Research of the Current Status of Vinyl Records in Context of the Internet

by Sarah Steffen
Sarah Steffen
Wallstraße 24
40878 Ratingen
+49 151 555 41704 FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management gemeinnützige GmbH Leimkugelstraße 6 45141 Essen
Bachelor Thesis
Research of the Current Status of Vinyl Records
in Context of the Internet
FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie und Management – University of Applied Sciences
Study Centre Essen
Business Informatics

I
Table of Contents
List of Abbreviations ..................................................................................................................... IV
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. V
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ V
1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Objective of the Research ............................................................................................. 2
1.2 Research Design ........................................................................................................... 3
2 A Short History of Sound Recording and Replaying ......................................................... 5
2.1 Analogue Audio Formats ............................................................................................... 5
2.2 Digital Audio Formats .................................................................................................. 11
2.3 Downloading and Streaming As Modern Ways of Consuming Music......................... 12
3 Vinyl Records Today ....................................................................................................... 16
3.1 Acoustic, Visual and Emotional Aspects ..................................................................... 16
3.2 Variations in Use and the Transformation of Meanings .............................................. 23
3.3 The Vinyl Audience on the Internet and the Culture of Communication and Information .................................................................................................................................... 29
3.4 The Online Collectors' Market ..................................................................................... 38
3.5 Distribution Channels and Marketing for Vinyl Records on the Internet ..................... 41
3.6 Current Sales Trends for New Vinyl Records ............................................................. 44
3.7 Summary ..................................................................................................................... 47
4 Researching the Current Status of Vinyl Records .......................................................... 49
4.1 Selection and Evaluation of Suitable Sources of Information ..................................... 49
4.2 Research Methods ...................................................................................................... 49
4.2.1 Research with SAS Text Analytics ...................................................................... 49
4.2.1.1 The Sentiment Analysis Studio ....................................................................... 50

II
4.2.1.2 The Content Categorization Studio ................................................................. 53
4.2.1.3 The Information Retrieval Studio ..................................................................... 55
4.2.1.4 The Sentiment Analysis Workbench ............................................................... 57
4.2.2 Research With a Survey Among Online Vinyl Record Sellers ............................ 58
4.2.3 Research With an Expert Survey ........................................................................ 59
4.3 Evaluation of the Results ............................................................................................ 59
4.3.1 Sentiment Analysis Results ................................................................................. 59
4.3.2 Survey Results From Online Vinyl Record Sellers .............................................. 65
4.3.3 Results of the Expert Survey ............................................................................... 72
4.4 Summary ..................................................................................................................... 77
5 Analysis of the Findings .................................................................................................. 78
5.1 The Image of Vinyl Records in Context of the Internet ............................................... 78
5.2 The Future of Vinyl Records ....................................................................................... 85
6 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 87
Appendix A .................................................................................................................................. 88
1 Concepts Used in the SAS Content Categorization Studio ........................................ 88
2 Categories Used in the SAS Content Categorization Studio ...................................... 90
3 Rule Model Used in the SAS Sentiment Analysis Studio ........................................... 91
Appendix B ................................................................................................................................ 101
1 Questionnaire Used for the Survey Among Sellers .................................................. 101
2 Results of the Seller-Survey From Google Spreadsheets ........................................ 102
3 Condensed Survey Results ....................................................................................... 119
Appendix C ................................................................................................................................ 125
1 Questionnaire Used for the Expert Interviews .......................................................... 125
2 The Expert Interviews ............................................................................................... 126

III
Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 139
Picture Credits ........................................................................................................................... 143
Declaration in Lieu of Oath........................................................................................................ 144

IV
List of Abbreviations
API: Application Programming Interface
C2C: Consumer-to-consumer
CD: Compact Disc
CDJ: (Combination of CD and DJ)
CEO: Chief Executive Officer
dB: Decibel
DJ: Disc Jockey
DVD: Digital Versatile Disc
EP: Extended Play
ffrr: Full Frequency Range Recording
HD: High Density
Hi-Fi: High Fidelity
HTML: Hypertext Markup Language
HTTP: Hypertext Transfer Protocol
JPEG: Joint Photographic Experts Group
JSON: JavaScript Object Notation
LP: Long Play (also: Long Playing Record)
MC: Music Cassette
MP3: MPEG-1 Audio-Layer 3
REST: Representational State Transfer
RPM: Revolutions per Minute
RSS: Rich Site Summary

V
URL: Uniform Resource Locator
USB: Universal Serial Bus
XML: Extensible Markup Language
List of Tables
Table 1: Vinyl record sales in the USA in USD ........................................................................... 10
Table 2: Vinyl record sales in the UK in GBP ............................................................................. 46
Table 3: Summary of the survey results (ratios rounded) ........................................................... 61
Table 4: Summary of the survey results ..................................................................................... 70
Table 5: Interviewees of the expert survey ................................................................................. 72
List of Figures
Figure 1: The theoretical aims of the research ............................................................................. 2
Figure 2: Vinyl groove seen through electron microscope ............................................................ 6
Figure 3: Vertical recording (a), lateral recording (b) and microgrooves (c) seen through electron microscope .................................................................................................................................... 7
Figure 4: Needle movements in a stereo groove .......................................................................... 9
Figure 5: Label of a one-sided French shellac record from 1904 ............................................... 22
Figure 6: Close up of a timecode record ..................................................................................... 24
Figure 7: Digital-analogue "hybrid-disc" by Yuri Suzuki and Jeff Mills........................................ 25
Figure 8: The "circuit of practices" for music consumption ......................................................... 27
Figure 9: Member types of virtual consumption communities ..................................................... 32
Figure 10: Vinyl album sales in the USA in million units, 1993-2011 ......................................... 44

VI
Figure 11: Positive and negative keywords in the Sentiment Analysis Studio ........................... 51
Figure 12: Definition of a positive context using boolean rules ................................................... 52
Figure 13: Phrase matches in a test document in the Sentiment Analysis Studio ..................... 53
Figure 14: A concept definition in the SAS Content Categorization Studio using regular expressions ................................................................................................................................. 54
Figure 15: The SAS Web Crawler and its export- and indexing-processes ............................... 56
Figure 16: Input sources of the Sentiment Analysis Workbench ................................................ 57
Figure 17: Sentiment analysis of a test document in the Sentiment Analysis Workbench ......... 58
Figure 18: Sentiment-distribution for the product "VinylRecord" ................................................. 60
Figure 19: Sentiment-distribution for the feature "Sales" ............................................................ 60
Figure 20: Feature-distribution within the product "VinylRecords" .............................................. 63
Figure 21: Summary of pros and cons from the interviews ........................................................ 76

1
1 Introduction
On-going global digitalization might be a phenomenon of more recent history but it is extremely influential. Almost all scopes of daily life, economy and art have been dramatically changed, or entirely newly defined by it. New technologies made obsolete what was seen as reliable, efficient and simply a matter of course. As a result, corporations are at risk of falling behind their competitors if they do not follow this digital cultural change.
Niches for pre-digital technologies and products have survived among nostalgic people, collectors and "hipsters". Although the bulk of official and personal correspondence is processed digitally, stamps are still collected; vintage cars are cherished and well cared for, and prices for collectibles are on the rise.
Naturally, one would assume that all these things disappear once the people who grew up with them pass away or new technologies become superior to the old ones, to the extent that sticking to the old ones simply does not seem sensible. Interestingly this is not the case. Stamp collections are inherited over generations, and even cars from the 80s are now labeled as "youngtimers", (as opposed to the classical vintage "oldtimers") and appreciated by a small but growing community of enthusiasts.
This re-discovery and increase in popularity also happened to vinyl records, which lately have been taken out of the attic or basement more frequently. This is happening now, parallel to the product life cycle of the CD having reached the decline stage and consumers adapting to its successive formats. Apart from the traditional collectors' community which is now experiencing rising prices, more and more people are enjoying the experience of analogue music consumption again. And it is not just the older generation who embraces this technology; even so-called "digital natives" sometimes acquire a turntable, now available with a USB-port. Many new releases are now available on vinyl as well, and not only for DJs, who traditionally use them for their performances.
But what is the situation of the vinyl record in the digital age exactly like? Is vinyl a competitor to listening to music over the internet or are they complementary to each other? How are analogue and digital media combined by the consumers and what place is there for vinyl records in the culture of blogs, forums and social media?

