Vinyl Records Generated More Money Than Free Streaming Music

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While impressive, the key word in the headline above is "free." Record sales were better than ad-supported music streaming services.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reported that U.S. consumers bought $226 million worth of vinyl records in the first half of the year. Contrast this to $162.7 million in revenues from ad-supported streams from the likes of Pandora and Spotify, and it looks like people are actually paying a significant chunk of change for music. More money is being made on record sales than money is generated from ad-based online music.
 
I wonder if there is a correlation between vinyl sales and the premier of a new season of "The Walking Dead"...
 
While 226 million in sales of vinyl is impressive, the comment of "more money is being made of record sales" is not necessarily true. While sales revenue may be $226 mil vs $162 mil, that is not profit. The cost associated with pressing and distributing vinyl is much higher than the cost associated with streaming music. It's very possible that that $162 million in sales makes more money than the 226 million in sales for vinyl.
 
I've been buying a lot of records for the last few years. Mainly, trying to acquire the stuff I love. Great albums are a rare thing these days. Most aren't a great long play. The modern thing in music is a lot closer to 50's style focus on Singles. Which, is fine, but I love Long Plays. When a great album comes a long that works...it's a real treat. Vinyl is my favorite way of experiencing that. So, I've been buying my favorites on vinyl.
 
And CD sales are still raking in WAY more cash than Vinyl, despite the "downfall" everyone keeps preaching.
 
That's an awful lot of money for a novelty. The new records being sold are cuts of digitally recorded music. They're still watered down.
 
That's an awful lot of money for a novelty. The new records being sold are cuts of digitally recorded music. They're still watered down.

Not all of them. The ones I've been buying are mastered using analog equipment. But, I've been mostly buying Steve Albini engineered releases.
 
While impressive, the key word in the headline above is "free." Record sales were better than ad-supported music streaming services.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reported that U.S. consumers bought $226 million worth of vinyl records in the first half of the year. Contrast this to $162.7 million in revenues from ad-supported streams from the likes of Pandora and Spotify, and it looks like people are actually paying a significant chunk of change for music. More money is being made on record sales than money is generated from ad-based online music.

Most Spotify users are free users.
When vinyl takes in 1/4 of streaming, you know streaming revenue sucks balls.
 
That's an awful lot of money for a novelty. The new records being sold are cuts of digitally recorded music. They're still watered down.

It depends. Even with modern recordings, vinyl is sometimes mastered differently, if for no other reason than Vinyl can't handle the hyper compression prevalent on CDs and MP3 media.

That said, even if it's old shit, it's a novelty. Aside from the wealthy, or the not so wealthy that spend a grand or 2 on a turntable (min) and tons more on an Amp speakers etc, they can't hear the difference. Double blind tests consistently show that even then most cannot tell the difference (assuming the music is louder than the noise of the needle in the groove).

I only buy it if I really like the band and it's just a collectible.
 
Not surprising, I have a lot of friends that are musicians. They get about as much money for 250,000 unique plays on Spotify and the likes (Ad or Payed, they don't see that specified) as they get for one sold CD , Vinyl gives them even more as it is way more expensive to buy for the consumer. Their unified comment is:" If you want more music to choose from in the future, Buy records". An alternative that is quite good is services like HDtracks and similar more expensive download services. They also bring in more significant money. The common theme is that if you buy specific music, then the artist will actually get something to live on.
 
It depends. Even with modern recordings, vinyl is sometimes mastered differently, if for no other reason than Vinyl can't handle the hyper compression prevalent on CDs and MP3 media.

That said, even if it's old shit, it's a novelty. Aside from the wealthy, or the not so wealthy that spend a grand or 2 on a turntable (min) and tons more on an Amp speakers etc, they can't hear the difference. Double blind tests consistently show that even then most cannot tell the difference (assuming the music is louder than the noise of the needle in the groove).

I only buy it if I really like the band and it's just a collectible.

