Music streaming services Spotify, Deezer, Rdio, TIDAL and Apple Music allow subscribers access to massive music collections for unlimited listening, eliminating the need to own any music. For $2.99 a month, Apple Music allows Sri Lankan subscribers unlimited access to 30 million tracks. Deezer – available on Android and Apple devices – also offers subscriptions to Sri Lanka, but is more expensive.
The consequence is that enthusiasts no longer need to have large recorded music collections on CD, vinyl or as digital files. The global vinyl resurgence goes against trends for two reasons. First, because it’s against the trend of enthusiasts not having to own the music anymore. Second, digital-savvy millennials are the leading demographic behind the global resurgence in vinyl – the oldest and most bothersome way to listen to music.
Made of polyvinyl chloride, vinyls were the main mode for commercial distribution of pop music from the 1950s until the 1980s when they were first replaced by tapes and then by compact discs. Recently, CDs sales have started to decline, replaced by digital downloads. Since its fading, vinyl has had a small set of hard-core devotees – when a new resurgence emerged a few years ago.
Some argue that the vinyl resurgence is as temporary as a comeback album by a retired rock band. But is nostalgia the only reason for its resurgence?
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) says revenue from vinyl sales in the US in the first of 2015 crossed $222 million, up 50% from the same period last year. Interestingly, people aged 13-35 accounted for a whopping 72% of total vinyl sales in the US. Why is it that they seem to prefer large and fragile discs in cardboard sleeves that play with background noise to the crisp sound of digital tracks? For many, it’s the experience.
Music is often just something that plays in the background. People listen to music while working out or driving to work. Most restaurants play music in a loop to enhance the atmosphere as people mingle and eat. However, it’s not possible to appreciate a good recording as the artist intended it to be enjoyed at the gym or a restaurant. Vinyl is great when enjoying the music is the main focus. It’s not possible to backtrack or skip a song in a recording, so people tend to listen to an album the way the artist intended it to be heard.
Enjoying vinyl in Sri Lanka
The Listening Room at Liberty Arcade, a shop dedicated to hi-fi audio and home theatre systems, and High Music Store, Sri Lanka’s first and only shop dedicated to vinyls (they also sell limited CDs and books), are the two places that feed the obsession.
The Listening Room has a range of hi-fi audio equipment from major US, European and Japanese brands. Turntables at the store range in price from Rs70,000 to Rs200,000, and come with a warranty.
The High Music Store is a record store located at Arpico at Hyde Park Corner. Started in 2014, the store sources records from the Netherlands, getting a batch of brand new, as well as old and limited edition, records every two weeks. Customers can also order any record off www. musiconvinyl.com.
It also retails old record collections purchased in Sri Lanka. According to Director Kosala Kumarasinghe, some Sri Lankan enthusiasts have collections of 2,000-3,000 vinyls. Kumarasinghe says some customers purchase up to 5-10 new records from every batch they import. On average, the store sells 30-50 old vinyls per week and 15-25 new releases.
The store also markets Swissmade Thorens turntables. They range in price from Rs64,000 to Rs84,000. It’s advisable to include a diamond-tip needle for a player, which costs over Rs20,000, and with each record ranging in price from Rs3,500 to Rs8,000, this hobby doesn’t come cheap.
Nonetheless, vinyl sales have been growing steadily globally. In the US, sales were up 18% in 2012, 32% in 2013 and 51% in 2014. Rainbo Records, the oldest vinyl pressing plant in the US and the third largest in the world, which once pressed 5,000 records a day, now does 25,000 but still struggles to meet demand.
Vinyls may be an older mechanism of music consumption, but it has become popular among young individuals wishing to connect with the music and artistes. If it gets people to pull out their headphones and drop a needle, we are not complaining.