I just wanted to share the link to my Discogs collection. For the uninitiated, Discogs is an incredible service that allows record collectors to log their record collection down to the exact pressing of a record. For example, I just added a reissue pressing of Pink Floyd's Meddle that was specifically manufactured in the US for Capitol Records in 1983 (catalog number SMAS-832) to my collection this afternoon! Once you add records to your collection, you can sort them to your liking and grade the quality of the media and the sleeve. You can also keep track of which records you want on the service. Another amazing part of Discogs is the Marketplace. In the Marketplace, you can sell records from your collection or buy records from all over the world (I nearly bought a record from Belgium one time!) . Discogs charges you a small fee to sell your records on their website, but if you are a buyer, you can trust that you will be buying records from someone who actually knows what they're doing.
In addition to this, Discogs is the world's largest online discography and it is all maintained by record connoisseurs like you and me. If you stumble across a record that is not in the Discogs database, you can help other collectors by adding information about it. Best of all, the website is free to use (except if you choose to buy a record), so I would highly recommend it to any collector! That being said, here is the link to my Discogs collection. I have not yet logged every record I own into the service, so what you will see is only a partial representation of my actual collection. Happy Listening, Alex
With radio and streaming services like Pandora, Spotify, and Apple Music dominating today’s music industry, people everywhere have immediate access to all the world’s music at a low price right at their fingertips. One might think that the record stores of yesteryear are all but abandoned. However, as in the case of Pat’s Endangered Species Records in Delaware, OH, people still crave the unique feeling of searching through crates and shelves of vinyl for their favorite albums.
One of the many record displays inside of Pat's Endangered Species Records (courtesy of Pat's Facebook page)
Bailey has been in the record retail business for over 35 years. He opened his store at age 23 in 1980, at a time when personal computers had not yet become widely used and CDs and downloads were yet to come along. Now he has to compete in a time when many people, in the opinion of some music purists, have chosen convenience over quality. Fortunately, streaming has not hurt Endangered Species as much as expected.
“People like to like to collect, they like to own what they get,” said Bailey. “If you find something on Spotify or Pandora that you really like, you want to explore it and say that it’s yours. That’s what drives them to the stores.”
Not surprising to vinyl fans, many other record stores around the country have encountered newfound success in recent years. According to The Badger Herald, Ryan Henke, owner of Strictly Discs in Madison, WI has seen increased sales due to the many college students living nearby, among other things.
“If people care about convenience and a lack of a footprint, they will favor digital or free music. However, there are some people that will go the other way and get back to tangible music,” Henke said.
The vinyl boom has brought back records in ways that neither Bailey or Henke expected. During last year’s fourth quarter of record sales, it was revealed that even middle schoolers were interested in vinyl and were receiving record players for Christmas. Record companies are racing frantically to print records by Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande, among other artists, to satisfy the growing “tween” market.
“Teenage stuff like Twenty One Pilots, we can get,” said Bailey. “Panic at the Disco--all of that stuff is available because that market is being addressed. The younger kid market hasn’t been addressed, but they are now.”
Another change that Bailey has seen in the music industry is an unfavorable one: the reduced marketing and promotion of artists. In the past, records were heavily promoted with tours, posters and single releases--all before the record hit store shelves. Now, according to Bailey, people discover music accidently and by sheer luck.
“One act might be on Colbert doing one song--that was it--and you never see them again unless they are on the Today Show the next day. That’s it. They’re not on the radio and the radio hardly exists for most people anymore anyway. It’s just the strangest thing.”
Another one of Bailey’s grievances against the modern music industry is how little it pays its artists. According to The Guardian, Spotify pays musicians about $0.006 and $0.0084 per stream on average. An artist or band that is signed to a record label would have to have their song streamed about 1,117,021 times--in other words, have it be heard by 2% of Spotify’s user base--in order to receive the monthly American minimum wage of $1,260. Other services like Deezer and Rhapsody are slightly more generous, while YouTube pays musicians even less than Spotify does.
