About a month ago the RIAA took vinyl’s pulse and the results were surprisingly healthy. Now, this article on Boston.com reveals that the popular New England indie chain Newbury Comics is shipping around $100,000 worth of vinyl every month. That’s an incredible 80% increase compared to this time last year.
Mike Dreese, who co-founded Newbury Comics back in 1978, applies this rationale for the sudden upsurge in vinyl sales: "The CD was a tremendous sonic package, but from a graphic standpoint, it was a disaster. People still want a connection to an artist, and vinyl connects them in a way that an erasable file doesn't."
The article also mentions how the vinyl resurgence is partly artist driven, with stars such as Elvis Costello and Jack White insisting that their albums are released on the format. The last word goes to former Guided By Voices frontman Robert Pollard, who has this to say: "I have to have vinyl. To me it's psychological. If it's not on an LP, it's not real. Anybody can make a CD, but as we used to say, 'Vinyl's final.'" [The Daily Swarm]
Vinyl recordings are desirable objects in a way that CDs never were. CDs are a physical means of delivering 1s and 0s, nothing more. What vinyl collectors used to call "liner notes" were never a priority with CDs: their tiny booklets with tiny text, basically worthless.
It's not impossible to package a CD in a way that makes a somewhat desirable object to own. I just pre-ordered a limited edition of the new Aimee Mann album... even though I had a free advance copy to review. This CD includes a die-cut booklet with some pretty awesome looking art. Even though I may never stick the disc into a CD player, it's an object I want to own (and an artist I want to support).