Here we are near done with 2024. The wheels are still on the bus and sometimes they rattle and creak and threaten to fall off. This is nothing new. "Business" is always like a fucking yo-yo ! Up and down we go and every so often the string gets tangled and sometimes breaks. Been participating in this game now for 46 and keep weathering various storms...this is the way it goes. Peeps be bitchin' about how expensive it is to buy vinyl for a long, long while now. 2023 was a year where the news was best year in a ton-age for vinyl sales in general (not really the case for everyone), but still impressive given the shit one goes through from the entire process involved in an actual simple task to end up with a finished record. It is simple in theory. Now from conception with the artist to ending up on a punter's table it's a costly venture and can take an awful lot of time. Depending on size of runs and frills records have become expensive endeavours.
1. Artist thinks let's make a record.
2. Artist records album (variety of $$$ layout depending)
Whether self released or on established label (indie) the ball is rolling. Artwork, Mastering (or not) is all order of business and sent off. Costs here vary depending on who and what's involved. Once all parties are happy the project is sent off to the record plant. Copies signed off for are usually based on reality so the pressing runs normally are between 100 to 500 copies. Minor price breaks generally start at the 300 mark and get more noticeable at 500 and if one goes into the 4 figure totals then the price break is far more friendly. Problem here is that most of the indie, small label, unkown artist in general crowd, are marooned in the 100-300 batch so the cost of finished product is BIG-sh.
3. Artist or label pays up front to get record pressed and waits for the always exciting return of project.
4. Records once received are then put into the "mill".
If an artist has a label that cares about them and presumably does, said artist receives payment in the form of whatever is the deal between the two. Usually never cash but in product. If a run say of 300 then artist gets 10% so 30 copies. The label then has 270 copies to get rid of. Label has many options here. Sell some off through own website, bandcamp, outside distro companies, direct sales to shops etc. All of which starts the cost climb of the product towards ending up on our turntables. These times is a fucking joke and between brutal shipping costs EVERYWHERE going outside whatever country and coupled with monetary exchange rates it gets like whack a mole real fast. If you think about it here's what can happen and usually does...
LP shipped from pressing plant to artist or label. LP then shipped to store or distro or whatever. LP then shipped to consumer (remember not everyone has the luxury of a well stocked record shop. My point is here that with the insanely high cost of shipping with no matter who, there are at the very least 3 shipping costs involved that end up being part of the base cost prior to mark up that you and I get to shell out for. This also excludes the great and common issue of the inevitibility of CUSTOMS charges tghat are often WAY OFF BASE and sometimes extortionary...an added bonus of generally "WHAT THE FUCK" scenarios to one degree or another. Fed Ex in particular are often prone to making shit up and asking for more money than actually due n(I can provide concrete legit testimony from a large number of honest label and distro/store folks, trust me! RECORDS become expensive mostly due to allthis. Too fucking bad that the Star Trek transporter is not a reality !
5. Punter decides how to acquire said LP and pays the piper whatever. Nowadays there's many ways to get a record and the cost can be stupid. Best scenarios are if LP goes direct from artist or label to a shop and buyer gets there. If online then it's a crap shoot. Bandcamp, Websites in general and definitely discogs all use some fucking pre-programmed shipping bullshit which 90% of the time is way over inflated. Coupled with monetary exchange rates (and customs maybe) you can get fucked hard, simply put!
Example : LP listed on Bandcamp in UK for 19.99 GBP ends up as this deleverd to my door here in Cana-DUH as this: that’s $36.09 CAD, plus $39.72 shipping for Canada.!! THAT's $ 75.81 total (not including maybe getting dinged by customs, for 1 fucking record....not justifiable nor a sensible purchase at all!!!
Look, there's a lot of conjecture here and I'm not really giving you actual stats I get that. Here's some shit though just for thought...
Birdman Sound : Customers started whining about costs on LPs being too high back as far at 2012. TRUST ME, I was there in the fucking trench 6 days a week. 1st quarter sales in 2023 were down $ 5000. compared to 1st quarter sales 2022. THAT"S A HUGE downer. 2nd Quarter April sales were solid but in May I was down $ 3000. in sales and it's been an overdraft scenario since and continues. Forward I still march. I can safely guarantee that I have seen a consistent decline in regular customer activity and some have simply vanished in the past year and a half. Others have become less regular.
Published this week: Consequence Sound Vinyl Sales Have Dropped 33% In 2024
Fucking asshat that runs DISCOGS rip off tweeted this bullshit with regard to the above....
Summation : Long and short of it is as always, the discovery of music, new or old is neverending if you pursue it. Self education is important and there's endless paths of legit discovery out there. Support your indie retailers if you have one, the record labels that release and artists that make the music, best way you can! As consumers othing is cheap in the world any longer and many are feeling priced out regarding buying records. It's a grim reality but don't believe all the hype or the fucking liars, figure it out do some research, educate and if there's a will there's a way.
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