1. Introduction 2
What relevance does the enhanced availability of information on the internet have in this case? All of these questions shall be the basis of this research.
1.1 Objective of the Research
The main objective of this research is to assess the current image of vinyl records in context of the internet and to determine, to what extend the often mentioned comeback of the vinyl record is consistent with actual consumer behaviour, and if there is connection between these developments and the internet in its current state with the potentials for sales, marketing and communication it offers. To achieve this, firstly all the particular features of the vinyl record that affect its meaning to the consumer will be determined, and secondly, the link between the vinyl record and the internet as a mass medium will be analysed, as well as its effect on the global trade with and sales of vinyl records. The aforementioned basic questions will be discussed with the accumulated findings (see figure 1) and then a future prediction will be made with regards to give an outlook on whether the vinyl market will continue to grow or if the observed trend will turn out to be a short-lived hype.
Figure 1: The theoretical aims of the research
•Special features, added values
•Meaning to consumers
Basics
•Audience in the internet
•Information paths in the internet
•Trade / sales in the internet
Link to the Internet
•Relevance in context of the internet
•Current image
•Does a vinyl hype exist?
Results

1. Introduction 3
There will be no direct evaluative comparison between vinyl records and digital media, as the latter are still constantly advancing and improving, and thus no worthwhile results could be expected. The position of the vinyl record in the current internet-culture will thus be observed independently from the technical supremacy of digital audio formats.
As the market for classical music is an entire domain unto itself and would exceed the scope of this paper, rock music, pop music and niche genres like independent rock will be observed concerning the relevance of vinyl releases.
The aforementioned actual situation of the vinyl record in today's culture will be presented through analysis of relevant written sources, as well as three different data collections.
1.2 Research Design
This paper consists of four sections apart from the introduction and the conclusion. As an introduction into the subject of this research, in the first section the most important events in the history of sound recording will be summarized. Historically relevant analogue and digital audio formats, as well as the current download- and streaming-services, will be presented briefly.
The following section will focus on the current position of vinyl records in context of the internet and digital media. Thereto the following individual aspects will be examined:
3.1 Acoustic, Visual and Emotional Aspects
3.2 Variations in Use and the Transformation of Meanings
3.3 The Vinyl Audience on the Internet and the Culture of Communication and Information
3.4 The Online Collectors' Market
3.5 Distribution Channels and Marketing for Vinyl Records on the Internet
3.6 Current Sales Trends for New Vinyl Records
In the third section the methodology of the research based on the data collections will be explained, including the selection of sources. Furthermore, the methods for analyzing the results will be presented with their technical backgrounds explained.
The first data collection will be conducted by using a software framework that offers web crawling- and text analysis-functionality, the second will be a survey among

1. Introduction 4
record sellers on eBay, and the third will be a series of interviews with experts who have significant experience in the music business.
The last section is comprised of the analysis and discussion of the accumulated data and consequential findings in relation to the questions the research is based on. It consists of a subsection about the image of vinyl records and one about the future of vinyl records in digital culture. A subsequent conclusion completes the research by presenting a summary of the most essential findings to the reader.

5
2 A Short History of Sound Recording and Replaying
2.1 Analogue Audio Formats
The first successful attempts to record sound were made in the middle of the 19th century by using a needle or bristle to transmit its wave structure onto sooted glass or paper. In 1877 Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) assembled the prototype of his so-called "phonograph" and by doing so created the first device that was capable not only of recording sounds but also playing them back. The machine was patented the following year and consisted of a tinfoil-covered cylinder that was spun by a hand-operated crank, and a membrane connected to a needle which carved the movements transmitted by the membrane into the tinfoil while the cylinder rotated1. A vertical (or "hill and dale"-) recording was used in this process. The coating of the cylinders was later replaced by wax and eventually a play time of approximately four minutes could be achieved2. At this time though nobody seriously thought of using these devices for recording music, which was mostly considered as useless fooling around, but rather as an alternative to stenography in offices. At the end of the century the potential for the entertainment industry was brought further into focus; again by Thomas Edison.
One of the biggest flaws of the sound storage media of this time was the lack of an efficient duplication procedure. Until 1901, the listeners always purchased original recordings3, which meant that every cylinder had to be recorded individually – clearly unsuitable for mass production. When in 1902 an efficient technique to copy them mechanically was introduced, the rotation speed was standardised to 160 rotations per minute concurrently. Cylinders of this kind, and later also such that were made of celluloid, were still sold up until 19124.
The round and flat records, like those still used today, were invented by Emil Berliner (1851-1929), son of a Jewish merchant from Hannover, Germany, who patented them in 18875. This time, a lateral recording technique was used that transformed the sound waves into a side-to-side movement of the needle instead of
1 cf. Haffner (2011), pp. 9-16.
2 cf. Haffner (2011), p. 22.
3 cf. Haffner (2011), p. 27.
4 cf. Haffner (2011), p. 31.
5 cf. Haffner (2011), pp. 32-34.

2. A Short History of Sound Recording and Replaying 6
up-and-down. The term "gramophone" was soon established as a common name for all playing devices for round records. The records were copied by using a matrix representing the negative of the original recording that could be re-used and archived6. From 1896 on, Berliner's records were made of a material that was named after the binding agent used in it, known as shellac. Compared to the now common polyvinyl chloride, shellac is much heavier and firmer, but also more likely to shatter; these records hardly survived being dropped. Unlike vinyl records and the styli used to play them, the needles to play shellac records with wore off sooner than the record itself. They were made from steel and a new one had to be used for every play. From 1897 to 1899 the number of records sold (including cylinders) rose from 500,000 to 2.8 million and 151,000 phonographs were produced during this period7.
In 1924, engineers of the Bell Telephone Company developed an electro-acoustical recording technique which replaced the direct-to-disc recording method that was used before. In the following years appropriate loudspeakers and pick-ups were developed, making electronic playback with valve amplifiers possible by the mid- 1920s. The listening experience was considerably improved as now a broader
6 cf. Haffner (2011), pp. 36-37.
7 cf. Shuker (2010), p. 15.
8 Source: rochester.edu (2005).
Figure 2: Vinyl groove seen through electron microscope8

range of frequencies could be reproduced9. At the same time a standardised speed of rotation was defined while a record diameter of 10 inches prevailed, and thereby the common 78 rpm format was established.
Nevertheless, there also had been harsh criticism on the recording and mass reproduction of music. In 1906, the famous American composer John Philip Sousa wrote in his essay "The Menace of Mechanical Music", "that when a mechanical system of gears and megaphones substituted for human skill and soul it defeated nature itself. Records, he warned, could lead to the deterioration of musical taste and would put many musicians out of work. Moreover, the desire to study music would be diminished, and future Mozarts and Wagners would lose their incentive to create new work."10 Fewer and fewer people shared these believes, and looking back at the musical history of the twentieth century, it is obvious that Sousa was anything but proven to be right.
During the Great Depression in the late 1920s the music industry suffered from great economic pressure. Especially the availability of free music through the radio, but also the rapidly decreasing spending power of the consumers lead to declining
9 cf. Haffner (2011), pp. 73-75.
10 Bierley (2006), S. 82.
11 Source: qehs.net.
Figure 3: Vertical recording (a), lateral recording (b) and microgrooves (c) seen through electron microscope11

record sales. In the course of this economic crisis many of the smaller record labels had to give up their business or were incorporated by larger ones, so that after the crisis the market was almost exclusively divided among the so-called "big six": Columbia, Victor, Decca, Capitol, MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) and Mercury12.
Parallel to the development of music cylinders and records experiments to store sound magnetically had been made for some time, mostly using wire as a carrier. This material though was too heavy and not flexible enough for practical use, so in 1928 the German electricity company AEG began to use tapes covered with metal oxide instead of wires13. This was the beginning of a revolution in sound recording, due to the considerably extended play time, a broader range of frequencies to be recorded and because it allowed the cutting of sound recordings. Defective recordings no longer needed to be re-recorded in their entirety.
During the Second World War the USA sent records to their soldiers overseas to keep their spirits high for the long-awaited victory. The so-called "V-Discs" mostly contained Jazz music and had to be robust enough to endure sustained shipping and the precarious storage at their destination. Moreover, shellac by then had been rationed due to the demand for the war effort and was too scarce to be used for records, so the material eventually chosen to produce the V-Discs was the lighter and more flexible polyvinyl chloride, making them the first vinyl records to be manufactured14.
Before the war, the sound quality of the 10" records had already experienced substantial improvements when hi-fi was introduced. After the war, the establishment of "ffrr" (full frequency range recording) marked a further enhancement; it was merely the short play time of 78 rpm records that still limited the enjoyment of listeners15. A new type of record was developed to amend this; with a diameter of 12 inches and a speed of 33⅓ rpm, which had been commonly used for the presentation of "talkies", a play time of approximately 25 minutes could be achieved. This was possible due to narrower record grooves, so-called microgrooves, which allowed 250 to 300 grooves per inch instead of 85, as had been common until then. Shellac turned out to be an inappropriate material for
12 cf. Ox-Fanzine (2006), p. 5.
13 cf. Haffner (2011), p. 108 et seq.
14 cf. Haffner (2011), p. 102.

rendering these delicate structures, as the groove walls would collapse when pressed into the rather coarse matter16. Proven and tested through the use of the V-Discs in wartimes, vinyl was eventually chosen for the production of the long playing records, and soon the "LP" entered the market.
CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) was the pioneer in selling LPs17, but it was not long until their major competitor RCA (Radio Corporation of America) came up with a counter-concept. They chose a speed of 45 rpm and a diameter of 7 inches which allowed about 5 minutes playtime on each side. This format was designed as a successor to the 78 rpm single, but later also used for extended play records that contained three or four tracks instead of just two. The 45 rpm single though was not compatible with the turntables produced by CBS, as were their records with the playing devices from RCA, which lead to a protracted and costly "battle of speeds" that eventually resulted in both companies adopting each other's format18.
16 cf. Ox-Fanzine (2006), p. 5.
17 cf. Haffner (2011), p. 124.
18 cf. Haffner (2011), p. 126.
19 Source: Bali (2005), p. 132.
Figure 4: Needle movements in a stereo groove19
a. Right-hand channel modulated
b. Left-hand channel modulated
c. Both channels modulated equally and in phase
d. Both channels modulated equally but in opposite phase