Where do you guys get this info from? Do you have links? I have a SL 1200 MK5 I paid $300 for and use a couple different $200 stylus' on. If the music is louder than the groove noise? 85% of my records used and new have NO NOISE whatsoever and total black background you wouldn't even know there was a record spinning.

I have tons of flac and hi res audio and DSD and blu ray audio to compare also... The recent Iron Maiden album I have on vinyl (both pressings US press from MPO in france and EU press from Optimal press in germany) The double CD and the hi res audio. Guess what sounds best ? Almost all new albums are mastered so badly digitally that the vinyl almost always sounds better. Ever do a side by side of the 13 album from Sabbath or any of the Mastodon albums? Even if the cuts are "digital" good example being the Zeppelin reissues. Page actually laid them all down 24/192 and cut the vinyl from it and released the hi res audio 24/96... The cd's are actually lowest res at 16/44.

I guess my point is good vinyl with great pressing quality and proper mastering will never sound worse than the same album on a CD if you have decent equipment and set it up correctly and that's worse case scenario. Vinyl might not be for everyone and it is not better always but is by no means a LOW FI noisy medium by any means even if you don't spend $15,000 on a system.
 
Where do you guys get this info from? Do you have links? I have a SL 1200 MK5 I paid $300 for and use a couple different $200 stylus' on. If the music is louder than the groove noise? 85% of my records used and new have NO NOISE whatsoever and total black background you wouldn't even know there was a record spinning.

I have tons of flac and hi res audio and DSD and blu ray audio to compare also... The recent Iron Maiden album I have on vinyl (both pressings US press from MPO in france and EU press from Optimal press in germany) The double CD and the hi res audio. Guess what sounds best ? Almost all new albums are mastered so badly digitally that the vinyl almost always sounds better. Ever do a side by side of the 13 album from Sabbath or any of the Mastodon albums? Even if the cuts are "digital" good example being the Zeppelin reissues. Page actually laid them all down 24/192 and cut the vinyl from it and released the hi res audio 24/96... The cd's are actually lowest res at 16/44.

I guess my point is good vinyl with great pressing quality and proper mastering will never sound worse than the same album on a CD if you have decent equipment and set it up correctly and that's worse case scenario. Vinyl might not be for everyone and it is not better always but is by no means a LOW FI noisy medium by any means even if you don't spend $15,000 on a system.

Your last point is straight out and out bullshit. Vinyl Cannot support the same quality as digital, period. Just because people are idiots and compress shit, doesn't suddenly make vinyl superior. From a technical perspective, if ALL things are equal and that means the equipment and the Source then Digital is superior to vinyl in every way. So yes, if all things are equal then vinyl will in fact sound worse.

Now that is from a technical perspective. Obviously from a realistic perspective it is different. Mostly because artists keep releasing trash digital recordings and from an analog perspective it is a little harder to botch vinyl. This is also why I buy very little new music these days. Plenty of songs I like, but the second I stick them on my system it makes me want to punch whoever recorded it in the mouth.
 
What everyone has failed to point out (so far) is that vinyl sales have come back very strongly. Vinyl broke through the 2 million sold/yr in apx 2009, hit 6 million in 2013, slightly over 9 million in 2014 and are over 9 million for just the first 6 months in 2015. I have begun purchasing vinyl, though only classic original release stuff and find it to be a very enjoyable format. Yes it has its cons, but overall it is a very enjoyable experience, from the seeking out old records high and low, to the large cover art and disc sleeves, or even the more mundane cleaning a dirty vinyl.
 
Your last point is straight out and out bullshit. Vinyl Cannot support the same quality as digital, period. Just because people are idiots and compress shit, doesn't suddenly make vinyl superior. From a technical perspective, if ALL things are equal and that means the equipment and the Source then Digital is superior to vinyl in every way. So yes, if all things are equal then vinyl will in fact sound worse.

