can hear, “I guess I’m listening with everyone".
His favourite pressing currently is the summer sky variant of Lucy Dacus’ Home Video. “The pressing is such a beautiful shade of transparent blue with wisps of pink creeping in and it reflects the dream aesthetics of the record.”
His favourite album on vinyl is Phoebe Bridgers’ Punisher,“for me, it’s an exceptionally written and produced record that is great to listen to with intent or as background noise and every variant of the vinyl I own is gorgeous”.
Owning records is “such a tactile experience, and almost ritualistic”, he said. Not only is it to do with physically holding the record in a large format, but it’s going “through the motions of putting it on the turntable, cleaning it, lowering the stylus and watching it hit the first groove”.
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