2016 – The Year in Vinyl by Steve T.

Apparently, 2016 was a good year for vinyl; having failed to persuade us to buy the 2 million target in 2015, we cracked 3 million in 2016, though I wonder how many of them were to play on all the cheap record players bought as presents the previous Christmas?

However, in 2016 the BBC and several broadsheets broke ranks with the official narrative (to (mis)use a current favourite (mis)used word (alongside post-truth). On Record Shop Day the BBC reported that almost half of vinyl records never come out of the gatefold sleeve, apparently a feature of every vinyl record ever made. In the last couple of days, they acknowledged the existence of something called CDs, though pointing out sales had dropped, which isn’t that surprising. They also pointed out that sales of vinyl compared to other formats remain way beneath minuscule.

During the year at least two broadsheets questioned the received wisdom that vinyl sounds better, claiming the evidence is, at best dubious and, at worst gaga. Of course, enthusiasts claim that the artists liked the snap, crackle and pop. Another broadsheet suggested that people buy vinyl - that’s buy, not listen to – as just another middle-class accessory. No, surely not, who would have thought it?

It seemed to escape the Saturday crowd at Gateshead International Jazz Festival who didn’t appear to give a fast 'n' cheap Wetherspoons' breakfast that it was Record Shop Day. I spent the morning walking around Newcastle observing people brandishing yellow bags like religious placards (which in a sense they were) telling anyone who cared that they’d bought a record from the record shop on record shop day, just like on the telly. Incidentally, I’ve seen Ravi (son of John) Coltrane twice and on both occasions he pointed out that CDs are records, short for recordings.

I remember the first time I spent a nightshift on Amazon and by morning I had a basket of eighty albums I’d never found on vinyl, some of which I’d been chasing for over thirty years. An unforeseen side-effect of 180g is that they have made original vinyl, with the usual suspects among a few exceptions, all but redundant, on average fetching less than on CD. I recall selling a CD to Vinyl Exchange in Manchester but they left a vinyl copy of the same album.

A few years ago I was told the going rate for second-hand CDs was 10p but I’ve just sold a box set for £54. It features six tracks, only two of which might squeeze onto a side of vinyl, and then only with drastically reduced sound. Vinyl is fine for sticking on the wall or playing 3 or 4-minute pop songs off the TV, radio, newspapers and magazines, but not much use for anyone with an unquenchable thirst for more music.

While I don’t have a problem with downloads per se, I worry about the resilience of the fortyish minute album, the common currency of music through its C20th Golden Age, and fear that all that will survive will be catchy tunes, singles and radio hits.

Steve T.