Vinyl question

It's all about the dificult proposition of maintaining profitability in a manufacturing situation with low volume sales numbers. Vinyl, while growing in popularity, is still a small, insignificant niche of the music industry. It's a lot more complicated to manufacture a vinyl release than you'd imagine. Pressing plants have been closing and it's harder to get production scheduled in the remaining quality facilities. Also, a record label has to get titles pressed in reasonably high numbers to gain some economy of scale in manufacturing so they can make a profit. Hence, demand may have to build for some time before it makes economic sense to reissue.

Demand is not as strong as you think it is. New releases these days rarely do pressings bigger than a couple thousand. Reissues can be higher, but only for proven sellers like Dark Side of the Moon. It's the low demand that forces prices for new vinyl into the $30-40 range.

For many of us, myself included, a big part of the attraction of vinyl is finding great stuff at Goodwill for 99 cents, or at used record stores for $5. It's lamentable that most new releases never see vinyl, and that reissues are scarce, but I'm too busy enjoying the last 50 years or so at 10 cents a song.

:-)

David

Pick up a nice record cleaning machine - a Nitty Gritty or VPI would do just fine. Then head out & search for your long-lost vinyl treasures. It's half the fun of vinyl. I once found a mint, half-speed mastered Willie Nelson "Stardust" for 50 cents. Lots of fun.

Of course, the other half is listening to real music on those little vinyl pies.....

Cheers, Ed

Elizabeth, Sound like an obsession that will reward you and your friends for a very long time. I’m curious, are the record shops in your town closing due to a lack of stock?... Just kidding.

Csmithbarc, I would agree that record companies are very unpredictable and as Chad Kassem of Acoustic Sounds used to always say, "buy now or cry later". As much as we live in an unusual era of ample old, new, and reissue vinyl, one must do some searching for the gems.

Eross, Makes an excellent recommendation to acquire a record vacuum cleaning system. They are very rewarding in what a good one will do for your used and new vinyl.

Happy Listening!

they have to be made 1500 at a time, or we'd be paying even more. the guys at classic got around this will pressing the second run at 45 rpms knowing they could double dip on a lot of their best customers......its an old trick but it still works.

I am sure you are right about the small demand, but if, as Stereophile suggests, vinyl is outselling DVD A and SACD together, how many can they be selling. Remember too, the quality vinyl releases have a world market, I buy a lot of US releases here in the UK. It still suprises me the low volumes. I am sure part of the problem is the limited outlets, so we resort to online. Buying vinyl, like Manolo Blankos I suppose, is a hands on experience. I know I buy more when I visit one of the few outlets for current vinyl releases. It must be even more difficult in the US, where your nearest vinyl outlet may be 500miles away