“[The label executives] sold 5 million Beyonce's but they they don’t care about the other 100 acts that came out that month on their own label. But as long as Beyonce sold 10 million copies, that’s okay,” said Bailey.
This infographic details how difficult is is for fledgling musicians to get paid for their work in today's music industry (courtesy of The Guardian)
That being said, the experience of going to a record store and buying a physical record definitely benefits the artist who would otherwise be receiving pennies from digital sales. But Bailey thinks that there are many several other benefits to records and the record store experience. He and many other vinyl connoisseurs agree that the sound quality of digital files is abysmal compared to vinyl. He also believes that the credits and liner notes in records allow you to discover new musicians and their music in a unique way.
As for his record store, he strives to foster a safe, cafe-esque environment where musicians and music fans can share their own ideas. He has also made his store a place where people can buy their favorite albums at fair prices.
“We don’t rip people off. We try to be fair on every level, and these are fair prices. And we hardly have sales because we don’t mark [the price] up to where we need a sale.”
Bailey sees Endangered Species staying open for a few more years.
“We’ve had 35 years and I’d like to have 15 more. We’ll have a 50th Anniversary, just like The Rolling Stones!” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Happy Listening, Alex
There has been a growing trend in recent years that has is becoming an imminent threat to audiophiles everywhere: "The Loudness War". Record labels have been consistently releasing loudly mastered recordings and there is no sign of them stopping. These loud recordings lack musical integrity and are depriving music lovers of a true, unaltered performance.
In a nutshell, the “Loudness War” is a term adopted by sound engineers that refers to the longtime trend for record labels and the artists that they represent to master and release their music louder than their competition. The practice began in jukebox age of the 1950s, where record producers milked 45s to make them noticeably louder than their competition; they argued that this was necessary because the commonly inconvenient volume knobs on the machines could not be easily accessed to change the volume of songs.
Since that time, the Loudness War has been justified by one somewhat mythical marketing observation: “Loud sells”. Label heads believed that if a hit record was louder than its competitors, than it would be more easily heard and recognized on the radio and on jukeboxes, giving it marketing advantage that would enable it to outsell the competition.
Think of it as TV, a medium whose broadcasters will do anything to catch attention. Viewers around the world have sent in complaints about obnoxiously loud TV advertisements being sprinkled in with calmer show and ads. Why do companies make their ads louder? To scream over their competitors’ ads, obviously. It is this same philosophy that drives The Loudness War, and consumers have grown tired of it and have successfully fought it.
Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) believed that the CALM (Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation) Act was certainly more popular than any other cause she had advocated during her 18-year career in the house.
“If I’d saved 50 million children from some malady, people would not have the interest that they have in this,” said Eshoo.
She was right: while America is divided on many key issues, the public was able to swiftly reach its consensus on overly-loud TV ads. President Obama signed the CALM Act into law on December 15, 2010, and viewers rejoiced their liberation from loudness. However, music listeners have been fighting a lesser known loudness war of their own. If viewers won one loudness war, then why can’t listeners win another?
Leading record labels are the main cause to blame for louder records, and their dominance in the music industry means the public at a disadvantage in the fight.
Thankfully, vinyl records were able to hold off the Loudness War for a few years, as those mastering the discs knew that if they were produced too loud, listener’s styli would fly out of the grooves and cause expensive damage. This is not to say that they didn’t milk the format, as I have several records in my collection that are especially loud (Styx’s The Grand Illusion, for example).
In 1983, however, the music industry received a new weapon in their arsenal that has been comparable in strength to the nuclear bomb: the CD. The format quickly superseded records, thanks to its highly touted bass range and capability for dynamic contrast. Although record producers definitely took advantage of these new capabilities, they only did so to make louder music lacking dynamic contrast.
All instruments can produce both loud and soft notes; the difference between these notes is called dynamic contrast. Dynamics have fallen victim to loudness, as you simply can’t have one without the other. In other words, record producers compress music on digital formats to make it louder, sacrificing dynamics. On the flip side of the coin, there must be dynamic contrast in music in order to preserve its subtleties.
