Our Vinyl Costs a Ton

[Func]

Nice piece on Fact about the costs of vinyl

We scarcely go a week without reading a story about the renaissance of the vinyl format, and although I’m sceptical about whether the amount of units being sold, as opposed to money being made, has risen in quite the way that we’re supposed to believe (it’s worth reading former Cargo employee Bill Dolan’s comments in Arron Merat’s recent piece on the subject for FACT, for a start, and a comparison between the units being pressed by a fledgling record label in 2013 compared to even 2008 would make for depressing reading) it’s pretty obvious that the format’s more hip than it was a decade ago. So why are the same independent labels that should be spurred by this development using it as an opportunity to take advantage of their fans?

Some recent examples: the triple-vinyl version of Zomby’s With Love retails between £27.99 and £30 at most retailers. Yes, 4AD’s vinyl releases come with a code that gives buyers access to a free mp3 version – a norm in the indie world, and something that the dance music world has yet to fully embrace – and are high quality products, but a little perspective here: that’s close to £30 for an album whose creator, by his own admission, barely bothered sequencing it. By comparison, Border Community’s recent triple-vinyl release of Holden’s The Inheritors usually retails at £17.

It’s not just releases in the £30 bracket that have become overpriced. Powell’s recent EP for Boomkat’s Death of Rave label is one of my favourite records of the year, but it’s hard to not feel hard done by when paying £10 (direct from Boomkat, with download code) or £11+ (once another retailer has marked up; no download code) for a single vinyl record with no artwork and a plain plastic sleeve. Compare that to Werk Discs’ recent EPs by Helena Hauff and Lukid, which retail at £6-£7 with full sleeves. Or, a personal comparison point: last weekend I spent £45 across a pair of second hand London record stores on around 30 records, including a Drexciya EP that averages £20 on Discogs’ marketplace. In some cases (for instance, Vakula’s You’ve Never Been to Konotop, roughly retailing at £30 on triple-vinyl, and Audio Fidelity’s reissue of the Blade Runner soundtrack, £25-£30 on single-vinyl), that wouldn’t even buy me two new albums.

Any record label that still presses vinyl in 2013 when countless artists are getting rich off free downloads and digital releases could hardly be easier for a label to organise, deserves a level of respect, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that some of them are starting to take the piss. There are elements of vinyl production – including the price of paper stock – that have risen in recent years, but we’re still a fair way off justifying the sorts of prices that unfortunately seem less and less exceptional by the day.

The collectors’ market will always be there, and I have no problem with it: if you like House of Balloons enough to drop $199 on a signed (well, sort of signed) collectors’ edition of it, then more power to you. These products will always be overpriced to some extent, but they’re also part of a different market, with a different target audience to regular singles and albums, and often their unique status justifies an inflated price tag. Likewise, imports from the States will always be priced higher in European stores, and until the world’s postage costs drop that will continue to be the case. But when local labels are overpricing their products for seemingly no other reason than because they can, it leaves a bad taste – and that’s when Discogs and second hand stores become more appealing than supporting a label, and the matter of who your money’s going to stops being a priority.

http://www.factmag.com/2013/08/07/our-v ... heir-fans/

[baddis98]

good read.
single sided pressings that cost the same or even more than regular pressings piss me off same way.

[Marcus]

good read.
single sided pressings that cost the same or even more than regular pressings piss me off same way.

This so much, I can sort of understand for a bootleg release but it's painful paying £7 for a single tune.

[Preacha]

where the fuck did he find that drexciya ep

[Harkat]

You brits have it too fuckin easy. I fork out about £9 for a what I'm lucky enough to find locally, but since the local record shops stack mostly techno or indie/punk/metal, most worthwhile tunes have to be discog'd for a total cost of about £20 per release. Was weird to be in BM Soho on visit to London and have the lady behind the counter describe the new kahn & neek as "pretty pricey" at £8.

[Muncey]

good read.
single sided pressings that cost the same or even more than regular pressings piss me off same way.

This so much, I can sort of understand for a bootleg release but it's painful paying £7 for a single tune.