Nevertheless, the 45 rpm single would soon dominate the market due to its purchase price being much lower than that of an LP, and made popular by all the jukeboxes that now spread in venues everywhere. By the mid 1960s, the bulky 78 rpm records had silently disappeared from the market.
As early as 1931, the English electronics engineer Alan Dower Blumlein (1903- 1942) developed a concept to play two audio channels from the same record groove20 (see figure 4); however, stereophonic sound was not widely used in the record industry until the late 1950s. Stereophonic sound offered a whole new range of possibilities for music production to create certain effects for the listener. Over the years, recording devices provided more and more tracks to work with, and eventually the post-production of music could become more elaborate and time- consuming than the actual recording. A famous example is the Beatles' 1967 album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", which had been recorded with four-track recorders. The entire production took more than six months.
Table 1: Vinyl record sales in the USA in USD21 Year Sales in USD 1960 600 million
1970
1.6 billion 1978 4.1 billion
At that time, however, the vinyl record already had a new competitor. Devices to play sound tapes had been available for private use since the 1950s, but it was the compact cassette introduced in 1965 that became so popular it could be seen as a serious threat to vinyl records; especially when Sony put their highly successful "Walkman" on the market in 197922. One particular advantage eventually made the cassette tape unbeatable: it could not only be played by the consumer but also recorded on. In this manner, piracy became a crucial issue in the music industry for the first time. Although vinyl record sales kept on rising at first (see table 1), those
21 Based on Haffner (2011), p. 157.
22 cf. Haffner (2011), p. 152 et seqq.

of cassette tapes soon overtook them – and an even more perilous rival was yet to come.
2.2 Digital Audio Formats
In 2012, the compact disc celebrated its 30th birthday. Unlike its precursors, it had a standardised format from the beginning on: 120 millimetres (ca. 4.7 inches) in diameter, 1.2 millimetres thick and with a play time of approximately 78 minutes; this amount of time was chosen to make sure Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 could fit on a single disc23. When Sony put the first CD players on the market in 1982, only few people could afford them because they would cost several thousand dollars24. Nevertheless, CD sales nearly increased a hundredfold in the following years, rising from 1.3 million units in 1982 to 120 million units in 199025.
Digital cassette tapes would be available some time later, but nonetheless cassettes eventually lost their importance with children's entertainment remaining as a last refuge, due to their robustness and not being susceptible to scratches.
In 1988, CDs outsold vinyl records in the USA for the first time in history; vinyl sales had dropped by nearly 80 percent in the previous ten years26. Furthermore, from the early 90s on it was possible to burn your own CDs at home, and in the mid-90s it also became affordable. Bootlegs and pirate copies of vinyl records had been around for a long time by then, but the effort needed to create such copies dramatically decreased with the CD-R; it was almost as easy to copy a CD as to copy a cassette tape, and far less time-consuming than the latter.
At this time it was another oligopoly of some "big six" that dominated the music industry; it consisted of Warner, Sony, MCA, BMG, EMI and Polygram. Due to the developments in the following years, be it the introduction of new formats, the changes in consumer behaviour, or the financial crisises, some of them had to merge, so that at the end of the 2000s only Warner, Sony BMG, Universal and EMI were left. The latter has meanwhile been bought up by the private equity firm Terra Nova27.
23 cf. Haffner (2011), p. 166.
24 cf. Haffner (2011), p. 164 et seqq.
25 cf. Haffner (2011), p. 168.
26 cf. Millard (1995), p. 355.
27 cf. Sen (2010), p. 11 et seq.

While burning CDs at home became a common practice, so did copying their contents to the PC's harddrive itself. Music was now completely detached from physical media for the first time. CD collections wandered from shelf to drive, and through increasingly private internet use and available bandwidth it eventually begun to roam the world methaphysically via uploads and downloads. This process was boosted when the audio encoding format "MPEG-1 Audio-Layer 3" ("Moving Pictures Expert Group"), which had been developed by the Fraunhofer IIS in 1987, began to spread28. The format is based on the omission of frequencies inaudible for the human ear and thus reducing the information being saved to a minimum. Through MP3 the filesize shrunk to just a fraction of that of the uncompressed files from a CD, thus increasing flexibility and portability of digital music.
Around the turn of the millennium, the first MP3 players entered the market. Music- to-go was not an entirely new feature. Portable wind-up gramophones had been around since the 1920s and they did not even depend on electricity. Walkman and Discman were modern equivalents. The MP3 player opened a whole new dimension – despite its rather tiny size (now there was no more actual record or cassette which's size had to be considered) it could store a number of songs so much greater than what had been possible up to then, that a person could listen to it non-stop for weeks without hearing any track twice. Storage became faster and cheaper at an increasing rate and very soon consumers had access to more music than could be consumed in a lifetime.
2.3 Downloading and Streaming As Modern Ways of Consuming Music
Without the need for a physical sound carrier, and through less memory being required due to better compressing techniques, music has not only become more portable and easier to consume, but it is also much more facile to build up large collections of music. In order to purchase a song the consumer no longer has to leave their house. Furthermore, their purchase will be much cheaper, not only due to the omitted material costs, but also because they are not constrained to buying entire albums or samplers anymore; they would not even have to pay for an unwanted flipside of a single. From the late 1990s to 2005, the sales of singles in the UK dropped from 80 million to 20 million units, meanwhile 75 percent of singles
28 cf. Haffner (2011), p. 176.

in the UK are sold as downloads (where the customer is not forced to buy a B-side song as well, should one even exist)29.
Executives in the music industry though failed to recognize these potentials at the appropriate time. Free and illegal services were the first to exploit this potential, and accustomed the consumers to quick and carefree access to any music they liked. "Napster", which had been started by an American university student in 1998, had been one of the first of these platforms and was used by millions of people soon after30. Napster was eventually closed down after a flood of lawsuits by copyright holders, but at that time numerous clones and successors had already been established under names like "Morpheus", "Audiogalaxy", "KaZaA", "BearShare" or "LimeWire". The last two used the so-called "gnutella network", a peer-to-peer network which then belonged to a subsidiary of AOL – the leading e-mail provider at the time – eventually leading to the great heyday of these networks being used for sharing music and movies illegally. Peer-to-peer networks are based on the concept of users downloading their desired files directly from the computers of other (anonymous) users instead of one or several central servers; that way, there is no obvious point of attack for claimants31.
The so-called "BitTorrent protocol" uses a similar system and is used for file sharing on a very large scale. One of the most infamous examples of this is the Swedish-based website "The Pirate Bay", on which P2P-, torrent- and file hosting links to illegal copies of music, movies, games and software were collected and provided in great amounts. The founders of "The Pirate Bay" were charged for copyright infringement in 2009, and convicted in 2011. Another large file hosting platform well-known for being used for spreading illegal files, called "Megaupload", was closed down in January 2012 in the course of an operation by the FBI32. At the time of this writing, proceedings against its owner Kim "Dotcom" Schmitz are still pending.
Attempts made by rights holders and labels to establish commercial counter- models of these file sharing platforms failed at first – it seemed as if "The Internet [had] opened up the Pandora's Box of music" 33. Napster and its successors were
29 cf. Sen (2010), p. 9 et seq.
30 cf. Kernfeld (2011), p. 205.
31 cf. Kernfeld (2011), p. 207.
32 cf. Kernfeld (2011), p. 215; SPIEGEL ONLINE (2012); SPIEGEL ONLINE (2012); manager magazin (2012).
33 Sen (2010), p. 8.

still used by millions of people, while only a couple of thousands were interested in the first pay-per-download services. All this changed when Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc., launched the authorized song-sharing service "iTunes" in 2003. Corporate executives and right holders refused to get involved into the proposed business model at first, but when the failure of their own concepts became evident, some of them finally agreed to cooperate with iTunes34.
Shortly before this Apple had placed their own brand of MP3 player, called "iPod", on the market, which soon became a prestige product and meanwhile has even become a generic name for MP3 players in general. Its enormous popularity helped iTunes become a model for success and so by 2006, iTunes had sold a billion downloads35. Services like iTunes had one decisive advantage compared to the free and illegal ones: users could rely on the music files being of a high and consistent quality and not containing any malware or viruses. On the downside, commercial services could not and most likely never will provide a diversity in genres and obscurity as rich as that of unauthorized platforms, file sharing networks or music blogs. Commercial download business is still paying off more than selling CDs though, as not only material and manufacturing costs are omitted but also the expenses for the distribution, which account for the largest share of the total costs36. Thus it is not very surprising that sales of physical recorded music are declining, in the UK for instance sales of CDs have halved from 2000 to 2010; from 2007 to 2008 alone they dropped by 20 percent37.
Apart from iTunes several other successful commercial download services began to establish themselves, e.g. "SpiralFrog" from Universal, "Musicload" from the Deutsche Telekom AG, Amazon's MP3 shop, the Nokia Music Store, and also Napster which reappeared as a legal service – though this time as a streaming platform and not one for downloads. Spiralfrog was a free service supported by advertising that meanwhile has been forced out of the market, because the users felt hassled by ever more and longer commercials they had to watch in order to listen to their music38. That way, subscription models became more popular, and thanks to internet connections getting faster and faster streaming now appears to be the preferred way to consume music digitally. Songs are no longer downloaded
34 cf. Kernfeld (2011), p. 209 et seq.
35 cf. Kernfeld (2011), p. 210.
36 cf. Sen (2010), p. 13.
37 cf. Sen (2010), p. 9.
38 cf. Glaser (2006).

