Sony Opens Vinyl Record Plant

[starise]

You can read the article HERE

 

This is surprising to me. I can't see why we would go back to vinyl. 

 

On another similar note, there's a shakeup at Pandora. All of the top players have been let go. To make it even more confusing they don't seem to be changing anything. So why fire the people who were doing it that way? 

 

 

[Ray888]

Vinyl has been making a comeback for the past 18 years but it is a very small market. Few people still own record players nowadays and when we observe a significant increase in the sale of record decks we'll know for sure. Perhaps Sony know something that we don't.

 

I'm not familiar with Pandora.

[Just1L]

I'd like to think there is a shift happening but there probably isn't yet. It's still a fact that pandora and other streaming sites don't do as much to help the artists. As well as being able to get any song you want, any time, for free on Youtube. The problem as I see it, which spans way outside of just the music online, is the business model is wretched. They're kind of ripping off the artists under the guise of "But the music is free and/or cheap for all. Do you want to be mean to your fans? Don't you want them to hear your songs? Isn't that what it's all about? Yeah, while free is nice and all, it's unsustainable. Consider food as an analogy. Of course it would be awesome if all food was free. Everyone eats for free! What about the farmers? Who pays them? Investors, the government? Who? Taxpayers? Farmers don't have the option to go on tour to get some of their money back. Do you know the hours and work it takes to be a farmer? Don't you think at some point they'd reach the conclusion that it'd be a lot easier to not farm at all and just eat for free? Why should they do all the work? That's the "typing as fast as I can" version anyway.

 

As far as records go, I recall about 2 years ago going to Barnes & Noble bookstore and seeing a bunch of new record players on sale so it's been building for a while. I've actually considered doing only an album. That way, at least I know the people that are listening and buying actually care about music the old school way. I laugh when I hear plans by tech companies to build brick and mortar stores. It's because they know that's where the money is. And despite the perils of money, it's a necessary evil in this day and age and has been for a while. A lot of the money online still comes from investors, not from the actual product, say YouTube for instance. The only ones really making money not from investors are the behemoth's like Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc… All of which needed major cash from investors and even they wouldn't be as profitable if not for their huge numbers of users.

 

At least with food and say health care, it's legit really for those that can't afford to get it free or very cheap compared to others. But entertainment? That's a big N-O NO!

 

It'll all get sorted out at some point. Now we can really only watch and wait.

[Richard Tracey]

The vinyl market is starting to overtake CD sales. The "youth" are getting into it and the yearly vinyl day is a big seller and has some really good albums. I think they are remastering the album and then putting it on vinyl, so will probably sound even better than before.

 

I keep thinking about getting a new record deck, but a decent one is still very expensive.

[Just1L]

One thing I do want to add. Once upon a time … Radio will kill the newspapers. TV will kill the radio. And now, the internet will kill everything. While it's doing a fine job of that, it won't continue. Everything eventually balances out. Everyone in the here-and-now has always thought their way was great. Go back through the decades and centuries of say medicine and science. It's continually wrong. With medicine I look back and think "Man, were they idiots?" with some of the things they did. Eventually, people will look back at today and think the same thing. With the internet, I use my kids and other kids as a judging stick. For example, just this past Tuesday we entered my sons summer reading log minutes. It used to be they'd have a sheet with stickers and add them when they got to certain goals. Now, they say, it's much better and easier. Go online and enter your times. After doing so, my son said "That wasn't fun, I wish we still did the stickers." Sometimes kids see things the best way. Another thing that happened this past month was at the Cardinals baseball game. You know they play music in between innings, at-bats and whatnot. The number one most movement and excitement I saw from the kids around me was when they played the intro to "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap." It connected with them. Despite what we are told, Rock isn't dead either, just on vacation.

[Richard Tracey]

The one thing that will stop vinyl is the price... as Jenn mentioned above... the price of vinyl is astronomical - I wanted to buy some of my favourite Ultravox albums again on vinyl as they have released them all recently. Now I have them all in the loft - the originals - but I like to be a completist when it comes to the might Vox, but the price is ridiculous for something I would probably play once and then store away. That and I would want a decent player, so that is another couple of hundred pounds upwards. Royksopp have released their last album on vinyl and it includes a one off extra track not heard before. I want it, but at £28, I can want.... it sounds like a very expensive hobby to get back into and I know how much I have spent over the years on vinyl.

