SPINNING AROUND

As I was browsing the BBC web page,I came acros an interesting article  regarding  the so called "Vinyl resurgence" according to this article , vinyl sales in UK are on the rise .This article emphazised on the fact that vinyl is outselling cd's these days in The Uk." Up to 70 % of sales of new releases are vinyl related  , the article wonders how it's possible that in what is supposed to be the Golden digital era , there are still some  people who want to back the industry’s clock to the dawn of time , when not only  did not the music downloads exist, neither did the cd's nor tapes.

The  article contains several interviews conducted with sales managers of the main Music retailers in UK and they point out several reasons for this curious trend and they all  emphazise this  new trend. There are several explanations for this phenomena. To name a few , we can count the following ones.

Firstly,  it's the Indie factor what it hogs most of the sales of new vinyl releases, it seems as if The vinyl revolution has caught many of the big music labels napping. It is the smallest independent labels who have been able to snap up the successful new bands. This has left big players in the industry, such as EMI, scratching their heads and wondering why teenagers are embracing a technology the music industry had dismissed as outdated and obsolete before most of them were born.

Secondly it is the audiophile element when it comes to explaining  why vinyl is so well regarded in terms of sound quality  .  If you're in your 40's, it's very likely that you might have gone through the annoying clicks and pops that are associated with vinyl's  playing. A turn- up for the book for many of you, but there are  some people that still claim that vinyl sounds richer and warmer than digital counterparts. No kidding?? yes, there are people who still believe nothing can touch their old and worn out vinyl in terms of sound quality , even more poeple who are willing to pay fortunes to complete their collections and dismiss cd's as cold and bad sounding pieces of crap.

Finally there's the collector's vivid market that is flourishing thanks to electronic markets such as Ebay where private auctions are taking place and people seek for the most rare and scarce old vinyls that are difficult to find at conventional record stores.. 

On top of that , I think we shouldn't underestimate the importance of DJ culture in keeping vinyl alive all of these years , duting the 90's when vinyl was clearly dying out, DJs kept asking for new vinyl to be produced , basically because CD's cannot be used for scraching and mixing ( nowadays technology allows digital scratching). 

At last but not least, a cd is easily replaceable and you can make exact copies ( yes, I know this is a bone of contention for many purist who claim their original cd's still sound better than their cd-r's ) using some programs like EAC  , however Vinyl is unique and it's a pure piece of art, just look at the artwork of some old records and you'll understand what I mean......

I'm glad that the appeal of vinyl will continue to grow to shoppers who want to take home something tangible and lasting., because that means only one thing " Music is still alive".

PS To Di or not TO Di.........that's the question......but I'd made up my mind....ALWAYS TO DI!!!