Vinyl Is Making A Comeback – Will DJs Embrace?

[OxyKon]

The original set of DJ tech tools were the record, mixer, and turntable. After over 15 years of music sales moving to CDs and digital music files, reports from 2013 are showing that vinyl sales are actually rising – up 31%. Are DJs a driving force in this resurgence? In today’s article, we reached out to DJ-centric record stores around the US to find out if vinyl is really making a comeback.

2013 MUSIC SALES NUMBERS

Nielsen Soundscan is the music industry’s sales tracking system that links point-of-sale systems in over 14,000 retailers (digital and brick and mortar) all over the US and Canada to a centralized database. Soundscan has been tracking sales data since 1991, and complete information on digital sales since the advent of the iTunes Music Store in 2003. They released their 2013 end-of-year numbers in January and four major revelations came to light out of the data:

Digital sales stagnated: Track sales dropped 5.7% and album sales dropped .1%

Overall album sales dropped: Down 8.4% (with CDs being a big part of that)

Streaming rose 32%: Services like Spotify and YouTube accounted for over 118 billion songs streamed

Vinyl album sales rose 31%: Vinyl only comprises 2% of the market but is still the largest rise out of any data point, selling 6 million albums in 2013

In fact, vinyl has actually been on an upswing in the United States since 2005 and these rising sales have been the trend in other countries as well – with vinyl record sales doubling in Australia and the United Kingdom,

A lot of the commentary surrounding last year’s sales notes that unlike the vinyl sales in previous years that focused on re-releases, this year’s top 10 vinyl albums sold, listed below, are new albums of popular music.

Daft Punk — Random Access Memories

Vampire Weekend — Modern Vampires of the City

Arcade Fire — Reflektor

Mumford & Sons — Babel

Mumford & Sons — Sigh No More

Queens of the Stone Age — …Like Clockwork

Bon Iver — For Emma Forever Ago

Lumineers — Lumineers

The National — Trouble Will Find Me

Justin Timberlake — The 20/20 Experience

MARKET HEADWIND: RECORD PRESSES CAN’T KEEP UP

Record presses hard at work at United Record Pressing (photo credit: URP’s Facebook page)

A second big indicator that vinyl records are in high demand was made apparent in a recent article on Vice’s Motherboard. Demand for new pressings is very high at the extremely limited number of record pressing plants in the United States (only 16 major presses exist). United Record Pressing, a major pressing plant, has three shifts of production employees in order to keep up with demand – allowing the machines to run nearly 24 hours a day.

In an interview last year, Chad Kassem, owner of Quality Record Pressings, told the New York Times,

“We’ve always had more work than we could do. When we had one press, we had enough orders for two. When we had two, we had enough orders for four. We never spent a dollar on advertising, but we’ve been busy from the day we opened.”

The same New York Times article goes on to discuss how Soundscan’s numbers mentioned above actually might miss a large number of albums that are pressed and sold direct to fans by artists – estimating the number of records pressed in 2012 is closer to 25 million.

RECORD STORES FOR DJS

Good Records in New York City

But have DJs been contributing to this increasing demand in vinyl records? We reached out to a number of record stores in the US and Canada to find out.

In New York, there’s an upswing of new record stores that have opened in recent years – including Rough Trade, a massive 15,000 square-foot store in Brooklyn, which opened in November and is actually an international expansion of two London shops by the same name.

Across the East River at Good Records in Manhattan, owner Jonathan Sklute told us that his vinyl sales have been growing every single year since opening 9 years ago. We asked him if DJs were key customers:

“Yes[...] DJs used to make up a lot more of the business but with the advent of DJ software it’s a smaller percentage than it used to be. The biggest change has been amongst young people who wouldn’t be classified as DJs but are young enthusiasts.”

Not far away at the well-established (opened in 1975) Rock and Soul record and DJ equipment store, owner Sharon Bechor has seen a similar upward trend over the past couple of years – with DJs buying more 45s and casual listeners buying 180 gram vinyl LPs.

“[in NYC DJ culture] there’s a “back to 45″ movement. Non-DJs are buying full LPs, not singles.”

In Toronto at the 24-year-old Play De Record DJ shop, co-owner Jason Palma has also seen sales trending upwards for vinyl records – not only for his core DJ customer, but also for the average music listener. We asked him if a “back to vinyl” concept had caught on among Toronto DJs:

“Definitely. There are a good amount of DJs that are tired of the digital format. They just don’t have the energy for that anymore. A lot of people are having more fun actually getting to play records than just the files off a computer.”

Mount Analog is a recently-opened dance music store in LA.