onto the customer's device but played online, and thus only saved into the buffer memory, which provides the customer with more flexibility and saves memory.
Most streaming platforms offer flat-rate subscriptions, either for a monthly fee or ad- financed. Free and unlimited streaming services might even help to take "some of the wind out of the pirates' sails."39 Some of the most popular streaming services are "Spotify", which was founded in Sweden, "Deezer" from France, "Simfy", "Napster", "MusicMatch", "Yahoo! Music", "Juke", Sony's "Music Unlimited", "Rdio" and "Wimp". Deezer, Napster and Wimp can only be used in combination with a Facebook account while others – eg. Spotify and Simfy – offer this as an option40. Although Spotify is a fast rising competitor, iTunes still remains as the market leader41.
Just like SpiralFrog, Spotify is financed by audio ads that are placed in between the songs in certain time intervals, and to a smaller extend, by paid premium accounts. However, this practise is being criticized because independent artists without a recording contract are under-represented as well as underpaid, the length of the ads and the frequency in which they are aired are increased subtly, and "the lack of communication and clarity in the relationship between Spotify and music fans."42 For instance they have to accept that the entire repertoire of an artist will be removed from Spotify without any notice or exculpation – often the artists themselves require this because of the marginal profitability43.
This entails a considerable disadvantage compared to a conventional CD- or record collection, which is available steadily and ad-free once acquired. Streaming platforms offer flexibility and mobility to their users, but are still not profitable enough for artists and labels to provide their customers with a truly unlimited and comprehensive (music) service.
39 Sen (2010), p. 14.
40 cf. magnus.de (2012).
41 cf. Heise Zeitschriften Verlag (2012).
42 McLean et al. (2010), p. 1372.
43 cf. McLean et al. (2010), p. 1372.

16
3 Vinyl Records Today
In this section the role vinyl records have adopted in today's music will be observed and discussed. While doing so, every examined aspect will be analyzed as to whether it has a causal connection to the internet as a medium for communication and trade, in order to find answers to the main research question.
3.1 Acoustic, Visual and Emotional Aspects
The developments described in chapter 2.3 represent a counter-movement to a distinctive break in the history of music that took place at the end of the 19th century: the reification of music, made possible through the invention of sound storage media. The transience of music was abolished as sounds could be conserved in objects for an unlimited amount of time. In recent years the physical reification of music became obsolete. Music is no longer only stored in shelves, captured in plastic, but saved onto hard disc drives and meanwhile also more and more moved into so-called "clouds". It is available more easily, and to a greater extend than ever before; disembodied information that can be copied arbitrarily.
But what does this mean for the music's value experienced by the consumer? People who are now middle-aged had to save money for weeks until they could buy the next coveted single or album as teenagers, while today's teenagers are only a click away from almost anything that has ever been recorded. While most people now take this for granted, some experience some kind of weariness. Either because they are overstrained by the enormous range of recordings to choose from, or because they want to have something tangible and long-lasting to set their musical affections on, unlike all the virtual streams and files.
Apart from vinyl-obsessed stereotypes like Rob Fleming from Nick Hornby's 1995 novel "High Fidelity", more and more people turn towards "tangible music" nowadays, with vinyl records being seemingly more appreciated than CDs or cassette tapes.
Nostalgia and childhood memories put aside, vinyl fans often state that the sound of vinyl is much warmer than that of digital media it also allows more frequencies to

3. Vinyl Records Today 17
be recorded and played back44. The correlation between the sound of vinyl being perceived as warmer and fuller and the greater range of frequencies analogue formats can store compared to digital formats with discrete frequency recording, might be correct in theory, but when a vinyl record is actually played, the frequencies are in most cases not continuous because transistor amplifiers divide them again. Only (quite costly) valve amplifiers can reproduce the entirety of frequencies stored on an analogue medium.
"Vinyl has very limited dynamics compared to all modern formats. Vinyl has about 65 dB of dynamic range, as opposed to the 30-plus-year-old digital compact disc at 95 dB. The more modern Blu-ray disc packs 120 dB of dynamic range"45, nearly twice as large as that of a vinyl record46. Nevertheless, many people perceive a distinct inferiority in sound quality between these media in comparison to vinyl. It is unclear though, if this perception is based on measurable characteristics, or just on the expectation that there has to be an audible difference.
Vinyl enthusiasts often accuse CD- and MP3-consumers of not particularly caring about the quality or authenticity of sound, but it should be mentioned that there are many digital savvy audiophiles who invest enormous amounts in exquisite hi-fi systems as well. Apart from that, many of those who grew up with vinyl records and still prefer them already developed their aversion to CDs when they were introduced. At that time, digital media were not yet technically mature, while vinyl records already had experienced forty years of innovation and perfection. By now digital audio media have left their analogue counterparts far behind them, so the special appeal vinyl records have to their fans must be founded on something else in addition to sound quality.
With vinyl records, it is not only listening to them, but also touching and handling them that matters to their owners. Sometimes even treated like devotional objects, vinyl records are commodities with special features and emotional associations to them, rather than merely serving as sound carriers. Despite their fragility, careful treatment of vinyl records pays off with longevity. CDs might appear as robust and reliable, but they have a considerably limited shelf life just as flash drives or hard disc drives. For the latter, as well as for home burned CDs, a maximum lifetime of five to ten years is estimated. Flash drives will presumably stop working after ten to
44 cf. Ox-Fanzine (2006), p. 8.
45 Del Colliano (2012)
46 Dynamic range: Difference between lowest possible and the highest possible signal level

thirty years, and factory-made CDs are said to last between twenty-five and thirty years with average use47. In comparison, there are analogue records that are now more than a hundred years old and can still be played fine. From this point of view, vinyl records are no more risky an investment than digital sound carriers.
The tangibility of physical records does not only imply durability of sound storage media, but allows a whole new relationship level between consumer and commodity. This special relationship becomes more intense the more the customer is involved in music, be it knowledge about music or consuming music. People who know a lot about music and cultivate this knowledge listen to and buy more music than the average consumer does, but the more intense this knowledge and involvement is, the more likely a higher value is perceived in physical records than in MP3 files and other non-tangible formats. These non-tangible formats don't supersede the tangible ones, rather, it stands to reason that they fulfil different needs of the consumers, "for example, sampling and complementing vs. collecting and displaying."48
In 2009, Maria Ek Styvén, professor at Luleå University of Technology, published a study titled "The need to touch: Exploring the link between music involvement and tangibility preference". The results showed that "music involvement is positively related to the extent to which consumers favor tangible music formats," while "innovativeness in terms of using new technology (MP3 player) for listening to music [also] increases with music involvement. However, this link is weaker than the one from involvement to tangibility preference, suggesting that music involvement may have a stronger influence over consumers' expressed preferences for tangible formats than over their use of MP3 players."49 Looking at these results, it can be said that physical records are more important to inveterate music fans than to the average music consumer. They more often prefer tangible formats. To a lesser degree, they also tend to use more innovative formats.
Apart from the ability to touch physical records there is another serious difference between them and file-based media: the visibility of the record and thus the visual experience of the consumer, or in this case spectator. Many music consumers and collectors own more records than they could ever listen to (while looking at them
47 cf. FL-electronic (2008); netzwelt (2007); netzwelt (2007).
48 Styvén (2010), p. 1088.
49 Styvén (2010), p. 1093.