Dynamic contrast, in the opinion of many musicians and connoisseurs of music, is what makes the art interesting and powerful. There is nothing like a quiet passage that slowly creeps up on the listener until it eventually jumps out with full force. However, the Loudness War has killed dynamic contrast and has removed these charms from music.
Notice how much more dynamic contrast is present in Joe Jackson's original 1984 release of Body and Soul (top) than its 1997 remaster (bottom). Many album remasters heavily compress the original work.
Think of it as typography. Fonts used to be beautifully hand-written and finessed. Typographers would spend hours honing their craft to make a living. However, as the computer age brought along a revolution in design, typography faded away—and so did all of the beautiful subtleties associated with it. Similarly, loudness is destroying the subtleties of music and hard work of the artists that create it.
The Loudness War is no longer just a war between record labels for sales: it has become a war against the artistic value of music. Viable new works might never a true, high fidelity release and classic works have been slaughtered by boatloads of loudness and compression. Need evidence? Watch this video by mastering engineer Ian Shepherd, analyzing the progressive decline of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. I’ll wait.
Notice how the later, louder remasters sounded less powerful? Michael Jackson isn’t the only victim of loudness, with works by Billy Joel, The Smashing Pumpkins, and others losing their dynamic range and their punch.
Listeners need to stand up for their music if they ever plan on listening to it with dynamics ever again. Fortunately, many have already realized that there is a problem with their music. Some have noted how annoying listening to loud recordings can be.
“When you're through listening to a whole album of this highly compressed music, your ear is fatigued, said Ludwig. “You may have enjoyed the music but you don't really feel like going back and listening to it again.”
I would have to agree with him on that one. Much of the music on my phone is loud and compressed, and I sometimes find myself with a headache following a long car ride of listening to that music.
That is not music listeners’ only trace of consciousness, as many Metallica fans will tell you. The band’s 2008 album Death Magnetic sparked controversy upon release due to its loud and heavily compressed mix. Some hardcore fans of the band could not bear to listen to it. Shepherd later discovered that the version of the album available in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock somehow escaped the Loudness War, intriguing many fans as to how it did so.
According to Rolling Stone, “Shepherd discovered that the CD is boosted as much as compressively possible, making it 10 decibels louder than the GH version while completely bleaching out the dynamic range.”
The Guitar Hero version of Death Magnetic (top) sounds much more pure than the actual CD release (top).
If artists receive enough backlash for such blunders, record labels might finally get the point and make their releases quieter.
Apple has already set forth to solve the loudness problem with its Sound Check feature on iTunes Radio, an Apple Music service. The feature, which cannot be disabled, normalizes the volume levels of all songs so that no single song can be louder than the others. This puts compressed recordings at a disadvantage because they now lack dynamic contrast and loudness.
“iTunes Radio is already so popular that it will end the loudness race by force majeure,” said American mastering engineer Bob Katz. “This development is a great opportunity for producers to explain and demonstrate to their clients how to make their songs sound better on iTunes Radio and everywhere else.”
We as music listeners must unite to preserve the flavor of music. The music industry needs to know that we want true high fidelity music, not compressed noise.
Happy Listening,
Alex
“The Loudness War is a sonic “arms race” where every artist and label feel they need to crush their music onto CD at the highest possible level, for fear of not being “competitive” – and in the process removing all the contrast, all the light, shade and depth – ruining the sound.”-Ian Shepherd
Vinyl has been making a large comeback in the past few years, thanks in no small part to creative new releases by popular artists. It was thought to be laid to rest by CDs and digital downloads, but it has somehow managed to prevail.
Nielsen Music, revered for its analysis of music sales, has concluded from statistics so far this year that 9 percent of all physical music sales were from the vinyl format. That may not sound like much, but it is pretty remarkable considering the recent dominance of streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. In fact, the digital album sales services that were once touted as "the future of music" have begun to secede to these services.
Nielsen has also confirmed that the vinyl sales have yet to reach their peak: vinyl sales saw a 52 percent increase between 2013 and last year.
