1. CHRISTOPHER PARÉ
SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
The future looks bleak, but remember:
Vinyl has had a great run. A really
great run.
And as trend-watchers try to make
hay of numbers that ultimately don’t
add up to much, others, like Dan Hadley,
see a flip-side to vinyl’s legacy: as a
cheap and plentiful source of music.
“For the most part, young people, who
may have just missed vinyl, are not used
to paying for music,” says Hadley, who
ownsNICEMusicinMontreal.“Withthe
cheaperstuff,youhavethisopeningupof
a population of people who can get really
good value for their money. For $3 or less,
you’re finding records now that you
didn’t have at that price before. They’re
in good condition, and for $10, someone
canwalkoutwithupto80songs.”
A music distributor for 11 years,
NICE opened its doors to the public in
February 2007 as a clearing-house for
second-hand records and liquidation
stock from other dealers. Its slogan:
“Death by Vinyl.” Hadley has some
40,000 vinyl albums and 12-inch singles
in the showroom, only 5,000 of which
cost more than a dollar. There’s even the
infamous Wall of Shame, a six-shelf
stack of unsorted mystery vinyl for sale
by the kilo (an average of 23 cents per
record).
“For new records, you’re looking at
anywhere from $9.99 to $35, which is
quite common for new LPs from major
labels and imports, he explains.
“That’s just for one record, whereas
for the same amount, most people end
up with at least four or five used
records.”
A career music industry insider,
Hadley says new releases actually rep-
resent a tiny portion of the overall
stock in North America. He goes on to
add that people spend much more mon-
ey on used records than on new records
and how unit-wise, even the most con-
servative estimates put used vinyl
ahead of new by virtue of cost and
availability
“You’re still looking at up to four
times the units simply because you can
buy a lot more per dollar used.”
Tracking second-hand record sales,
however, is not an exact science.
Estimates, Hadley admits, are anecdo-
tal at best. What’s significant is that the
market for used vinyl has existed all
along; it’s had its share of ups and
downs since the advent of the compact
disc, sales of which are plummeting.
Even stores that specialize in new vinyl
releases – primarily dance music, and
catering to DJs – are now selling more
used records than new.
“That’s how they’re making their
living: selling used DJ records, acquir-
ing collections and liquidating their
own stock. They’ll sell new releases as a
‘special order’ item.”
And unlike CDs, there’s a tendency to
hold on to records (why else would you
still have that copy of the soundtrack to
Grease?). Eventually, however, people
die, move into smaller homes or are
sick of the clutter. A decade ago, the
market was overwhelmed by an influx
of jazz, exotica and cocktail music as
collectors from that era hit twilight.
Now, 10 years later, it’s a different set of
people this is happening to. Hadley
spends hours every week sifting
through mountains of cuts from the
1960s, ’70s and ’80s, yet it’s only a trickle
compared with the tsunami of second-
hand records set to resurface over the
next five to 15 years.
“What scares me at times is the
thought that there cannot be a large
enough population of new listeners to
handle all of that music – the same
amount more or less sold at the time.
It’s overwhelming to imagine.”
Based on current sales data, and that
records were at their height from the
’60s through the ’80s, we’re talking mil-
lions. Yet even the SoundScan figures
don’t provide as complete a picture as
one would think – after all, they can on-
ly account for who reports to them, and
that doesn’t include sales from mom-
and-pop shops or independent retailers
without computers or point-of-sale cash
registers. Also, SoundScan is measur-
ing a very specific market within the
vinyl format: non-dance records and all
LPs. There would be very few singles
included in those sales, so conceivably,
unit-wise, vinyl represents a lot more
than is reported.
And like fine art, vinyl is a sound in-
vestment in turbulent economic times.
Treated with care, it retains its value
and, depending on the release, main-
tains a high resale price. At NICE, a
copy of Ministry’s A Mind is a Terrible
Thing to Taste sells for $10, while a pro-
mo copy of the soundtrack to Our Man
Flint, composed by Jerry Goldsmith,
would set you back a cool $100 (or would
have, were it not stolen from under
their noses last July).
Comeback or not, vinyl will never
be what it once was. Galkin recalls a
time when a Tommy Boy single could
sell 100,000 copies; these days, 3,000 is
considered a success. Why it remains
relevant has a lot to do with a music
industry in flux, and the not-so-in-
significant role it plays in staving off
implosion.