Now that is from a technical perspective. Obviously from a realistic perspective it is different. Mostly because artists keep releasing trash digital recordings and from an analog perspective it is a little harder to botch vinyl. This is also why I buy very little new music these days. Plenty of songs I like, but the second I stick them on my system it makes me want to punch whoever recorded it in the mouth.

Is opinion or practice? These do not matter on paper so to speak... I have albums on CD that sound better than vinyl because it's pressed like shit and used a dud 16/44 cut ... every new release in recent memory sounds better on vinyl. Even a good needle drop of the vinyl sounds better. I mostly listen to classic rock and metal. Most recently sabbath, the sword, iron maiden all released great albums but the brickwalling was disgusting. Sounds way better on my turntable. Mastodon is another brilliant band that cant make a cd worth a shit, even the recent single LP reissues on colored vinyl sound a way better and they also have 45 rpm 2lp versions which are amazing.

So maybe it is bullshit on paper but that's not the point and if you ever wanna come by and drink some beers and enjoy some music I bet you'll understand what I really meant.

You are correct though a shitty low res master will sound better on a cd than a cheaply pressed piece of shit record using the same master every time.
 
Not surprising, I have a lot of friends that are musicians. They get about as much money for 250,000 unique plays on Spotify and the likes (Ad or Payed, they don't see that specified) as they get for one sold CD , Vinyl gives them even more as it is way more expensive to buy for the consumer. Their unified comment is:" If you want more music to choose from in the future, Buy records". An alternative that is quite good is services like HDtracks and similar more expensive download services. They also bring in more significant money. The common theme is that if you buy specific music, then the artist will actually get something to live on.

Because they are working for an industry that has been ripping off it's artists and consumers from day one.
 
What everyone has failed to point out (so far) is that vinyl sales have come back very strongly. Vinyl broke through the 2 million sold/yr in apx 2009, hit 6 million in 2013, slightly over 9 million in 2014 and are over 9 million for just the first 6 months in 2015. I have begun purchasing vinyl, though only classic original release stuff and find it to be a very enjoyable format. Yes it has its cons, but overall it is a very enjoyable experience, from the seeking out old records high and low, to the large cover art and disc sleeves, or even the more mundane cleaning a dirty vinyl.

I blame Fallout...
 
Where do you guys get this info from? Do you have links? I have a SL 1200 MK5 I paid $300 for and use a couple different $200 stylus' on. If the music is louder than the groove noise? 85% of my records used and new have NO NOISE whatsoever and total black background you wouldn't even know there was a record spinning.

I have tons of flac and hi res audio and DSD and blu ray audio to compare also... The recent Iron Maiden album I have on vinyl (both pressings US press from MPO in france and EU press from Optimal press in germany) The double CD and the hi res audio. Guess what sounds best ? Almost all new albums are mastered so badly digitally that the vinyl almost always sounds better. Ever do a side by side of the 13 album from Sabbath or any of the Mastodon albums? Even if the cuts are "digital" good example being the Zeppelin reissues. Page actually laid them all down 24/192 and cut the vinyl from it and released the hi res audio 24/96... The cd's are actually lowest res at 16/44.

I guess my point is good vinyl with great pressing quality and proper mastering will never sound worse than the same album on a CD if you have decent equipment and set it up correctly and that's worse case scenario. Vinyl might not be for everyone and it is not better always but is by no means a LOW FI noisy medium by any means even if you don't spend $15,000 on a system.

The stuff I've read was all in print, though I'm sure there's stuff on the web too. The point wasn't that vinyl is noisy. The point was that people can't tell the difference. I only mentioned noise, because someone last week said he/she can always here groove noise.

Bottom line is if you have the exactly same master it'll sound the same as a CD. Same goes for high res audio...there's no advantage. Every engineer I know says higher resolution only makes sense in the mixing process. Get a hearing test. If you can't near 48khz, then 96khz makes sense, but with the exception of a few people with golden ears, adults can't even hear 22khz (the top end of a CD).