"They are coming back to vinyl again because they find vinyl is more fun," stated record store owner Joseph GaNun.
Few people saw this coming. Vinyl was rendered outdated in the late 1980s, first by compact and convenient cassette tapes and later by crystal-clear CDs. Information from the Recording Industry Association of America has revealed the sharp decline in vinyl sales: around 450 million units were sold in the year 1979, but less than 150 million units were being sold annually by 1987. Although the Britpop movement of the late 1990s brought in a minor vinyl fad, annual sales of the medium never began to increase until 2007.
Vinyl sales experienced a downturn throughout the 1980s, but now the format is growing popular with music fans (Courtesy of Digital Music News)
Why has vinyl come back? There doesn't seem to be one definite answer. One factor may be what music commentator Simon Reynolds has called "Retromania". Older generations become nostalgic around the format that they grew up with and younger ones are amazed to be using the antique technology for the first time.
Nostalgia isn't the only reason for the revival, however. In the eyes of DJ and vinyl entrepreneur Colleen Murphy, vinyl is an intimate medium that forces people to have a deeper connection with their music.
"The other thing with vinyl is, you have to interact with it. You have to engage," said Murphy. She couldn't be more correct. When playing a record, one has to take it out of several different sleeves and must be willing to flip it over after the first side had played. Those listening to CDs can simply place their album of choice in the tray and press play.
Another reason for vinyl's return is its unique, warm and natural sound that is cherished by millions of listeners. Modern digital formats--despite their accuracy and lack of surface noise--are incapable of providing such a sound.
In Murphy's opinion, "When you listen to CDs after you've been listening to vinyl for a long time, it sounds a bit...synthetic."
Vinyl is also appreciated for not just containing a work of musical art, but for being a work of visual art itself. Artists over the years have made creative use of vinyl packaging over the years, and the records themselves have been released in many colors and patterns. The artistic nature of the format is mainly what seems to be drawing people in. Musicol, a Columbus-area record plant, has seen its color vinyl output shift from ten percent to fifty percent over the past few years.
Many hot-ticket artists have lent their creativity to the revival, one of them being Jack White. According to Nielsen, White's Lazaretto was last year's best selling album on the vinyl format, grossing the highest amount of yearly sales of any album on the format since 1991. Since that's the year that the company began to track album sales, Lazaretto has sold more vinyl copies in one year than any other album that Nielsen has tracked in its history.
Why has it been such a hot seller? Believe it or not, it's not just the critically acclaimed music on the record. An overachiever at heart, White set out to reinvent the wheel when creating the "Ultra" edition of his release. SPIN has listed many of its features, including a side that plays from the inside out, hidden tracks that play at 45 and 78 RPM and a floating angel hologram that moves while the record is playing.
Side One of Lazaretto, which starts where the record would normally end. (Courtesy of Engadget)
White is not alone, however, as many artists have released special colored records for Record Store Day, a day created to celebrate the vinyl format and the independent stores responsible for keeping it alive.
With the vinyl industry at a 20 year high, some wonder whether or not this resurgence is just a temporary fad. "Fat" Mike Burkett, musician and founder of Fat Wreck Chords, thinks that vinyl will be cherished for years to come.
"I think that vinyl will always be here," said Burkett. "I mean, it hasn't died--it should have died 20 years ago--but now it's getting more popular."
There is a slight chance that vinyl may become the dominant physical format for music as streaming and digital downloads slowly kill the CD. However, whether this happens or not, vinyl will always have a devoted fan base to keep the ball rolling.
Now why do I care about all of this? It all goes back to one of my favorite quotes from the late John Peel:
"Somebody was trying to tell me that CDs are better than vinyl because they don't have any surface noise. I said, 'Listen, mate, life has surface noise."
Vinyl has made a major comeback in recent years, with turntable and record sales following a massive upturn. While companies like Rega, Audio Technica, and Pro-Ject are easily cashing in on the trend with their quality, easy-to-produce turntables, plants like Independent Record Pressing are struggling to capitalize on a 21st century boom with sparse and outdated 20th century technology.