takes considerably less time), and so "the recording becomes an object of exchange and contemplation: an image of music that substitutes for music itself."50 For Philip Auslander, professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, looking at records even resembles "a perverse act, given that the object of the gaze was produced as a commodity to be consumed through the ear."51 This apparent "misuse" is especially important to people who cherish objects and artefacts; most notably, collectors. Evan Eisenberg tells the story of a record collector who began collecting in the 1920s, and at the end had accumulated a collection worth around $200,000 – although he was deaf52. Looking at and touching his records were the only ways left for him to "consume" them, and to derive pleasure from owning them. Touch and physical appearance apparently served sufficiently to keep the fascination about these objects alive, despite the fact that they were designed for a completely different use. It is difficult to imagine a blind person getting the same pleasure from touching or "listening to" an oil painting, for instance. Thus, vinyl records offer a special and perhaps even unique opportunity to consume them in a way entirely different from what they were meant for. Referring to the consumers' choice between analogue and non-tangible digital music products, this feature of the vinyl record can be considered as a distinctive additional value.
There is another quite important aspect to the optical reckoning of vinyl records: they constitute a visual representation of time. "Vinyl records reify time in that they make time tangible: in handling a record, one is handling a chunk of time, in a sense. ... In these ways, records are means by which time is rendered spectacular."53 Digital audio files convey this experience merely indirectly, if at all. The consumer can see another representation of time when looking at the time display on their iPod or desktop media player, but as those files or recordings are immaterial themselves, this can hardly be considered reification.
One could assume now that record collectors in fact are collectors of time, stockpiling it portioned into single units that represent a kind of "exchange-time", with the intent to preserve pieces of the past like an archaeologist. But "in fact what was being stockpiled was coded noise with a specific ritual function, or use-time. For we must not forget that music remains a very unique commodity; to take on
50 Auslander (2001), p. 79.
51 Auslander (2001), S. 80.
52 cf. Eisenberg (1985), p. 8.
53 Auslander (2001), p. 81.

meaning, it requires an incompressible lapse of time, that of its own duration."54 So the time that passed while a recording was made, and which a consumer thinks they are acquiring or exchanging with the means of a record, might be congruent in length to the time it takes to play or "use" this recording, but in fact there is no further connection between these periods of time; the act of "preserving time" is thus based on a false assumption. And furthermore, "Since there is no direct correlation between the musical use-time of an album and its visual appearance, the visual representation of time on a vinyl record asserts itself as arbitrary, abstract, and capricious. Understood in this way, the surface of a vinyl record makes visible the means by which the spectacle induces false consciousness of time through images of time purveyed by commodities."55 The assumption that the time it takes to play a record equals the time it took to make the record (given that only the actual recording time is counted) implies that the recording was made in a single take, which is rarely the case, except for live recordings. The track which is finally pressed on the record is the result of several takes that were cut and edited several times and put together in a way that differs from a single-take-recording of the song. It is a mélange of excerpts of different recorded time spans, between which minutes or years could have passed, and not the coherent entity of time the listener has in mind when they play a record.
Nevertheless, this consciousness of time (though it is in fact false) creates a certain fascination in the spectator of the record, which vinyl fans can appreciate. For the vinyl record as a commodity, this can be considered as an additional value on an emotional level.
Apart from the visual features of the vinyl record itself, a significant additional value perceived by the eye is provided by its packaging, most notably the classical LP cover. While vinyl fans and audiophiles mostly appreciate the higher quality of the medium itself in new issues and re-issues, original issues are often also cherished because of the accompanying artwork, delivered in the form of a record cover. "Appreciation of high-quality and original pressings expressed values art, heritage and a 'higher consciousness'"56 among record collectors. From an economic point of view, this appreciation comes out in the form of extreme price differences between records sold with and without the original picture cover, especially
54 Attali (1985), p. 101.
55 Auslander (2001), p. 82.
56 Mitchell et al. (2011), p. 47.

concerning 45rpm singles. For example, "Makin' Love" / "You Mean Everything" by The Sloths sold for $2,258 in 2009 without the original cover57, and for $6,550 with the original picture sleeve in 201158.
The advantage of an LP compared to, say, a CD concerning the presentation of cover art is not only its size (ca. 30x30cm or 12"x12" compared to ca. 12x12cm or 4.75"x4.75"), but also the better possibilities for adding "gimmicks" to the cover. Andy Warhol for example immortalized himself on the cover of the debut album of The Velvet Underground, a band closely related to him. The cover shows a yellow banana on a white background which can be "peeled" to reveal the same motif in bright pink (copies with "unpeeled" bananas sell for respectively high prices today). Another example, which was also created by Warhol, is the infamous and not very subtle cover of the album "Sticky Fingers" by The Rolling Stones from 1971, which shows a pair of jeans worn by a man, with a real zipper glued on it. This case already shows that an LP cover does not only offer more possibilities for visual but also haptic enhancement than a CD cover. While the latter mostly is printed on thin paper and hidden in a plastic case, an experience of touching and feeling can be created for the consumer by structural embossing of the cardboard of an LP cover or by gluing objects onto it.
Other examples for album covers that became famous artworks are "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by The Beatles and the cover of King Crimson's debut album "In the Court of the Crimson King". The painter of the latter, Barry Godber, died shortly after the album's release at the young age of twenty-four, which helped the work become legendary59.
For many vinyl lovers, it is not only the record's cover that can feature an aesthetically pleasing and attractive artwork. Old 78rpm records often have artful and ornate labels that have a certain antique charm. This was probably of central significance for the deaf collector mentioned above, as he most likely owned mostly 78s (at the times of 78rpm records, records were sold in simple brown paper covers with the record company's logo and maybe some advertising on them. The "album artwork" only came up with the invention of the long playing record).
Listening to vinyl records usually is stationary. Portable record players have not caught on significantly and represent something of a "gimmick." That said, limited
57 cf. Popsike.com (2009).
59 cf. Sinfield (2008).

mobility is not always perceived as a disadvantage. Rather, consuming music once again is the in the actual focus of the consumer's concentration and no longer a background noise for some other activity. It demands the consumer's own action, and to act with care and precision. As a result, the record is listened to more consciously, and mostly also continuously, with the turning of the record after one side has been played being the only interruption. Of course it is possible to jump to certain tracks on an LP, but it is more difficult than jumping to a track on a CD or iPod. Also, a lot of albums are composed in a way that makes the consumers want to listen to them in one go. In the age of MP3, "concept albums" have become rarer; quite often it is all about single tracks that climb the single charts and then disappear on samplers and mixes. Listening to an album continuously – with the exception of turning it around after half the time – requires patience (in a positive sense) and the engagement with the record is more intense. In turn, the consumer can experience a more conscious listening pleasure in the form of a ritual. This "ritual feature" is unique to the vinyl record when compared to intangible digital media, because it results from its physical usage requirements. Thus, this is an additional value of the vinyl record.
60 Source: http://78rpmrecord.com/.
Figure 5: Label of a one-sided French shellac record from 190460

3.2 Variations in Use and the Transformation of Meanings
As was previously discussed, vinyl records are not exclusively used in the manner they were meant to be used. But even when they are played, according to their original purpose, they are not only used as a static source of music, but also as a versatile tool to produce a variety of sounds and sound effects in different ways. Of course a vinyl disc does not emit sounds by itself, so in the course of a record being played, the record player becomes a kind of musical instrument through which an artist can express their skills and creativity.
The idea of using two turntables at a time in order to minimize or eliminate the gap between songs on different records emerged when vinyl records became the leading music format. Soon, DJs could not only combine and arrange tracks more effectively, but manipulate and influence the sounds produced by the record creatively, instead of simply reproducing rigid recordings.
The turntable itself has assumed the role of an instrument at least since the discovery of a playing technique called "scratching" by the young DJ Theodore Livingston in 197761: "a vivid example of user-driven change that led to a radical change in the function of an existing technological object while leaving its physical form almost completely undisturbed."62 What had happened was a shift in the social ontology of turntable and record, the observer-related features of these objects had changed ("a turntable and a vinyl record make a musical instrument"), while the observer-independent features (production process, material, shape and functionality of said objects) remained the same63.
Eventually the term "turntablist" was established to describe the DJs who use their turntable in the above-mentioned way, "as distinct from someone who uses it strictly in its playback capacity."64 Meanwhile, turntablists are no longer associated with "classical" DJ genres only, but there are all sorts of "rock, pop, nu-metal, and even country music bands that include a turntablist in their ranks."65
During the 1980s and 90s, the CD conquered the market. Some DJs switched to the new format. However, those DJs who preferred to use manipulation techniques
61 cf. Faulkner et al. (2009), p. 449.
62 Faulkner et al. (2009), p. 451.
63 cf. Faulkner et al. (2009), p. 459; Searle (2006), p. 53.
64 Faulkner et al. (2009), p. 448.
65 Faulkner et al. (2009), p. 450.

such as scratching or beatmatching still had to rely on vinyl, as these techniques could not be reproduced with CD players. In 2001, a so-called "CDJ" player was brought on the market with the aim to be able to emulate vinyl manipulation techniques with CDs and at the same time retain the "look and feel" of a classic turntable. Successive models included features like USB ports, slots for flash memory cards or the ability to read data CDs. Eventually, the CD player unit gave way for iPod consoles and the like66.
Even in a fully digitalized and virtualized environment, vinyl still serves as a reference benchmark for audio quality. So-called "vinyl emulation software" is especially designed to play digital audio files as if they were played from vinyl, i.e. digitally emulating the warmer analogue sound a vinyl record would produce without actually using a physical sound carrier68. But even vinyl as a physical object has not completely disappeared in DJ culture, new ways of combining it with digital technology have emerged. For example, in a "digital vinyl system", a standard turntable is used for playing a vinyl record pressed with a digital timecode, and the signals it conveys are analyzed by a vinyl emulation software running on a PC or laptop. That way, the movements of the timecode disc under the stylus affect the playback of the digital music as if it came from a vinyl record that is manipulated manually while playing69.
66 cf. Faulkner et al. (2009), p. 451 et seqq.
67 Source: wikipedia.org (2011).
68 See: http://www.channld.com/purevinyl/.
69 cf. Faulkner et al. (2009), p. 452.
Figure 6: Close up of a timecode record67

