Saw this article online, and was curious on opinions to what the future holds for vinyl. (This is not a ‘real DJ’s use vinyl’ debate btw)
Is it the case that the vinyl industry is elderly, and fading.. despite new hardware from (Matsushita) Technics and Pioneer, and the high interest in DJ’s going back to, or starting to DJ with vinyl for the first time…?
Or do you think it’s still thriving..?
I personally haven’t used vinyl now in a couple of years, but I did replace my vinyl TT’s with a vintage Technics SL-120 with SME tonearm, so at least I can play vinyl if I take the notion.
I don’t think vinyl will die properly because there will always be an enthusiast market keeping it alive. That said, it will remain a fringe entity. For myself, I play on vinyl at home fairly regularly in conjuction with my digital setup. Professionally speaking, I still use vinyl when the occassion requires from time to time but it in no way compares to amount of gigs I do digitally. You can count my vinyl gigs for the last 2 years on one hand.
You mentioned “thriving” and that’s interesting. I think vinyl could be classed as thriving, but within a certain strain of music consumers and DJ’s. That market is healthy, and while it will probably grow over the next couple of years it will still remain a small market. I will never get rid of my vinyl or Technics, but nor will I delude myself into thinking that vinyl is anything other than a hugely enjoyable sideshow to the main event that digital DJ’ing is and will continue to be.
One thing I will say is that new DJ’s would do well to research the past and see where DJ’ing came from because vinyl is culturally relevant to what we do. I see too many who think that the sync button + fist pumping is all that DJ’ing requires.
Totally hear ya, sync button and fistbumping ain’t DJ’ing.. it’s entertainment for those who don’t care about the art. The article kinda hints at vinyl will die off eventually, due to the antiquated technology that it is, the maintenance that the machines require, and that upkeep of the tools that are used to make mass quantities.
As much as many would like it to grow, is it realistic to think it would ever come back to what it was 20 years ago?
I think demand for vinyl is on the rise, actually. It’s evident in products like the new Pioneer turntables. I think it’s great. There are tons of vinyl only releases, which really helps the growth of it all.
I think demand for albums etc, and what i call ‘general listening’ records will go up, but not so much for DJing music…its just not practical anymore, which is a shame.
I’m inclined to agree, DJ’ing with vinyl is now more a novelty rather than a serious angle on DJ’ing and the times I’ve used vinyl were because the event allowed me to play older music that I already own. I still buy vinyl but none of it is new stuff, it’s always the old school bits and pieces I missed when they came out first time round. Non-DJ music afficionados, however, will continue to buy new vinyl and most of the rise in sales is down to them I believe.
I still love playing with vinyl, but at my residency it would be completely impractical to use.
TL;DR: Vinyl will be kept alive by a section of music consumers and turntables will still make money because the turntablist community will keep buying them. There is still nothing better than a rotating platter for what they do.
As stated, I think the enthusiast market will keep it going, whether Urban Outfitters sells repressing or not. I would honestly guess that the fad will die off in a few years, unfortunately. At least for mainstream consumption.
It’s never going to replace iPhones / streaming / mp3s as the primary music player for most young people. Even if they have a record player and some records at home. I’d liken it to properly cooking a meal. They probably do it once a week, then order out most of the time.
I love vinyl, but would be lying if I said I didn’t typically play out on a flash drive purely for convenience.
Very true…practically, it’s tough to justify lugging crates of records around these days. Speaking from pure nostalgia though, there’s nothing like seeing that wax spinning!
The amount of people cutting high quality dubplates has definitely increased over the past couple years. We have also seen better plastics going into record pressing. This has lead to a higher setup cost, though, which is reflected when ordering any short run.
A lot of non EDM new music has been releasing on vinyl as of late and has no problem being sold. The EDM market is still suffering in vinyl sales.
As most us, I started out on vinyl and am still using and buying it. But offcourse I use cdj’s most of the time on gigs. On most of the parties the setup is also not so ideal anymore to be playing vinyl only. (the speakersetup,the tables,…).
But still playing turntables is the only thing that really gets me locked in the groove. That undescribable feeling you get when mixing vinyl is uncomparable to me. Serato also does a great job by the way…
These days you see dj’s wanting to play turntables just because they think they are more credible as a dj an that is a sad fact IMO. I don’t think playing vinyl makes you a better dj, for some people like myself it is just a more natural way of doing what we do and whatever gets you in to the groove is good enough for me.
vinyl sales have seen an upsurge since about 2007 but that upsurge has tapered off; I think this year’s sales figures were down a bit so it may have reached saturation. But there are a lot of companies getting into new turntables and the like so the fad value may last longer than we think – e.g. https://trntbl.co/ – this stuff isn’t marketed to DJs but DJs are a tiny slice of the market. So vinyl probably isn’t going anywhere whether or not DJs make the switch (back).
Personally I love vinyl both for listening and for DJing. But there aren’t that many gigs that call for it these days, though I’d be overjoyed to play one (I don’t gig much at all these days anyway though, so take whatever I say with a grain of salt). I love playing with digital too though; you can do so much with Traktor that’s impossible with vinyl, but again if I were gigging I wouldn’t bother with any of that stuff.
I’ve already spent a couple thousand on vinyl records this year, so for me vinyl definitely isn’t going anywhere
Is the selection still there though? Or is it that your chosen genre still has a lot of vinyl in circulation or creating new pressings? (I’m intrigued)
In Drum N Bass we have plenty of vinyl releases still. Vinyl has become a super niche market, though. While there is a surge in non edm record sales, edm record sales are still on a steady decline. This is mostly due to the closing of most pressing plants worldwide leading to the increased cost. We used to be able to do a short run of 100 12" two sided with full color sleeve, full color label,white insert, shrink, and bar code for $750. Now you get a short run of the same without the outer sleeve and a black on white label for $900. The price per unit does drop significantly as you increase the quantity for a full run, but it’s to exemplify an increase in setup cost.
(Pricing reflected from latest quote by Rainbo Records in California)
Vinyl is still coming out in a number of genres; some genres (dnb, acid, etc) even still have some vinyl-only labels and releases. Plenty of selection available depending on the genres you like (especially if you like older music), though there are plenty of things you can’t find on vinyl, so it’s nice to be able to combine vinyl and digital sources.
Selection is as good as it has been for years! Pressing plants are booked solid with waits, every classic album ever made seems to be re-pressed on vinyl now. In house anyway, there are still plenty of vinyl only releases, but as I said…plenty and plenty of options on vinyl these days.
Totally agree. I’m going round my mate’s house later to do just this..
Or at least that’s the plan, that’ll probably end up playing some vinyl getting beer and trying to scratch (badly)
nice thread .. with all due respect for Vinyl and its enthusiasts I gotta say some of them could have been better without it. Someone as acclaimed as Hito who also happens to play with Richie at his ENTER nights, I never thought one would compromise basic beat batching for the love of vinyl. I support vinyls mainly because of the richness in sound but still i feel people deserve better at least in terms of mixing.
I see a lot of offbeat mixing in above videos and would really like your opinion !
