Don’t Throw Out That Turntable Just Yet (No, Really)

A report in today’s Guardian posits that the current record-buying market, which hasn’t been kind to CDs, is actually turning into a boom time for vinyl, the format that record labels tried to force fans away from when they brought the compact disc into now-shuttered Record Worlds and Sam Goodys around the country:

Two years on, the White Stripes’ Icky Thump has just notched up the highest weekly sales for a 7in single for more than 20 years. Retailers and record labels put the rising vinyl sales down to bands rediscovering the format and to music fans’ enduring desire to collect. It’s not unusual for fans to buy a 7in but have nothing to play it on, says Paul Williams at industry magazine Music Week. “It’s about the kind of acts that have very loyal fan bases that want everything to do with that act,” he says. “They maybe will buy the download to listen to, but they get the vinyl to own. It’s looked at like artwork.”

HMV agrees that vinyl is back from the brink, and the chain has been rapidly expanding its record racks to meet rising demand. The group’s Gennaro Castaldo cites the huge popularity of “indie” bands, such as Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys, which enjoy loyal followings among teenagers and students, especially during the summer festival season.

“Labels have realised that it’s cool for bands to release their music on vinyl, especially in limited edition form, which makes it highly collectible,” he says.

The aesthetics of albums also make them attractive–the lack of cheap plastic boxes and expansive canvases for cover art make the idea of album-as-collectible that much more possible, something that probably wouldn’t happen with a CD unless you’re talking about, say, that Jane’s Addiction “Been Caught Stealing” maxi-single with the finger handcuffs attached to it in 1991. But for those concerned about portability–and who don’t feel like indulging their retro tendencies all the way to a new cassette player–we like the idea that some labels, including Merge and the Beggars Group, have had, which involves bundling free digital downloads of albums with purchases of the vinyl edition. That way, you get the pretty collectible without having to find a ’56 DeSoto in order to listen to it while you’re on the road.

Back in the groove: Young music fans spark vinyl revival [Guardian]