A special combination of vinyl and digital technology was released by DJ Jeff Mills in 2010: A CD which had not a label but a vinyl single pressed on its rear side, containing the same song as on the CD itself. This "hybrid disc" is the brainchild of designer Yuri Suzuki, who, based upon the notion that the act of buying CDs "has become increasingly more obsolete as downloading music files has gained popularity[,] … wanted to bring value back to the compact disc."70 Apparently, the compact disc gains just that value when being half vinyl; in other words, the obsolescence of CDs is camouflaged with an homage to the good old vinyl record, which had been "obsolete" so much longer. The choice of vinyl to revalue the CD is not quite surprising when the particular emotional meaning digital and analogue music consumption has for consumers is considered. In the ensuing paragraphs, these meanings and their development, as well as their effect on practices of music consumption, are examined.
In an era of mainly digital music and immaterial media, it might seem that the importance of physical objects associated with the consumption of such media would be diminished. But this is not the case, as "music digitalization and the dematerialization of musical goods do not mean less materiality and do not imply a less relevant social role for material objects within consumption processes."72 Almost on the contrary, what takes place today is a "process of deep re-articulation of the relationships between content and material media."73 One of the reasons for
70 designboom.com (2010).
71 Source: Pinter (2010).
72 Magaudda (2011), p. 16.
73 Magaudda (2011), p. 18.
Figure 7: Digital-analogue "hybrid-disc" by Yuri Suzuki and Jeff Mills71

this is that technological changes are not a crucial influence, and by far not the only influence, on consumers' habits and consumption practices. Changes in these habits are largely caused by social factors. For instance, a new product will not catch on if it requires the consumers to give up or change certain habits, and the additional value of the product does not make up for it. On the other hand, a product can experience a "boom" or "hype" even if it has no significant technical or economic value; just because certain target groups or subcultures attribute special values to it. This is one way how social factors can drive consumer habits and behaviour.
In order to explain these influences and their impact on consumption practices, Italian professor of sociology and marketing, Paolo Maggauda, described the so- called "circuit of practice" (see figure 8). He analyzed the changing relationships between materiality and social practices using the example of three technologies currently used for music consumption - the iPod, the external hard drive and the vinyl record.
The circuit of practice has three anchor points that represent the abstract levels of objects, meanings and practices (doing). The first phase, in which the circuit is entered, begins with the digital revolution of the music industry, in particular the massive spreading of MP3 files, sharing platforms and download services. A process of dematerialization, which represents a change on the level of objects, starts and leads to a change on the level of doing in phase two. The activities associated with the consumption of and involvement with music are now mainly carried out through the screen of a PC or similar gadget. The result is "a change in the listener's approach to his or her musical experience, which is now perceived as less authentic and significant"74. This constitutes a shift in the impact particular music-related objects have on listeners, represented in phase three. As a result, consumers are looking for ways to regain the feeling of authenticity experienced when listening to music through trying out new or previously used practices for music consumption. In phase four, a change on the level of objects takes place, as consumers are reintegrating vinyl records (or tangible recordings in general) into their listening habits because they can provide this feeling of authenticity. The acknowledgement of these unique qualities of vinyl records, and their subsequent appreciation by the consumers, occurs on the level of meanings in phase five. At this point, the consumers get accustomed to listening to vinyl records and may
74 Magaudda (2011), p. 30.

even develop a passion for it. In phase six, the last phase of the circuit, the consumers accomplish another transformation on the level of doing by buying, trading and collecting vinyl records to a greater extent.
This does not imply that consumers will exclusively listen to vinyl once they discovered it for themselves or have reverted back to it. Most of them will incorporate their new listening practices into existing ones instead of replacing them. For example, someone might keep their MP3 player for occasions such as long car or train rides, and yet listen mostly to vinyl when at home. This shows that "new objects and devices and old ones are not mutually exclusive, and that their material configurations enable the development of different listening practices in terms of both material activities and symbolic value."76
Furthermore, not only can modern and "obsolete" objects and technologies coexist, but the latter also carry certain symbolic values when being used despite their
75 Source: Magaudda (2011), p. 30.
76 Magaudda (2011), p. 31.
Figure 8: The "circuit of practices" for music consumption75

obvious obsolescence and technical inferiority; their use conveys a social, and sometimes even political, message. Younger listeners, for example, sometimes use their preference of vinyl records to demonstrate their deep aversion against the contemporary culture of music consumption, contemporary music itself, or even the contemporary culture and society in general. This instrumentalization of listening practices, and especially listening to vinyl (exclusively) in order to transfer such a message would not have been possible when the vinyl record was the primary format (1950s to 70s), and also not at times when fewer consumers were passionate about vinyl (90s). It is evident that vinyl has taken on a new social role in the past few years.
Apart from this attitude people might want to express by preferring vinyl records, many also value the practices and habits themselves that come with listening to and acquiring vinyls. For instance, one of Maggauda's interviewees recounts: "Maybe you were just about to forget that the vinyl was on, and it is already time to change the side. It is like the vinyl asks for your attention when you are about to forget that the turntable is on."77 This additional required attention and action is an important factor in times of increasing passivity, which is encouraged by ever more technical facilitations and automation of every day routines, and contributes to the emotional valorization of vinyl records in a positive way.
Other activities and experiences associated with vinyl records include the pleasant anticipation and excitement when unpacking a new record and then touching it for the first time, which is completely missing in the consumption of intangible media. There is also great excitement in discovering a desired record by chance in a record shop, second hand store or on a flea market. Generations that grew up with intangible music formats like MP3 and online stores for downloads might have the privilede of having almost the entire knowledge and cultural output of mankind directly at hand through the internet, but they never experienced the allurement of "crate digging" or the precarious endeavor of trying to get the precious new albums home savely78. Of course, it is quite understandable that those who finally get in touch with vinyl or other analogue formats want to reclaim these experiences and emotions by listening to or collecting them. That way, an originally obsolete consumption practice regains importance in a society that likes nothing more than to dispose of obsolescent technology and objects.
77 Magaudda (2011), p. 29.
78 cf. Patokos (2008), p. 247.

3.3 The Vinyl Audience on the Internet and the Culture of Communication and Information
Mike Featherstone coined the term "consumer culture" to describe the social significance of consumption and the attitude and interaction of consumers in contemporary Western societies79. Vinyl buyers and enthusiasts are a distinguishable part of this culture, representing a so-called "consumption community". In line with Michael Maffesoli's concept of "neo-tribalism"80, these communities can be classified as so-called "consumer tribes" (referred to as "tribes" in the following).
There are notable differences between a "tribe" and a "subculture". A consumer tribe forms easily and can be short lived. Members have easy to pinpoint ideals or interests, (e.g., someone strongly favors a product or they do not), but do not necessarily share a similar social setting. They do not necessarily identify themselves as being part of the group. Individuals also can "belong to multiple tribes at the same time to express different aspects of their identity,"81 which would be uncommon in a subculture. A subculture persists over a longer period of time and is far more complex. Many different attributes can define a member of a subculture, and it is not always clear if someone in fact is a member. Unlike tribe members, the members of a subculture often have a similar social setting.
According to French professors Bernard and Véronique Cova, who specialize in tribal marketing, tribes appear in temporal as well as in spatial traces:
"In temporal terms tribes emerge, grow, reach their zenith, languish, then dissolve. Their underlying logic is timeless and fragmented. (...) Tribes also exist and occupy space physically. The tribe - or at least some of its members - can gather and perform rituals in public spaces, assembly halls, meeting places, places of worship or commemoration. (...) None of these time and space traces exhaust the full potential of tribes. Tribal belonging exists on a daily basis at home, as well as occasionally and informally with others anywhere."82
There are many realms where a tribe can be imagined, but one gains importance like no other in this context, and also perfectly supports the geographic dispersal and informality of consumer tribes: the internet. Tribes that sprout in cyberspace
79 cf. Featherstone (1991), p. 13 et seqq.
80 cf. Maffesoli (1996), p. 11 et seqq.
81 Mitchell et al. (2011), p. 40.
82 Cova et al. (2001), p. 604.

