Major Labels Moving Into Vinyl

From Friday’s Reuters story, Labels up volume on vinyl releases to meet demand:

It may have seemed like a fad at first, but the resurgence of vinyl is now turning into a nice niche business for the major labels. With EMI’s announcement that it would reissue eight classic albums in the format, all four majors are now onboard the vinyl bandwagon.

and

Universal Music Enterprises will release 20 albums on vinyl this month and an additional 20 at the end of August, while Warner Music Group will issue 24 to 30 albums from its catalog and 10 to 12 new releases from September through the end of the year, according to executives at those companies.

For vinyl aficionados and purveyors, the resurgence of major label vinyl production may seem like too little, too late.

Local reaction ranged from Som Records‘ Al Budd calling the move ironic “Since the majors have been pushing CDs for 20 years while telling consumers vinyl was obsolete,” to Kalani from local label Gypsy Eyes believing it will eventually bring in more listeners, saying, “It’s fantastic. Vinyl’s sound is so much better then other available formats”

“The resurgence of vinyl has made me very happy and I love seeing people, young and old, buying more and more records. I think it’s great that EMI and other major labels are going to be releasing more titles on vinyl.
Unfortunately, they tend to be rather expensive and I think that limits their accessability,” added Red Onion Records’ Joshua Harkavy.

Harkavy continued. “I think it’s funny when labels reissue records that are widely available as original pressings, usually for less money. I don’t like to stock the high priced LPs that EMI and most other major labels release. I prefer to stock the independent labels who can offer a much more affordable product. Overall it’s a great step for the music industry and the music fan.”

Personally, I think the one-two punch of releasing on vinyl and including a free digital download of the release is an act of simple brilliance by bridging audiophile needs with iPod culture. If the major labels can swing that type of transaction, they may stave off extinction yet.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 at 10:05 am and is filed under Records, The Biz. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.