Most complaints about CDs are caused by the bad mastering in the early days and the use of Hyper Compression for the last 15 years. It's unfortunate that dynamic range has gone out of style.
 
Is opinion or practice? These do not matter on paper so to speak... I have albums on CD that sound better than vinyl because it's pressed like shit and used a dud 16/44 cut ... every new release in recent memory sounds better on vinyl. Even a good needle drop of the vinyl sounds better. I mostly listen to classic rock and metal. Most recently sabbath, the sword, iron maiden all released great albums but the brickwalling was disgusting. Sounds way better on my turntable. Mastodon is another brilliant band that cant make a cd worth a shit, even the recent single LP reissues on colored vinyl sound a way better and they also have 45 rpm 2lp versions which are amazing.

So maybe it is bullshit on paper but that's not the point and if you ever wanna come by and drink some beers and enjoy some music I bet you'll understand what I really meant.

You are correct though a shitty low res master will sound better on a cd than a cheaply pressed piece of shit record using the same master every time.

Is it the exact same master? Sometimes they master it differently for vinyl. Easiest way to tell is to get a CD, extract the file and look at it in a wave editor. Hyper Compression is really obvious. Vinyl can't handle that, though I suppose they could just lower the RMA to so that the needle doesn't jump out of the groove.
 
I've been very curious. If you're looking to support the artist, is there a best way to get your music? Does more money actually make it to the artist in general from vinyl? If available on Amazon with AutoRip, I generally buy the CD, rip and burn copies of the original, and store away the original CD. I have a few vinyl records, mostly as collectables.

I hate the trend of the loudness war, digital clipping, and distorting. I thought Alice In Chains' Black Gives Way To Blue sounded better on vinyl, but as I just had a cheap $150 or so record player, it was noisy and vinyl rip was a bad idea. As has been said before, I don't necessarily think vinyl is superior, I think they optimized the CD and MP3 for portable music players and loudness and couldn't do the same for the vinyl. I've also heard that Alice In Chains is rare in that they stay analog as long as they can before going digital and believe the music is better for it.

The Metallica Guitar Hero rip of Death Magnetic ("snare" drum and content quality aside) sounded so much better than the CD/MP3. And then there's the whole Rush Vapor Trails thing (only heard about that controversy this year).
 
Funny enough, the main reason I buy vinyl is because of the packaging. For me music is music independent of the format, but vinyl gatefold are much more pleasent to look at and read than a small print CD liner.

Also, plenty of old time music never made it to CD or digital and I do like many of those now defunct obscurae groups/artist.
 
I've been very curious. If you're looking to support the artist, is there a best way to get your music? Does more money actually make it to the artist in general from vinyl? If available on Amazon with AutoRip, I generally buy the CD, rip and burn copies of the original, and store away the original CD. I have a few vinyl records, mostly as collectables.

I hate the trend of the loudness war, digital clipping, and distorting. I thought Alice In Chains' Black Gives Way To Blue sounded better on vinyl, but as I just had a cheap $150 or so record player, it was noisy and vinyl rip was a bad idea. As has been said before, I don't necessarily think vinyl is superior, I think they optimized the CD and MP3 for portable music players and loudness and couldn't do the same for the vinyl. I've also heard that Alice In Chains is rare in that they stay analog as long as they can before going digital and believe the music is better for it.

The Metallica Guitar Hero rip of Death Magnetic ("snare" drum and content quality aside) sounded so much better than the CD/MP3. And then there's the whole Rush Vapor Trails thing (only heard about that controversy this year).

By most accounts, the best way is to buy it directly from the artist (or perhaps from the label if they're on a small imprint like 4AD). that said, I tend to buy from Amazon, but if an artist I really like has some limited release available on preorder, then I'll buy that, but I want a FLAC copy in that case, since I don't open vinyl.
 
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