Can Print Be The Next Vinyl?

from the it-would-take-work dept

One of the more interesting trends in the music world is the “return” of the vinyl LP. While sales of CD’s continue to fall in the face of digital downloads, vinyl LP sales continue to rise:

Consumers purchased 1.88 million new vinyl LPs in 2008, an 89 percent increase over 2007 and the highest sales volume recorded in the 17-year history of Nielsen SoundScan. Further, in good news for some physical retailers, two out of three vinyls LPs were purchased at independent record stores.

There are a number of reasons for this, but the most obvious is that the LP is a tangible object that can’t be easily reproduced and can only be shared through a physical, real-world exchange. For true fans, the LP is a sort of badge of fandom, proof of just how much you love the band. Compared to a digital download or a CD, the LP is a crafted thing, complete with large-scale artwork and often other inserts.

While it isn’t likely that LP sales will eclipse digital downloads anytime soon, it is also highly unlikely that the LP market will be undercut by piracy.

Could these same factors be a forecaster for the future of printed books and newspapers? It is hard to imagine that these items, so easily digitized, will be able to maintain their current position on top of the mountain and we are already seeing the rapid decline of the newspaper business.

In the cases of both newspapers and books, it might be that their only hope in surviving over the long-term is to invest in elements that can truly not be pirated. As Dave Eggers points out in a recent Salon interview:

I think newspapers shouldn’t try to compete directly with the Web, and should do what they can do better, which may be long-form journalism and using photos and art, and making connections with large-form graphics and really enhancing the tactile experience of paper. You know, including a full-color comic section, for example, which of course was standard in newspapers years ago, when you’d have a full broadsheet Winsor McCay comic. So we’ll have a big, full-color comic section, and we’re also trying to emphasize what younger readers are looking for, what directly appeals to them.

Now, I am not saying that comics section will save newspapers, but the point is to make the object something desirable to possess in physical form.

For the moment, we are going to see traditional publishers fight futilely to maintain the status quo but the ground is quickly falling away beneath them and it is going to take some innovative thinking about the value of printed matter to keep them in the game.

Crossposted from My Media Musings

David Title is an expert at the Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from David Title and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.

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Record Label Gives Fans A Reason To Buy

from the targeting-the-collectors dept

Yet another example of a small indie record label that actually understands the importance of giving fans a reason to buy, rather than just assuming that if they put out music, people should just buy. This example, sent in by reader Fitte Prins, involves a small heavy metal record label in Chicago that puts out a variety of limited edition vinyl records in beautiful packaging, with the idea of attracting collectors who like the vinyl artwork almost as much as the music itself. It certainly wouldn't work for all record labels, but it's a recognition that there's a lot more to offer than just the songs.

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CDs Have Another Thing To Fear: Vinyl?

from the life-is-analog dept

There has been no doubt that CD sales have been declining due to the growth of digital music. Well, CDs are now being flanked by an old format: vinyl. Although vinyl LPs have always enjoyed a niche popularity with dance djs and indie rock fanatics, large mass-market retailers like Fred Meyer are starting to stock vinyl versions of albums in response to broad increasing consumer demand for the "obsolete" format. Though vinyl enthusiasts claim that the analog sound from records is of higher quality than that of their digital counterparts, audiophiles are not necessarily the ones leading this resurgence in vinyl demand. Consumers like the larger format's liner notes and the nostalgic experience of owning and playing a vinyl LP -- both things that cannot be replicated with the digital version of a song. Unlike the declining sales of CDs, Vinyl LP sales are expected to grow 60% this year over last year. However, the actual volume of vinyl sold (1 million albums sold versus 450 million for CDs) is very low, so clearly the resurgence is not an indication of a shift in consumer's primary demand. That said, as more consumers are exposed to the music, the market for related non-digital goods will grow, and the increasing demand for vinyl albums is yet another indication of this trend.

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