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James MacKenzie
Wax to the future
Myles Malloy, Weal Writer
When digital media took control of the market in the early ‘90s, vinyl largely died. Now as the compact disc enters into its twilight years, vinyl has risen from the dead and is regaining the market share that it once dominated with vinyl sales reaching 2.9 million in 2008 the highest figure the medium had seen in a decade. It’s clear that this dated format of music storage still holds a place in the hearts of older collectors and continues to attract a newer generation of music fans. Vinyl is back with a vengeance.
In our constantly changing world where superior technology is held in high regard, vinyl has beat the odds and is somehow still alive and kicking – even when put up against convenience of CDs and MP3s.
Stranger still, it’s now commonplace for big-name acts and smaller indie groups to release new music on vinyl.
Perusing through music outlets like HMV and Megatunes, you can more often than not find a section of the store dedicated to hot-off-the-press vinyl featuring records by bands like Metallica that have even gone as far as to release re-issues of past albums on vinyl.
Record collector Thomas Forsyth, 19, often visits Hot Wax - a vinyl and CD store located in Kensington – when seeking out good deals on records.
“Hot Wax is probably the best record store I know,” Forsyth says. “Usually (vinyl records) are cheaper than CDs, and you can get shit on records that you can’t get on CDs.”
Chris Tuggins, 24, is also a vinyl aficionado. He is new to the record collecting game, but has numerous reasons behind his new infatuation.
“I find (records have) way better sound quality,” Tuggins says. “I don’t have too many records, but I do collect The Beatles and Pink Floyd. If I can find the obscure records like Sgt. Peppers or Dark Side of the Moon or something, then I’ll definitely get them.”
Generally, audiophiles (hobbyist who seek out high quality sound formats) will agree with Tuggin’s sentiment in regards to the superior sound-quality found in vinyl records. Despite the fact that vinyl is
infinitely more fragile and susceptible to damage than CDs, vinyl records are praised by these sound specialists for their warm, natural sound quality in contrast to the thin, sharp tones that CDs produce.
Chris Dadge, an employee at Hot Wax says vinyl has a strong advantage over CDs that goes beyond sound quality.
Indeed, the number of tracks that can be fitted to a CD has become something of a musical over-kill. Many classic rock fans feel that in a time when an artist could only fit about 45 minutes of music max on a record, albums contained significantly less “filler” than they do now. Nowadays bands can cram as much as 80 minutes of audio into a CD.
“I like that it’s a fixed length,” Dadge says. “Things won’t be too long on vinyl. It’s a nice length.”