[Just1L]

8 minutes ago, Richard Tracey said:

The one thing that will stop vinyl is the price... as Jenn mentioned above... the price of vinyl is astronomical - I wanted to buy some of my favourite Ultravox albums again on vinyl as they have released them all recently. Now I have them all in the loft - the originals - but I like to be a completist when it comes to the might Vox, but the price is ridiculous for something I would probably play once and then store away. That and I would want a decent player, so that is another couple of hundred pounds upwards. Royksopp have released their last album on vinyl and it includes a one off extra track not heard before. I want it, but at £28, I can want.... it sounds like a very expensive hobby to get back into and I know how much I have spent over the years on vinyl.

 

That's definitely true. I suppose one can think of the current state of music and the internet as a new nform of welfare. Except it's not for anything people actually need and for once, it's not government imposed.

[Rudi]

My ex & her husband are into vinyl. I still have hundreds of vinyl albums at my old house. They have not been played in many a year though.

 

CDs are giving way to digital downloads, just as vinyl is becoming attractive to some people again. Not me though. Other than nostalgia, vinyl is of little interest to me.

[starise]

On one level it seems to make sense. I can go to a thrift store and buy and entire album for 1.00 or less. I've seen them for .25. At yard sales wait until noon when the seller is tired and offer 1.00 for the whole box. Chances are you'll get it. Better yet. Keep a close watch out the evening or day after a community yard sale and look at the trash put out. They usually put out what they didn't sell.

 

Maybe Sony are the only ones who have enough clout to sustain a niche market like this. If they become the sugar daddy record presser over small labels they could collect on that portion of the market. Even though the market is small, they could monopolize on it. Name recognition of Sony among consumers is pretty large and artists might see this as a way to promotion.

 

Maybe it's time to pull my old turntable out of the attic, find my old bell bottoms and grow long sideburns.

[starise]

1 hour ago, Just1L said:

One thing I do want to add. Once upon a time … Radio will kill the newspapers. TV will kill the radio. And now, the internet will kill everything. While it's doing a fine job of that, it won't continue. Everything eventually balances out. Everyone in the here-and-now has always thought their way was great. Go back through the decades and centuries of say medicine and science. It's continually wrong. With medicine I look back and think "Man, were they idiots?" with some of the things they did. Eventually, people will look back at today and think the same thing. With the internet, I use my kids and other kids as a judging stick. For example, just this past Tuesday we entered my sons summer reading log minutes. It used to be they'd have a sheet with stickers and add them when they got to certain goals. Now, they say, it's much better and easier. Go online and enter your times. After doing so, my son said "That wasn't fun, I wish we still did the stickers." Sometimes kids see things the best way. Another thing that happened this past month was at the Cardinals baseball game. You know they play music in between innings, at-bats and whatnot. The number one most movement and excitement I saw from the kids around me was when they played the intro to "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap." It connected with them. Despite what we are told, Rock isn't dead either, just on vacation.

 

I see a balancing out happening too. I don't see web based music ever going away though. The dangerous thing I see about our internet based world on a bigger scale is that it opens the door to access by thieves who want into your bank account. It's also so very dependent on everything going just right. Even with redundancy built into computer servers they still need clean power and cooling. In that sense everything as we know it is built on an antiquated power grid. Battery backup only lasts so long. Any natural disaster or war effort would render that system useless in minutes for the average Joe. The more important servers are better protected, probably in a mountain somewhere. 

So what looks like this great feat of human accomplishment can all go away in a blink.

 

One thing that I see keeping most people away from buying albums in large quantities is the ease of internet music. Pandora is modeled after air wave radio. For people who don't build play lists  yet want music they like. People who want a casual music experience. This is the way most music is listened to now.

 

 

[Just1L]

5 minutes ago, starise said:

 

I see a balancing out happening too. I don't see web based music ever going away though. The dangerous thing I see about our internet based world on a bigger scale is that it opens the door to access by thieves who want into your bank account. It's also so very dependent on everything going just right. Even with redundancy built into computer servers they still need clean power and cooling. In that sense everything as we know it is built on an antiquated power grid. Battery backup only lasts so long. Any natural disaster or war effort would render that system useless in minutes for the average Joe. The more important servers are better protected, probably in a mountain somewhere. 

So what looks like this great feat of human accomplishment can all go away in a blink.

 

One thing that I see keeping most people away from buying albums in large quantities is the ease of internet music. Pandora is modeled after air wave radio. For people who don't build play lists  yet want music they like. People who want a casual music experience. This is the way most music is listened to now.