represent a special kind of consumer tribe, which is mainly characterized by intensive virtual communication and global networking between the tribe members. This kind of tribe is referred to as an "e-tribe", a term coined by Canadian professor of marketing, Robert Kozinets. At first glance, an e-tribe might appear quite similar if not identical to a market segment, as it is a group of people who appreciate the same product or brand and frequent the same communication medium, and thus could be specifically targeted with advertising. Cova and Cova distinguish clearly between such tribes and market segments, whereby the first is defined as "a network of heterogeneous persons - in terms of age, sex, income, etc. - who are linked by a shared passion or emotion; a tribe is capable of collective action, its members are not simple consumers, they are also advocates."83 A market segment, however, represents "a group of homogeneous persons - they share the same characteristics - who are not connected to each other; a segment is not capable of collective action, its members are simple consumers."84 Thus, there are two essential differences between (e-)tribes and market segments: first, tribe members share only one characteristic while those of a market segment share many, and second, tribe members connect and interact socially while those of a market segment are unaware of one another.
As for Maffesoli's neo-tribes, or postmodern tribes, every one of them has its own "emblematic figure just as each [archaic] tribe, in the strict sense, possessed and was possessed by its totem."85 In both e-tribes and consumer tribes in general, the role of the totem is taken over by the product, the shared appreciation of which is why a tribe is formed in the first place. Not all products an individual prefers serve as a tribe's totem because they lack potential for emotional bonding – think of favourite brands of carrots, toilet paper, telephone cables, or tooth picks. The vinyl record, however, makes a perfect totem with all the personal memories and emotional value associated with it. Thus, it is no surprise that there is an e-tribe specialized in vinyl records coming together on the internet to share emotions, experiences and information.
This tribe is made up of a group of geographically distributed persons who have a passion for or interest in vinyl records, and use the same communication platforms and sources of information online. These individuals have gathered great amounts
83 Cova et al. (2001), p. 602.
84 Cova et al. (2001), p. 602.
85 Maffesoli (2004), p. 141.

of insider information about music and records that could not have been captured without a versatile mass medium such as the internet. The tribe members practice four primary modes of interaction: informational, relational, recreational, and transformational86; which means that apart from accumulating and benefiting from the aforementioned mass of information, they maintain social contact and frequent communication, both on a short-term, superficial basis, as well as on a long-term, dedicated basis.
This particular e-tribe, also referred to as the "online vinyl record network", has been examined in a study by David Broman and Stefan Söderlindh ( Broman et al. (2009)). According to Kozinets' definitions of tribe member types they classify the members of this network into four different groups: "devotees", "insiders", "minglers", and "tourists". Tourists are the kind of members who "lack strong social ties to the group, and maintain only a superficial or passing interest in the consumption activity"87 – listening to and collecting vinyl records – while the minglers are the ones who hold social ties, but are "only perfunctorily interested in the central consumption activity."88 Among those members who have a strong passion for the specific consumption activity, devotees are barely socially attached to the group, while the insiders have both "strong social ties and strong personal ties to the consumption activity."89 These latter groups are most relevant to the structure and dynamics of the online vinyl record network, because they represent its core. People who do not have strong personal ties to vinyl records less significantly contribute to such a network, thus, the focus will be on devotees and insiders as opposed to tourists and minglers.
In addition to Kozinets' model of member types, which does not acknowledge any kind of hierarchy within the tribe, Cleo Mitchell and Brian Imrie discovered a member type they refer to as the "chief" in a study similar to that of Broman and Söderlindh, in which they researched "the tribe of record collectors."90 They found that the chiefs inside the vinyl tribe set themselves apart from the other members based on their high assets of so-called "cultural capital". This capital puts them in a higher rank within the tribe, putting them in charge of the "organisation of tribal activities and [making them] influential on other members (both potential and
86 cf. Kozinets (1999), p. 255.
87 Kozinets (1999), p. 254.
88 Kozinets (1999), p. 254.
89 Kozinets (1999), p. 255.
90 Mitchell et al. (2011), p. 45.

existing)."91 Chiefs as well as devotees possess "status and respect in the tribe, which makes them crucial for connecting and communicating with the tribe at large."92
Cultural capital mainly consists of knowledge. As for the vinyl tribe, this can be knowledge about particular artists, genres, specific releases of a record, etc. Social contacts to important persons, be it high ranking members of the tribe, artists, or famous people from the recording industry, also fall into cultural capital, as well as the member's own record collection; specifically its size, range, uniqueness, monetary and sentimental value. Mitchell and Imrie observed that cultural capital in the vinyl tribe had become "a currency of trade among members, facilitating socialisation and creating a tribal community around this particular consumption."94
The internet plays a key role in the acceptance and rise of new members in the vinyl tribe. It facilitates and speeds up the obtaining of information and gathering of knowledge about music and records – important assets that are rewarded with respect and appreciation by the other tribe members, and needed to maintain one's status and authority within the tribe.
91 Mitchell et al. (2011), p. 48.
92 Mitchell et al. (2011), p. 48.
93 Source: Kozinets (1999), p. 255.
94 Mitchell et al. (2011), p. 48.
Figure 9: Member types of virtual consumption communities93

The online vinyl record network is a "derived cyberculture", which means that it originated from a real-life culture or community that has moved or extended itself into the online world95. In the case of the vinyl network, this real-life community had already existed for some time when the internet came into regular use. Thus, the vinyl network consists of "digital natives", who grew up with access to the internet which helped facilitate their interest in vinyl records, as well as "digital migrants", who carry on or revive their old passion for records in a new medium. Quite naturally, the latter group can be assumed to represent the majority of the tribe members, although this ratio could be expected to shift in the near future; not necessarily because the older members pass away, but because there is an increasing group of younger people intrigued by vinyl records.
Most of the tribe members stay in touch online as well as through personal contact, both to varying extents. Especially insiders tend to exclusively use the internet for tribe-related communication and activities. This does not imply that they are suffering from inibitions in maintaining social contacts, but rather that they lack "individuals in their personal networks with the exact same taste in music, compelling them to go online to find peers with whom to interact."96 In this case, the internet liberates them from being entirely excluded from any kind of community that meets their preferences and access to detailed information about their personal field of expertise. It provides the tribe members not only with vast information and social interaction, but also commercial resources, allowing them to purchase records that are not available in record shops within their reach.
Broman and Söderlindh interviewed nine vinyl consumers and retailers, all male and aged between 25 and 36 years97. They were asked about their expectations concerning the future of the vinyl market, and how they perceived the typical vinyl consumer. Responses to the latter question framed the picture of a "friendly, honest and music-loving man, pursuing his music interest passionately."98 This statement might appear rather trivial at first glance, but it illustrates a striking feature of the vinyl community (on- and offline): almost all of its members are male, or at least a large proportion of them. It is rather difficult to pinpoint any concrete numbers concerning this question, as the vinyl tribe is widely dispersed around the
95 cf. Broman et al. (2009), p. 11.
96 Broman et al. (2009), p. 29 et seq.
97 cf. Broman et al. (2009), p. 13 et seqq.
98 Broman et al. (2009), p. 16.

world and not all members join a form of vinyl club or community that would allow for the collection of such statistics.
Of the vinyl collectors Roy Shuker interviewed for his book "Wax Trash and Vinyl Treasures: Record Collecting as a Social Practise", only 16 per cent were female99. According to Shuker, "record collecting can represent a public display of power and knowledge, serving as a form of cultural capital within the peer group."100 The competitive nature of this seems to be a typical male attitude; also, male collectors are slightly more likely to become obsessed with collecting or the collectable objects. As Shuker observes, "For male collectors, the social role of collecting appears to be a significant part of masculinity."101 What makes collecting in general, and record collecting in particular, so "un-feminine" and unattractive to women, can only be speculated. Perhaps women are less inclined toward developing emotional relationships to objects than men are, and value social contacts and emotional bonds to other people more. Also, they might be less likely to seek competition and less eager to stand up to other collectors on the basis of status symbols (i.e. size and uniqueness of their collection).
Shuker's interviewees seemed to impute a lesser degree of seriousness and rationality to their female counterparts, suggesting that, unlike collecting, women are rather interested in activities that involve more emotions, or maybe more trivial emotions; stating for instance: "Record people tend to be more intellectually centred, it's a neurotic thing, what do female neurotics do?"102 Apart from such stereotypes, in fact "women aren't driven to forms of 'conspicuous seriousness' in the ways men are, in part because the very idea of seriousness has historically been gendered as masculine for a long time in Western culture."103
Thus, it seems the issue could be not so much about the difference between male and female attitudes, but about the difference between serious, "neurotic" and easy-going, sociable individuals. There are female record collectors – although a minority – it seems likely that they are just part of the proportion of women who exhibit some male character traits, and thus collect the same way as men do. But while interviewing and researching on female record collectors, Shuker saw some striking differences in male and female attitudes and ways of collecting. He found that "women collectors … placed a greater emphasis on the 'use value' of their
99 cf. Shuker (2010), p. 34.
100 Shuker (2010), p. 35.
101 Shuker (2010), p. 35.
102 Shuker (2010), p. 36.
103 Shuker (2010), p. 37 et seq.