Above: These record presses need to be repaired before they can press the latest Adele album (courtesy of Vulture)
“The good news is that everyone wants vinyl. The bad news is everything that you see here today,” said Independent co-owner Dave Hansen to New York Times reporter Ben Sisario of the plant.
On the day of Sisario’s visit, several record pressing machines were given breaks due to overheating issues. However, overheating is a miniscule issue compared to the other difficulties faced by plants in using the 1960s-70s era machines. Replacement parts are hard to come by, as are the machines themselves. In one instance, Independent spent $5, 000 dollars to make a mere replacement screw that was no longer manufactured.
The pressing machines don’t take care of themselves, and it has become a labor of love for pressing plants to scour the earth for fixable ones.
"They haven't made a press since, I think, the early 1970s. You get what you can get and rebuild them,” said Burlington Record Plant owner Justin Crowther to VPR.
Furnace Manufacturing, another vinyl manufacturing company, has resorted to a “mother load” of ten presses found in a Mexico City Warehouse.
According to Analog Planet, the trip to retrieve the presses was, “an adventure that included machetes, protesters and a “genuine kidnapping scare” not to mention a logistical nightmare.” Such are risks that one must take to preserve vinyl culture.
Above: Furnace employees prepare to take the record presses back to the United States (Courtesy of Analog Planet)
Another factor that slows the production down is the tender loving care that goes into making our favorite records. According to The Oregonian, local plant Cascade Record Pressing tosses 10-20% of the records that they produce because they do not meet their demanding quality control standards. To make matters more difficult, many records pressed today are picture discs and special colored vinyl that require more care to press than traditional records.
Hansen is right: passing fad or not, vinyl has become a hot commodity. Today’s popular artists are now releasing their albums on vinyl and the top artists of yesteryear have also cashed in with elaborate reissues of their classic albums on the format. According to NJ.com, vinyl sales reached the 13 million unit mark last year, accounting for the greatest annual vinyl sales in 25 years. To put that into perspective, the last time that vinyl sales were as high as they are now was when America’s hair metal craze was winding down.
However, with the dire state of America’s record plants, it seems downright impossible to satisfy consumer demand for records. Independent is luckier than most: they can crank out a good 1.5 million records a year, but only if the inevitable problems the machines will have can be efficiently fixed. Burlington has two machines that can each produce around 700 records on a good day.
The production limitations that these plants have require them to be selective in what they press. Major albums tend to receive the right-of-way in larger plants, while independent labels struggle to get their record quotas fulfilled.
“I feel like some of those independent artists, because the bigger names are coming in, are having trouble pressing records,” said Crowther. Crowther’s plant is intent on fixing this issue.
If the vinyl boom continues, companies may have to finally resume production of record presses.
Welcome and thanks for visiting my Hifi Hut! As many of you know, vinyl records have enjoyed a large upturn in popularity in recent years. Equipment manufacturers and record labels alike have been cashing in on the trend with new turntables and reissues of albums (both old and new) on vinyl. However, I have realized that many listeners don't know a whole lot about starting their own vinyl collection and are missing out on the format's many possibilities.
Here on my blog, you will find articles about the recent resurgence of vinyl records, as well as record reviews and tips for the record/audio equipment buyer. My goal is to give you the most accurate, fair, and helpful news and advice that I can offer, leaving you to enjoy your records better than ever before.
To me, collecting and listening to records is more than following a trend. It is a way of hearing the music that has shaped my life in the way that the artists and producers originally intended. It is a way of collecting fine art, both visual and musical. And most importantly, there is no such thing as a dull moment in collecting records; I can't go to a record store or thrift shop without finding something awesome to add to my collection! I hope to share my love of records with my readers and provide them with the knowledge they need to start a neat collection.
I'll make a large post on Friday morning, but until then, I'll leave you with this cartoon (courtesy of Discogs); any audiophile or record collector will get the joke!