 

 

 

Yeah, there are definitely more pressing, potentially disastrous issues with the internet than music. It's so new. I do feel it's a big mistake to have power grids and important things internet based/controlled. Like you said, poof, gone in an instant. Of course if they have the old-style, much more reliable but not as cheap method as a backup they can turn on very quickly, It won't be a problem. But, I wonder how many companies will do it like that. Cuz it's sooooo hard and expensive you know. LOL 

 

I don't use Pandora or any of the streaming services. Not because I don't believe in them, just because I don't really need them. I did think though that Pandora was the type of service where you could play what you want, when you want it. Which is much different than air wave radio. And it's that difference that makes the difference. I recall many a time where I'd hear a new song on the radio and like it. I'd almost always catch it in the middle or as it was ending, sometimes get the full deal. It was getting fed like that which used to make me say man I need to buy that CD/Album/Cassette etc… Especially considering you only heard a few of their songs. Maybe just the hit that made you want to hear the rest of their songs. Now though you hear something you like and you can hear it over and over again with little to no cost. You don't need to do a thing to hear all their songs other than look them up. 9 times out of 10, when you can just always get what you want when you want it, it becomes less important. It loses value.

[Ray888]

Vinyl will never be a force in the market because the majority of people are listening to music on their mobile phones and headphones. I can't see that anyone would want to carry around a portable record deck. Also people have turned to minimalist taste in their homes and LPs take up far too much storage space. 

[Just1L]

Most likely. But, it would be cool to have a record player system that could also record tunes in .mp3 format, linked via bluetooth to your devices. You could control the record player with whatever device you have and make your own playlists and whatnot. Of course, that is time consuming and would only be best for those that have the time and want. But, that way you could listen to music any way you like and those that do spend the money on albums would be getting an added bonus or two. Also, I see no reason why a record player couldn't use bluetooth technology for headphones as well. I will say, you are correct. Vinyl will never be at the top of the pile, but I do think it's cool that the option still exists and is even getting a little better. Now, if they'd just bring back the Beta tapes and 8-tracks I'd be styling. LOL

[Ray888]

 Yeah, everyone should have a vinyl writer in their studio to accompany their CD writer lol.

 

You go to the store and buy a 100 pack of Vinyl blanks and run them off in your studio. Cooooool.

[Just1L]

Makes you wonder if you could make records from a 3d printer that plays on 3d record players that play printed records.

[Pahchisme Plaid]

My daughter inherited a turntable from her great Aunt.  I think the memories they shared listening to Elvis on it when she was little added to the appeal.  She immediately purchased a large number of vinyl records at a lawn sale and later proceeded to purchase a brand new Taylor Swift vinyl record as well as other previously used records from a local music store.  I was astounded with what she spent on vinyl records--then again, she has no bills (yet).  She and her friends love the idea of vinyl records.  I think it's about the nostalgia of it.  They still listen to music via iPod, internet and streaming, etc.  

 

i aslo think there is something to "owning an album", either on cd or record that's appealing to many, rather than just a single, but I don't envision records or cds to have the popularity they once had.

[Ray888]

14 hours ago, Just1L said:

Makes you wonder if you could make records from a 3d printer that plays on 3d record players that play printed records.

 

Better patent that idea before someone else does lol.

[Pahchisme Plaid]

14 hours ago, tunesmithth said:

 Uh no, it didn't  But, your question did make my head hurt.

Seek help, my son LOL

 

Tom

Not as crazy as you might think.  3-D print has helped the medical community make great strides in prosthetics--it blows me away that they're doing these things!

[Pahchisme Plaid]

Funny creatures, aren't we?  I still listen to cds cause I'm still in the dark ages.  I listen to them in my car, plus I purchased a cd/Bluetooth portable player combo.  I take it into my greenhouse and listen while I dub around in there or listen while I'm house cleaning.  Most of the cds we own are country--my husband's taste (I like it okay, but got sick of it because it's all he ever listens to).  It's only been in maybe the past 5 years that I've purchased about 10 highly coveted cds that are my taste in music, so I use them a lot.  I listen through Bluetooth too, but, mostly  songs I like on SoundCloud.

[Pahchisme Plaid]

Does anyone here besides me go to a "good place" hearing the crackle sound of a vinyl record as it plays?  I lump it in with the sound of a coffee percolator percolating or a chime clock ticking and chiming or the theme song for "As the World Turns".  All sounds associated with childhood. My mother had me take a nap on the couch while she watched that show and folded laundry.  The clock reminds me of my Gram's house--(quiet otherwise) and the percolator just has that steady smooth cool sound that totally relaxes me.