Vinyl vs Digital

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Back in the days when everyone was wide eyed about the Spectrum 48K being a marvel of science and fun, we got used to technology being quickly upstaged. Radio? Video supposedly killed that. Betamax? Enter VHS. Cassettes and vinyl? Do I see the gleam of a CD?

Vinyl was soon thought of as old fashioned, sold for ten pence at car boot sales and left to the domain of intense wierdy beardys. The world was in love with these shiny CD things that didn’t jump or chew up cassette tape, leading to hours of fun detangling and re-winding with a biro. Mainstream music shops stopped giving vinyl records space. Record players were relegated to live in musty attics, making room for the smaller space friendly CD players. It was thought vinyl would never recover and the advance of all things digital and downloaded would be the final nail in the long awaited circular coffin.

But is it all over for vinyl? It appears not. Although a ‘downward spiral for vinyl sales’ was still being reported in 2003 (source www.vinylrecords.co.uk), it seems the sales of vinyl are finally back in vogue. New sales figures of seven inch records have shot up by a massive 87.3% compared to the same three-month period last year. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI), reports annual sales of vinyl singles are now approaching 1.4 million. The BPI also highlights an interesting trend with CDs – a steady decline of 23% over the last few years.

I fell in love with vinyl a long time ago. The sound is richer; there is more user participation, more visual treats, and more fun. CD booklets have never topped record pull out sleeves and posters. The act of taking a record out of its sleeve and putting it on the turntable enhances the connection with the music. There were ‘secret’ messages to be found if you play certain records backwards or looked closer at the centre. CDs are great but the same sound and experience you get with CDs can now be downloaded straight to your iPod, MP3 player or computer. It is of no coincidence that as download sales advance, CD sales decline.

The vinyl Top 20 is dominated by a new generation of rock acts, such as Babyshambles, Kaiser Chiefs and Keane. It is seen as a badge of honour to get your release out on vinyl. Younger music fans are embracing vinyl; record players are being pulled out of retirement. Shops such as Virgin Megastores are allocating more space to records, as it becomes clear people want a more tangible relationship with the music they buy, as opposed to being imprisoned in a soulless plastic box.

The singles market – struggling to keep its head above the download tsunami – must be breathing a small sigh of relief. Vinyl’s increasing popularity is revitalising the singles chart, with sales hitting more than one million a week for the first time since 1998. An example would be White Stripes single, The Denial Twist, which entered the UK Top 10 on the strength of vinyl sales alone. Vinyl is being seen as cool again while the CDs predatory gleam is showing signs of becoming tarnished.

And for those of you wishing to drag your record player out of the attic but fear the spiders in the speakers, take heart. This resurgence of all things vinyl means a renewed interest in turntables, you can now find them again, smarter than ever,  in John Lewis and Selfridges.