recordings, and showed less concern with collection size, rarity and value."104 Hence it seems that women rather collect for the music itself than for having lots of rare, valuable records in their shelves they do not even dare to play – which already seems irrational to any non-collector, especially taking into account a vinyl record's actual purpose. The obsession with features of a record that transcend the entertainment of listening to the music on it, is again something that is commonly seen as a male character trait; or even, as Shuker puts it: "for men, record collecting embraced being in control."105 Furthermore, as he refers to an unpublished study about female record collectors by Vicki Bogle from the year 1999: "What she found striking was the tendency for women to play down the fact they are collectors. While passionate about their collections, and the process of hunting down records, 'they are put off by the term record collector, and its possible masculine, and even anal connotations'."106
In conclusion, there may be far more female record collectors out there than is commonly assumed. Perhaps they are just not as present as their male counterparts, either because they do not want to be labelled as collectors, they do not fit into the all-male "fraternity", or they feel they are simply not taken seriously and excluded from these groups.
Apart from the above-mentioned gender bias, Broman and Söderlindh found that the online vinyl record network is highly fragmented. It consists of many small groups which are usually dedicated to a specific genre or format (e.g. 78 rpm records)107. This is naturally due to the fact that the variety in music and music releases is so inconceivably large that it is impossible for one individual to concern themselves with literally every kind of music. Even before the times of mp3 and the possibility for everyone to record anything they want at any time, there already had been much more music recorded than a human being could listen to in their lifetime.
The demand and availability of vinyl releases also varies among different genres. Classical "vinyl-genres" for instance would be Rock, Pop, Folk, Jazz, Techno, House, Industrial and Hip Hop. Concerning Easy Listening or "Schlager" the record format is fairly irrelevant, while in classical music a perfect quality of sound (e.g. in
104 Shuker (2010), p. 38.
105 Shuker (2010), p. 36.
106 Shuker (2010), p. 36.
107 cf. Broman et al. (2009), p. 27.

form of HD-CDs or other modern formats) is valued higher than nostalgia or the possibility to use manipulation techniques like in DJ-ing.
A key feature all these genre-specific sub-networks have in common and that characterizes the vinyl-tribe as a whole, is the importance of trust. Although there are different types of tribe-members and some of them have more influence than others, they all share "a sense of unity and a sharing ethos,"108 which comprises honesty and the proactive exchange of information. An example of this is the grading of the condition of vinyl records when trading or selling them. Although there are well-known standards for grading records, (for instance the "Goldmine" or the "Record Collector", both deriving from famous record collecting magazines), their interpretation can be quite arbitrary, and from time to time the interpretation by the seller and by the buyer of a record diverges. When examining this problem, Broman and Söderlindh discovered that the tribe possesses a kind of self- regulation of this issue. It "appeared to be efficient, as the individual members are dependent on the network and unlikely to risk losing trust in order to achieve a short-term economic gain."109 Thanks to the tight online network of the tribe, a seller who does not follow the accepted grading standards soon has a bad reputation among their potential customers. As the tribe members quickly exchange their record buying experiences through the internet, most of them will know in a short time which sellers to avoid. Thus, grading records in a manner acceptable to all tribe members is an important value within the vinyl-tribe that requires a high degree of trust.
This example also shows the great influence the internet has on the vinyl-scene. Globally dispersed communication and social-networking-effects have significantly altered the situation compared to pre-digital times.
The vinyl tribe's culture of communication and information, affected by the technical innovations of the internet, is a crucial factor for the vinyl market. In "analogue times," a fan or collector had to flip through record catalogues up to the size of a telephone book to order a desired – and maybe rare – record in the likely case it wasn't available in any of the record stores in town. Furthermore, the catalogues themselves had to be acquired first. Orders were placed on the phone or by mail, hence the information paths were relatively slow (a human being has to answer the
108 Mitchell et al. (2011), p. 52.
109 Broman et al. (2009), p. 31.

phone call, so ordering by phone is slow compared to the 24-7 availability of internet orders). The distribution of information also was far less efficient in those times. Potential record buyers could only rely on the radio and the (local) music press to catch up on new releases and artists, thus their choices were naturally limited to the records promoted in their area – unless they had the connections, the means and the nerve to order magazines and catalogues from overseas and wait several weeks for them. As a result, it was quite likely that "an artist who did not enjoy media coverage or whose releases did not have wide distribution would practically be non-existent for the listeners."110
Nowadays, these information paths only take milliseconds – initiated for instance by clicking on a "buy"-button in an online store or on an auction site, or by sending an email to a record dealer via their website. The geographic barriers have also been defied; the most obscure releases from faraway countries are known to an ever larger audience. As a result, the range of obscure records is diminishing. The special knowledge about those records, formerly known to experts only, is now collected in databases, forums, blogs and other types of websites, and thus is readily available to virtually everyone interested.
Concerning the forums frequented by the tribe members, four recurring reasons for utilizing them were identified by Broman and Söderlindh, namely "interaction, information, inspiration, and transaction."111 "Interaction" represents the social interaction between the members, "inspiration" is associated with musical preferences, i.e. the mere content of a record, "information" comprises facts about records, artists, producers, labels, etc., and "transaction" means selling and trading records from private collections.
All of Broman's and Söderlindh's interviewees confirmed
"that the Internet has changed the way they buy, compare, and find information about vinyl records. It has brought the group closer together, and facilitated the exchange of both records and information. … The dynamics of the network facilitates the information-seeking process, and appears to allow for all network members to benefit from the interaction."112
Thus, the internet has become an important instrument for the social and commercial processes within the vinyl tribe, connecting collectors and enthusiasts.
110 Patokos (2008), p. 235 et seq.
111 Broman et al. (2009), p. 19.
112 Broman et al. (2009), p. 26 et seq.

3.4 The Online Collectors' Market
The collectors' scene experienced some significant changes in recent years. The general vinyl hype that is now occurring contributes to its growth. More often, young people are attracted to this hobby. And like the number of vinyl collectors, vinyl prices are constantly rising. During the late 1980s and 90s, new and used vinyl records became cheaper. Having switched to CDs, a lot of people saw vinyl as outmoded. In contrast, the last few years have shown a price explosion for vintage records exceeding all expectations.
Long before this, there already had been lists and books with price estimations of rare records. Notable works are the "1001 Record Collector Dreams" series by collector-icon Hans Pokora (started in the year 2000; the last issue being "6001 Record Collector Dreams" from 2010)113, and "Scented Gardens of the Mind" (2000) by Dag Erik Asbjornsen, which also retails for high prices itself by now. Some of these books are not very accurate anymore though, as the market has changed dramatically since their release. Especially, beat and psychedelic records from the 1960s and 70s, as well LPs with progressive rock and "kraut-rock" (a special form of progressive rock that originated in Germany), sell for record prices these days.
Serving as an example for these developments, the first press of the debut album of the British group Caravan, that was estimated at 200 to 350 DM (ca. £72 to £126 / $116 to $203) by Pokora in the year 2000114, and had soared up to £942 (ca. $1,405) by 2009115.
In addition to all the rediscovered rarities, there are highly sought-after first issues by well-known groups like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, or Pink Floyd, which had always been relatively expensive, but are now sold for four- to five-figure amounts. Thus, rare vinyl records that used to be a collector's gem with mainly sentimental value are now more often becoming a capital investment.
During the last decade, the expansion of the internet has contributed to the increase of record prices more than any other factor. In the early days of vinyl collecting, price lists were only available through printed guides, which were updated far less often. Nowadays, this happens automatically and in real time.
113 cf. Breznikar (2012).
114 cf. Pokora (2000), p. 63.

The demand for collectible vinyl records is increasing all around the world; and through the internet, collectors and dealers have access to a global market for records that has no impediments in the form of geographic barriers, time zones or currency exchange issues. The aggregation of the global demand and spending power into a single, highly dynamic market almost naturally leads to higher prices; especially as a result of hypes or fads relating to certain genres or record labels. The communicative character of the so-called "Web 2.0" plays a key role in the dispersal and enhancement of these hypes; be it through emails, chats, forums, or – as is the current trend – through social networks such as Facebook or Twitter. The internet has completely changed, if not revolutionized the experience of "crate digging", "an old school hip-hop term for musicians who spend hours flipping through boxes of faded and dog-eared sleeves, looking for the elusive cut that will become the centrepiece of their collection."116
Nowadays, many people prefer ordering items from services like Amazon to going to an actual shop themselves. It saves them time and money through the opportunity to compare prices from a vast number of suppliers, and not having to leave the house. Also, they can buy goods from virtually any place in the world, and are hardly limited in their choices compared to pre-internet times. For the same reasons, the mail-order section of vinyl sales has expanded dramatically. A lot of these sales take place on eBay, which as the undisputed monopolist of online auction and resale sites, is highly attractive to sellers. It offers the exact conditions described above. Alongside eBay, several sales platforms specialized in vinyl records and related products have established themselves; most notably musicstack.com, cdandlp.com, eil.com, gemm.com and discogs.com.
The latter also serves as an informational database, with detailed information on vinyl- and CD-releases of virtually every imaginable artist. On discogs, as well as on the comparably popular record database-website rateyourmusic.com, registered users can add the record data sets to lists that represent their actual collection, or records they are still looking for; or, add information about records from their collection that are still missing in the database. Especially, professional collectors benefit a lot from these databases, as they provide information on the differences between certain releases of a record that can be crucial in buying decisions and be of help on the hunt for collectibles.
116 Soteriou (2013).

Research of the Current Status of Vinyl Records in Context of the Internet

Research of the Current Status of Vinyl Records in Context of the Internet

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Research of the Current Status of Vinyl Records in Context of the Internet

Similar to Research of the Current Status of Vinyl Records in Context of the Internet (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Research of the Current Status of Vinyl Records in Context of the Internet