“I don’t think that the industry for
new music is going to benefit over-
whelmingly from vinyl sales. But vinyl
can’t do that – there’s a limit to the
number of people who are going to go
to the trouble of buying a sound sys-
tem. Even if this increase by 10 times,
as a source of income, as a source of
revenue, and as a source of profit, it’s
just one of many income streams you
now need to function.”
NNIICCEE MMuussiicc is at 6307 St. Laurent
Blvd.; call 514-495-2786 or visit
www.deathofvinyl.com. For more on
DFA Records: www.dfarecords.com.
m u s i c E3
CULTURE
THE GAZETTE montrealgazette.com SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2008 ❚ ❚ ❚
But Galkin – a co-founder of
DFA Records in New York City –
is not as upbeat as you’d expect,
especially for someone whose
label is considered a modern
touchstone for vinyl, including
much sought-after singles by
indie-dance acts LCD Soundsys-
tem, The Rapture and Hot Chip.
Maybe it has something to do
with how its distributor, Capitol
Records, which is owned by EMI,
initially refused to do a vinyl
pressing of LCD Soundsystem’s
last album, Sound of Silver, and
that they had to pay for it out of
their own coffers.
“We’re such a vinyl-centric
label, and the irony is that they
wouldn’t even press it for us;
they thought it was a total waste
of time. We had to do it ourselves
and pay for it ourselves. I
remember (DFA co-founder and
LCD Soundsystem producer-
singer) James Murphy saying:
‘I want my f---ing record on vinyl.
I don’t even play CDs!’ And Capi-
tol were like, ‘no way man, we
don’t do vinyl.’ That’s bullshit.
So we did it ourselves, and a year
later they launch a whole new
campaign of a return to vinyl – it
drives me absolutely insane.”
In its vinyl format, Silver went
on to sell upward of 7,000 copies,
which by today’s standards is like
going platinum. The Recording
Industry Association of America
(RIAA) reports that shipments of
LPs and EPs in the U.S. jumped
from 900,000 in 2006 to 1.3 million
records in 2007 – an increase of 37
per cent. Sounds impressive, but
not when you factor in how the
industry shipped 511 million CDs
the year before. Granted, half-a-
billion is down more than 17 per
cent from 2006, and sales proba-
bly will continue to hemorrhage
for the foreseeable future. In
Canada, overall units moved fell
31 per cent between 2007
(41,700,700 units) and 2008 (a pro-
jected 28,666,665 units), while LPs
shot up by more than 50 per cent
(28,000 units), according to
NielsenSoundScan.
In terms of units moved, vinyl
seems like an anachronism next
to its digital counterpart. Only
when you step back and look at
the industry as a whole do the
implications come into focus:
Last year, EMI laid off one-third
of its staff (more than 2,000 jobs)
as part of a massive restructur-
ing. Typically, a boutique label
like DFA would be first on the
chopping block, yet EMI has inti-
mated to Galkin et al that they
can breathe easy (for now).
DFA does not deal in vinyl
exclusively, nor was that ever its
intention. Yet, it nevertheless
became its most enduring trade-
mark. These days, it’s putting
out more records than ever be-
fore; as of November, the count
was 15 in the past year alone.
More interesting, however, is
how sales of its music on vinyl
are more or less at par with what
it sells digitally (about 3,000
units per medium, Galkin says).
This is practically unheard of,
yet here we are.
How much longer they can con-
tinue to put out vinyl is the ques-
tion du jour. Antiquated pressing
plants around the world are still
runningthesamemachinerythat
has been operating since day one,
and the parts needed to maintain
this equipment are no longer be-
ing manufactured. Majors like
Universal and Warner have long
since shut down their in-house
pressing plants, while the ones
that managed to survive are
either at capacity (DFA uses RTI
andRainboRecordsinCalifornia,
both currently not accepting new
clients) or falling apart. Galkin
callsthecurrentstateof affairs“a
disaster.”
“It’s wearing us down. You
have way less plants; you have
machinery that breaks down con-
stantly, that’s being run almost 24
hours a day because of demand;
replacement parts are obsolete,
or if they exist, you’re calling a
factory in Germany trying to
trackdownsomewingnutthatse-
cures everything and snapped off
inthemiddleof thenight.”
