The beat goes on in Durham Region
Vinyl records, once viewed as obsolete, now enjoying a renaissance
Al Rivett and Mike Ruta
The report of my death was an exaggeration. Mark Twain.
He harks back to 2007, when it seemed almost inevitable the LP (short for long-playing records) was headed for the scrap bin, joining the likes of the long-obsolete eight-track. That year, Mr. Star said, only about 1,500 titles were put out by music companies on vinyl as the corporations continued to reel from sliding compact disc sales and digital downloads, much of which were of the illegal, free variety.
Instead of the death of vinyl, however, the exact opposite transpired.
Steady growth in pressings and sales occurred over the ensuing three years, with Mr. Star noting more than 10,000 titles have been released in the LP format so far this year.
Surprised? Even for the most die-hard of vinyl enthusiasts, it was an astonishing turnaround.
"That shocks me. I can't believe they're making so many," said Mr. Star, whose Star Records has been a fixture in Oshawa for the past 36 years. "I didn't think it would come back, but they're putting them out full blast now.
"I thought in the late 1990s and the early 2000s (the record companies) were going to kill it off, but they didn't for some reason. It just blows me away how many new albums are coming out (on vinyl) each week."
And, it's not just indy bands that have led vinyl's resurgence by putting out their music in the format, said Mr. Star. The super-groups -- from Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, The Doors and The Rolling Stones -- are re-mastering and re-issuing their back catalogues on vinyl.
Many of today's more high-profile bands -- from Them Crooked Vultures to The Foo Fighters -- have also joined the fray and are releasing their latest musical offerings on vinyl. Both groups' albums, said Mr. Star, are among his best sellers.
Why has vinyl records come back so strongly in bucking the trend of digital downloads and compact discs?
Mr. Star said what's old is definitely new again with the music-buying public. The vinyl loyalists have definitely kept the format from disappearing and, now, even the younger generation are buying into vinyl's warm sound.
"I think there are a lot of people who are dedicated to buying vinyl albums and there's the love of collecting certain artists on vinyl. If there's 10 albums by Neil Young (on vinyl), they want to keep buying them."
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Connor Steele definitely isn't your typical vinyl record collector. He doesn't fit the profile of someone who's a mature adult who has grown up collecting vinyl. He's only 12.
"I like to collect LPs because they're old and they have a lot of meaning to me," said the Brooklin resident, who was browsing over the selection at Star Records with his father one summer afternoon.
"I can keep them forever and I can pass them on to my children. Instead of downloading music, this is the real thing; the quality is better."
Currently, he's got more than 200 LPs and upwards of 450 12-inch singles, mostly in the pop musical genre. His favourite musician is the late Michael Jackson, although he also owns a number of R and B and soul albums.
He's happy vinyl is making a strong comeback among music aficionados.
"I think the LP should be popular again," he said. "For my dad, it brings back a lot of memories looking through his albums."
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Whitby resident and Lighthouse singer Dan Clancy has around 1,000 albums and says vinyl's popularity is on the upswing.
"There's a resurgence of vinyl in the last three or four years and a lot of the new bands are releasing albums on vinyl first," he says.
Clancy, long before his Lighthouse days, got his first record in one of those pay-a-penny-and-get-your-first-10-albums deals. Ironically, it was Lighthouse's One Fine Morning and for some strange reason he received two copies.
While nostalgia, clinging to the past, might account for the renewed interest in vinyl, at least for older rockers, it doesn't explain why Clancy's son, Devin, 19, a musician himself, has a turntable and records.
"I just think that the state the business is in right now has opened up so many opportunities for musicians," Clancy says. "Everybody's listening to everything."
He notes that "there's a newfound appreciation for the artwork" on albums.
Finally, Clancy says in the case of himself and his son, it's neat to be able to share music he grew up with, and the medium in which it was presented is a major part of the experience.
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Through the ups and downs of the music retail business, Mr. Star has stayed true to vinyl. He's a throwback, a rebel, with his Oshawa store's front door emblazoned with the Confederate flag.
"I still enjoy music and I have a love for vinyl," he said matter-of-factly. "Once they stop buying music and I stop enjoying music, it will be over. That's just the way it is."
SOURCE: http://newsdurhamregion.com Copyright Metroland 2010 Reprinted by Permission
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