Counterpoint: Vinyl Matters
Tangible product equals tangible memories and tangible food on the table
Josh’s point. Collectors aren’t better fans. That is agreed.
But wait…fans of what? That’s where the debate begins.
I’m a fan of music and I have a vinyl collection of music I like. The two are like a Venn diagram, except one circle is completely inside the other. I love my vinyl collection, which is as diverse as the used bins at Tower Records on Sunset.
Mine is a passion like Rob Gordon (the meticulous record store owner and list maker of High Fidelity fame): "What really matters is what you like, not what you are like... Books, records, films—these things matter."
I can only imagine how Rob would have reckoned with the digital tsunami that was heading for his shop when the film was released in 2000. But without a doubt, he would have been team vinyl > Spotify. Hardcover > Kindle. I feel the same, but why?
Vinyl, or physical media if we’re broader, is a physical manifestation of my love of music. The intangible made tangible. Each piece of wax is a mile marker on my journey, without which, I’d have difficulty tracking how far I’ve come.
Even in utero, babies respond to music. We are literally born music lovers. But nobody is born a vinyl lover. That comes later.
My love bloomed in 1980, with the 12-inch pressing of “Rapper’s Delight.” Prior to that watershed moment, records were objects that delivered music the same way coffee mugs carry caffeine. But that sound. That swagger. It blew my mind. And that vinyl, with its grooves that magically contained such musical weight, was inextricably linked to the feeling. The pop, crack, wobble and hiss primed my ears, preparing them for what came next.
What came next was a whole lot more vinyl. Blondie’s “Rapture,” “Pop Muzik” by M, Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust,” Lipps Inc. “Funky Town”…
Eleven years later, I reached Nirvana (pun intended) hearing “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on KROQ while driving down Sunset. I made a u-turn straight to Tower to purchase the vinyl. To possess the music. To make it my own. Because that’s what you did back then. There was no other way.
Around that same time, I began DJing — hip hop, house, techno (I loved playing techno). The records that represented my passion became tools I could use to share my passion with others. Not to mention a revenue stream that I could use to…buy more records.
With those records, I got to travel to parts of the world. I got to make people dance. I’m not a natural extrovert, but with a bag full of those records, I got to make lifelong friends. Technically it was the music contained on those records, but you can’t decouple the two. Or, at least, you couldn’t back then.
Today you can. Today, most people do. Music is a temporal, acoustic phenomenon that exists for the listener only as long as the bytes are converted to sound. You can catch the spirit, but you can’t hold onto it.
And maybe that is a more meaningful type of fandom by some undefined metric. But it’s not a functional type of fandom. And in the real world, things need to function. Artists need to eat.
Fetishization or not, the modern market for vinyl keeps many musicians fed in a way that streaming simply does not. Starving artists maybe be a sexy construct, but starved humans can’t make more music. And we always need more music.
Ironically, it's the seemingly intangible appeal of vinyl that makes a very tangible difference for many parts of the industry. I like that Adele’s label pressed the amount of vinyl they did. It was bold. It was ambitious.
Sell-through? Well, sometimes things don’t go your way (but those records will sell). But I don’t want to live in a world where the only metric for music success is the amount of data transferred from servers.
And if you’re a smaller artist who complained about your pressing being delayed due to the limited production capacity of the global vinyl manufacturing supply chain, I’m sorry. But wait until you learn about Chokepoint Capitalism.
Since it’s 2023, I asked ChatGPT, “Are collectors of music and music memorabilia better fans?”
The answer I got was: “Collecting music and memorabilia can be a hobby or interest that enhances a person's appreciation of music, but it does not necessarily mean that they are more knowledgeable or passionate about the music itself. Ultimately, being a "better fan" is subjective and depends on individual preferences and criteria.”
Call me subjective, but I can confidently say that my music fandom has been enhanced by my connection to vinyl. I can also say with certainty that fandom for vinyl continues to enhance the lives of musicians.
TAKEAWAYS
Salient statements from this week’s music biz news.
1. Ed Sheeran Says New Album Includes ‘At Least One’ Track Written by an AI
The hit maker doesn’t plan to reveal which of the tunes was created with machine learning.
Takeaway: Sheeran admitted in the interview that the AI-written track was heavily inspired by his previous hits.
2. Music Stocks Gain on Strong Week from Spotify, Live Nation, MSG Entertainment
The 20-company Billboard Global Music Index rose 4.2%, with more than two-thirds of companies in positive territory.
Takeaway: The index’s most valuable companies were among the gainers: Universal Music Group was up 2.1%, Spotify improved 4.1%, and Live Nation climbed 6.1%.