Galkin confesses he stopped
buying vinyl. As a father of two
living in New York, he can’t
spare the space. Cost is another
issue. For DFA, the profit margin
on a vinyl 12-inch (a single, not
an LP) and a digital download is
the same; the only difference is
that one is excruciating to pro-
duce and the other isn’t. For the
consumer, however, the differ-
ence is night and day: a new,
domestic 12-inch in stores aver-
ages between $7.99 and $13.99
Canadian. Imports (e.g., from
England) can average up to $17.
A digital download from a web-
site like beatport.com? $1.99.
“It’s something that’s being re-
thought in a lot of different
ways,” he concedes. “Not that
we’d ever stop all together.”
The real value of a record,
Galkin says, is the cachet that
comes with it. For the artist, this
translates to a promo tool, and a
means to getting better-paying
DJ gigs. Yet with lead times of
up to four months just to get a
record pressed, it will take more
than just cachet to keep vinyl
alive into the 21st century.
“At a certain point, you have to
ask: ‘Are we doing the right
thing?’ ”
montrealgazette.com/music
WELCOMEHOME,MARTHA
ReadT’ChaDunlevy’sreviewof
MarthaWainwright’sconcertat
Metropolislastnight,andsee
photosfromtheshow.
Get those milk crates out of the
attic! You may be sitting on a gold
mine. The following records
would easily fetch $20 to $50 local-
ly,andupto$100online–thatis,if
youcanbeartopartwiththem.
The Beatles, Frank Zappa,
Decca-era Rolling Stones: In
good condition, even ’80s press-
ings of these albums sell for
more than $10. Early pressings
in mint condition go for lots of
money, mostly to audiophiles
who want copies that are
pressed from early stampers
and sound the best, e.g. The Bea-
tles’ Rubber Soul.
Any Velvet Underground and
VU-associated albums: Origi-
nal pressings in good shape, e.g.
Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Mu-
sic, which was a complete com-
mercial failure (intentionally).
Deleted copies circulated for at
least a decade at cheap prices.
Krautrock: Can, Kraftwerk,
Faust, anything on SKY
Records, e.g. Brian Eno and
Cluster’s album Cluster & Eno.
Soul 45s and funk albums by
lesser-known and more
famous artists: Original releas-
es in good condition by Lynn
Collins (e.g. her hit remake of
“Think”), a protégé of James
Brown (whose records also
fetch a generous price).
Cool jazz: Original pressings,
like Miles Davis’s Sketches of
Spain.
Heavy metal: The darker, the
better (e.g. Cannibal Corpse’s
Eaten Back to Life).
Hip-hop classics: Public Ene-
my’s Yo! Bum Rush The Show,
Raising Hell by Run D.M.C., and
just about anything by De La
Soul.
Roots reggae on Mango
Records:All readily available in
Canada at the time (e.g. Max
Romeo’s War Ina Babylon).
Early alternative rock imports:
Second Edition by Public Image
Limited and The Happy Mon-
days’ Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Belly-
achesaretwoexamplesof foreign
platesthatfetchaprettypenny.
Releases by Canadian bands
before they became famous
internationally: Rush’s first al-
bum on Moon Records sells fast,
as does the first single by local
Montreal punk band, The Dis-
cords (On N.D.G. Records – goes
for $150 U.S. online).
To research sales histories on
cuts in your collection, go to:
www.popsike.com.
CHRISTOPHER PARÉ
Gold in the grooves: Frank Zappa (left), Public Enemy’s classics, the Beatles and early pressings of Rush’s debut can fetch big sums.
CONTINUED FROM E1
VINYL Remaining
pressingplantsare
strugglingtokeeppace
MMAARRIIEE--FFRRAANNCCEE CCOOAALLLLIIEERR THE GAZETTE
‘‘For $3 or less, you’re finding records now that you didn’t have at that price before,’’ says Dan Hadley, who owns
second-hand record shop NICE Music.
Youroldrecordsmightbeworththeirweightingold–andthensome
“For the most part, young people, who may have just
missed vinyl, are not used to paying for music.”
Dan Hadley
“I don’t think that the industry for new
music is going to benefit overwhelmingly
from vinyl sales.”
Jonathan Galkin
Likefineart,vinylisa ssoouunnddiinnvveessttmmeenntt inturbulent
economictimes.Treatedwithcare,itcanretainitsvalue
Flip-side:usedrecordsareabargain