We’ve been banging on about vinyl here on the 80:8 blog for sometime now…The sheer joy of ownership, the tactile nature of it and the space it allows for stunning artwork…And also that it could perhaps be considered as a rather fine way of marketing a band and getting them noticed. Well, it seems we’re not alone. There was an excellent article in The Times yesterday extolling the virtues of vinyl and the fact that some bands have found it to be a very good way of getting themselves noticed and unbelievingly, in this age of digital – actually getting people to pay for it. Interestingly the article observed that it’s the younger generation driving the trend not just old grey-hairs like me looking to replace a scratched copy of ‘In the court of the crimson king’. Vinyl sales were up 40% last year with over 240,000 albums sold. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but given A) They were sold at £20 and above and that B) Most big artists struggle to sell 200,00 complete albums these days, it’s really quite something.
It’s and old cliche that vinyl has superior sound quality – perhaps it has, maybe it’s to do with the analogue nature of most vinyl recordings or perhaps it’s entirely to do with a little crackle and a little scratch, which actually makes your copy of the recording absolutely unique. And of course, the joy of blowing the fluff of the needle.
If anyone is selling a Rega Planar-2…Let me know.
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