The music industry has not been able to accurately determine it's course of action in terms of a medium for the last 2 years. Sales of vinyl albums are only two percent of the music market both over all and for the independents as well, but more and more people are buying them. Why? According to several sources, Vinyl, at least in some music markets, is poised to take over from the CD as the leader in physical copies of music. This is hard to believe, since vinyl is such bulky medium and not as portable as the CD, but that may be one of the points that is driving it forward. People have long argued that the consumer has lost the "bond" with the audio medium they are purchasing in exchange for convenience. Now when a person purchases a song, they simply download a digital file, which may or may not have any more emotional value as an experience or as a file to them than a general word document. It's hard to distinguish the tangibility of your music from your tax documents, at least in terms of where you go to experience it. People who truly love to purchase music and dive into the culture of the album they have just bought, long for the "time-out" experience of opening the record, putting it on and pouring over the artwork, trying to learn, conjure or understand more about how this piece of music was made. And in so doing, they've laid out a part of their day to discover an actual album or song by the old fashioned method of spending time with it. Isn't that what all relationships need more of? More time together, more time to discover one another?
As an experiment, I decided to print my up and coming record, called "Take Up Your Mat and Walk" on vinyl and see how it fairs in generating true listeners. I just got the copies in recently and the record is slated for a Jan 2009 release. I haven't been able to determine whether or not it is forming a bond with the consumer, but I was able to take one and go to a friends where we put it on side one and for the next 45 minutes listened to it in it's entirety, with out skipping songs or going back to re-listen. And though it was my own work, I shared that experience with friend that I had not shared in almost 15 years. That was getting a record, and sitting there listening - making a few comments - but "spending time" using our ears and sonic imaginations. I don't think I can go back to CD after doing that. At least for a while.
More to come,
Steven
source info:
http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/commentary/listeningpost/2007/10/listeningpost_1029