Floating Points - Wires is single sided and cost £12+

Fair enough its nearly 12 minutes long and nice artwork but still, I brought J:Kenzos full album for £5. Swings and roundabouts.

[garethom]

You brits have it too fuckin easy. I fork out about £9 for a what I'm lucky enough to find locally, but since the local record shops stack mostly techno or indie/punk/metal, most worthwhile tunes have to be discog'd for a total cost of about £20 per release. Was weird to be in BM Soho on visit to London and have the lady behind the counter describe the new kahn & neek as "pretty pricey" at £8.

Why do you have to go straight to discogs? Can't you hit up redeye, juno? Paying about £20 a record is savage, m an!

[skimpi]

good read.
single sided pressings that cost the same or even more than regular pressings piss me off same way.

This so much, I can sort of understand for a bootleg release but it's painful paying £7 for a single tune.

Mirror Song pissed me off, bought it on RSD for 'And What' not realising it was a super waste RSD special with only Mirror Song on it. Like what is the fucking point of releasing 500 copies of one track, when you are going to release it backed with 2 other likes a month later? And now I cant even resell it really cos who the fuck is gonna buy it when they can just buy the standard one with all three tracks lol

[neonriddims]

Why do you have to go straight to discogs? Can't you hit up redeye, juno? Paying about £20 a record is savage, m an!

Same for me, shipping cost kills me every time... adds 15-20 gbp to every order

[Shane Says]

red eye's shipping is great for being in the US. if I'm buying 3 records its probably the same price as people that have to pay VAT.

[LouDub]

Discogs takes the piss tho. Have you seen that seller Tanmushimushi? Fucking rip off merchant, some of them make me laugh. Wow first pressing of Burial Untrue, gonna fork out that 950 for that it's first pressing ffs! Can still cop that at every online store for 12 quid ha. Who honestly cares about first pressing enough to fork out 535 for Midnight request line either, guys having a laugh needs to be boycotted.

[skimpi]

yeah tanmushimushi is just a fucking oppurtunist tho, hoping some idiot will pay that much

[Terpit]

Discogs takes the piss tho. Have you seen that seller Tanmushimushi? Fucking rip off merchant, some of them make me laugh. Wow first pressing of Burial Untrue, gonna fork out that 950 for that it's first pressing ffs! Can still cop that at every online store for 12 quid ha. Who honestly cares about first pressing enough to fork out 535 for Midnight request line either, guys having a laugh needs to be boycotted.

Him and 'vinylvendor' need to fuck off

[jrkhnds]

Discogs takes the piss tho. Have you seen that seller Tanmushimushi? Fucking rip off merchant, some of them make me laugh. Wow first pressing of Burial Untrue, gonna fork out that 950 for that it's first pressing ffs! Can still cop that at every online store for 12 quid ha. Who honestly cares about first pressing enough to fork out 535 for Midnight request line either, guys having a laugh needs to be boycotted.

Him and 'vinylvendor' need to fuck off

wondering how many times I already read this on here.
still tools buying from these stnuc.

[Terpit]

I wish you could block sellers on Discogs, on their forum loads of people have asked too

[Marcus]

I wish you could block sellers on Discogs, on their forum loads of people have asked too

Ahem, vinylvendour pops up a lot of my messages, he must just always change his prices so people get notification about it.

[Terpit]

Yeah he must constantly add and remove things from his for sale list, tnuc, Ive wanted records that only he has for sale, then someone else has put it up for sale and copied his price

[garethom]

Terpit, was it you who pointed out the rule discogs have about having the same price on discogs as they do in other shops. Might be worth looking to see if they have a website they sell through, and just mail screenshots to discogs complaining about those sellers.

Fuck you vinylvendour and that shop with all the dub-techno in america that unlists and relists their entire stock every day.

[Terpit]

Yeah it was, I will be doing that at some point, gonna see if its been successful in the past

[rorz9992]

When the average price of a 12" increased from £6 to £8 a while ago I ignored all the £8 releases and refused to spend that much on one plate; now paying that much seems normal. If the price goes up to £10 for 1-2 tracks I will not hesitate to switch to digital