On the West Coast, we’ve started to see small independent music stores with a focus on attracting DJs start to open in the last few years. In Los Angeles’s Highland Park, Mount Analog has been open for about a year and a half, selling techno, house, and dance music. Co-owner Zane Landreth knows of at least 6 different records stores just in Highland Park that have opened in the last 3-4 years:

“A lot of labels are making vinyl-only exclusives, which makes it a necessary component of music sales. There are the kids that are just getting into vinyl and the people that have never stopped. [Among DJs] I can’t tell if it’s people that have tried Serato and Traktor and said “fuck that” and went back to vinyl, or if it’s a new up-and-coming thing with younger kids.”

Across town, one of the oldest record stores (1977) in LA is Bagatella Records in Long Beach. Owner Steve Mintz is a bit more trepidatious about the a resurgence in DJs playing wax. He’s seen younger people getting into the market,

“It’s a glimpse of the old school way of listening to things. I see an upsurge of younger people buying records but I can’t determine if it’s a fad or not. Knowing if this is a trend or a fad is like knowing if the stocks are going up or not.”

WOULD YOU MOVE BACK TO VINYL?

Really think about it – would you consider leaving digital tools and moving back to a more simple record bag of your selections? In putting this article together and reaching out on Twitter, we’ve heard three different types of responses:

No, vinyl is outdated / inconvenient for gigs

Yes, I made the move or would consider it

I never left vinyl / Still play records on a regular basis

Let us know your own thoughts in the comments – is vinyl a realistic future for some DJs, or is this just upsurge in sales temporary fad?

Source: djtechtools.com

[wrxfiend]

Never stopped! Lol

Although i dont buy many now, purely because there isnt much new stuff i like.

But as a scratcher i will say, as good as serato is, sometimes it cant keep up with me.

Thats why i always have a battle record near by.

[eggssell]

But as a scratcher i will say, as good as serato is, sometimes it cant keep up with me.

brag much

I buy heaps but mainly old stuff, as for me I need heaps and heaps of music. so getting new stuff digitally doesn't bother me.

if all albums came with DL cards, and cost maybe 5 (maybe 10) bucks more. id be buying heaps more LPs.

and if 12 inches or singles came w say 3 mixes or an instrumental on one side AND a DL card, id pay 5-8 bucks for them

[Cupe]

Thats why i always have a battle record near by.

Word, scratchy seal #win

I don't buy vinyl anymore because I don't have the space really.

And I got sick of doing a set and ending up with records and inner and outer sleeves all over the fucking place.

Traktor + audio8 just made life easier.

I still buy albums of shit I really like (like prodigy, boards of canada, aphex twin etc) and rare shit for the sake of having it.

[wrxfiend]

But as a scratcher i will say, as good as serato is, sometimes it cant keep up with me.

brag much

I buy heaps but mainly old stuff, as for me I need heaps and heaps of music. so getting new stuff digitally doesn't bother me.

if all albums came with DL cards, and cost maybe 5 (maybe 10) bucks more. id be buying heaps more LPs.

and if 12 inches or singles came w say 3 mixes or an instrumental on one side AND a DL card, id pay 5-8 bucks for them

Ha didnt mean to sound to kool for skool! (trust me, im my own harshest critic!)

But sometimes even just holding the record dead still, serato will judder and move the track slightly, very annoying when trying to hold a cut ready for the drop!

[eggssell]

But as a scratcher i will say, as good as serato is, sometimes it cant keep up with me.

brag much

Ha didnt mean to sound to kool for skool! (trust me, im my own harshest critic!)

But sometimes even just holding the record dead still, serato will judder and move the track slightly, very annoying when trying to hold a cut ready for the drop!

hehe I know I was just hacking on ya

when qbert compared tsp and serato scratch, I think he said that tsp had a more true response to the finer/ faster scratching. the vids around here somewhere

[eggssell]

on another note I do want to start doing all vinyl mixes. especially with the all the 45's ive been picking up. and I also want to introduce an external looper like what all the OGs used (scratch perverts, a-trak etc etc). I don't want to use the mpc, as its too much of an overkill. im looking for just a cheapo one that can do maybe up to 24 - 30 second loop. foot pedal would be awesome.

but coming to the realisation my mixers send/ return functionality is extremely limited so cant do everything I was hoping to do.

[wrxfiend]

Unfortunately I believe the reason vinyl sales are going up is because of hipster douche bags, who think having a Belt drive teac record player makes them cool.

Just like when i was at high school and "retro" was the in thing, no your singapore airlines pvc satchel and brown rusted to fuck Hillman Hunter are not cool!

Fiend out!

[Cupe]