Why Is Vinyl So Expensive? Indie Music Minute

Рет қаралды 13,342

4 жыл бұрын

Vinyl is the hottest physical product out in the market, and it’s seeing strong continued growth. Fans LOVE it - their eyes light up when they see a 12” record for sale on a band’s merch table.
But vinyl is expensive to make. This stops most independent artists from releasing their music on vinyl records. That may be a mistake.
I explain why vinyl is so expensive to make, and give you some estimates of what a small run of vinyl costs and how many records you need to sell to get your money back. Check it out:
I’m pleased to let you know Disc Makers recently shortened our turn time on vinyl manufacturing to 7 weeks. (Yes, it’s still a long time, but there continues to be SO much demand for vinyl that there are long waits at every pressing plant.) And we are continuing to work on speeding up delivery times even further.
If you’re considering a vinyl project you can get an immediate custom quote here, or just call us Monday at 1-800-468-9353.
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Пікірлер: 47

@lloydtownsend9460 4 жыл бұрын

Back in the days when new vinyl presses were still being made, records came off the press at $2 or less. Plants had dozens of lines running. Too bad so many of those were junked when the CD supposedly made the LP obsolete.

@tonyvv 4 жыл бұрын

Back in the day the order quantities used to be much bigger. I remember back in the late 80's we used to sell 1000 vinyl records for $3 a piece. Today, 30 years later, 1000 records still cost between $3.20 and $4 a piece. But artists want smaller runs, and then the price goes way up.

@chrisdunnettmusic 4 жыл бұрын

@@tonyvv But even at a larger run doesn't it still take the same amount of time (30 seconds) to press a record? If that's the case, you are still paying for the man power albeit a longer period of time so why does the cost drop so much then?

@tonyvv 4 жыл бұрын

@@chrisdunnettmusic Because the cost of lacquer masters and stampers gets spread out over 5x as many units, and the cost of jacket printing comes way down for each unit as well. At 200 units, the pressing itself is less than half the total price. You're mostly paying for set up fees and jackets. At 1000 units the setup fee stays the same, the cost per jacket goes down, AND the cost per pressing goes down slightly.

@chrisdunnettmusic 4 жыл бұрын

@@tonyvv ahhh yes that makes sense. Thanks

@imperialmusicentertainment9581 4 жыл бұрын

I feel vinyl price Will go down due to the fact that actual récord sails are starting to go up in diferent places

@bashcrash9148 4 жыл бұрын

This is an excellent informative video and answers so many questions. Thank you!

@larstu24 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the info, you learn something new every day. Great stuff.

@josexavierjr.5633 3 жыл бұрын

I get it, but the main reason vinyl is so expensive is that there aren't anywhere near the amount of record plants running as there were before the '90s. CDs prematurely killed off LPs. Most records stores in NYC were selling CDs in no time, making it harder to find new releases on vinyl.................. Now it's become a "premium" medium for hipsters, etc.... I'm glad I hung on to my LPs over the years, and my old Dual turntable from 1981!

@nathanielnicholson559 3 жыл бұрын

Being the youngest of 6 kids I, early on, became the curator of my siblings' records as well as having an early education on vinyl life. There isn't a day I don't look at my collection and appreciate that. We're a fortunate couple of dudes, Jose :)

@purple_dragon4895 3 жыл бұрын

i recently starting buying vinyl after collecting cd my whole life

@agnosobosovo9775 3 жыл бұрын

I started back in November. I know have like 100 Vinyl. Old and new

@louarmagno515 4 жыл бұрын

Tony, this was extremely educational and forthright! Thank a million for sharing your knowledge. Lou

@georgeanastasopoulos5865 4 жыл бұрын

Very enlightening, thumbs up.

@CeeStyleDj 4 жыл бұрын

If demand for vinyl has risen so much, and sales for vinyl has risen so much, why have prices remained stagnant? A report from CNBC taking data from eBay sales says that the average price of new vinyl increased something like over 400% from 2007 to 2017. Now that it's 2020, why aren't new records 13 bucks or so? If I can buy a brand new physical CD from eBay for 7.99 I think it's only fair that a new record should be $12-$15. And no, you can't use the excuse that CD sell more. Remember it's 2020. Hardly anyone buy CDs anymore. Also, a CD has more components to it's packaging. It has the outside plastic jewel case, the inside plastic shell, the booklet, and the CD itself. A vinyl record is just the vinylite and some cardboard paper.. I'm not buying the excuse from the manufacturers or labels. Sounds like corporate greed to me - and they are still treating vinyl as some expensive novelty. ( I'm not taking this out on the uploader at all! He is giving a calm and concise explanation. I'm just venting to the industry in general. - and to purchasers as well because they are being complacent instead of voicing their opinion on pricing.) Case in point - a record label in the UK recently publicly posted on their Twitter page that the prices of vinyl are ridiculous. That's cause some pressure in the Industry and prices went down in the UK. So what's up with the US?

@Williamadlam1 4 жыл бұрын

hello i prefer minidiscs or cds

@nellgwenn Жыл бұрын

Scalpers are also a big part of the problem. I remember bands complained about ticket scalping. Especially bands like the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. Well what do you expect when you allow people to buy 10 to 20 tickets at once. Of course they bought them to scalp them. And we would complain too because the tickets would be sold out before you had a chance to buy, even if you were standing in line. In the past you really didn't have to worry about that situation when it came to buying LPs. Now we do. I started buying Led zeppelin's super deluxe box sets. I can only afford to buy one at a time with Christmas money. Now I'm stuck. I need Houses of the Holy and the price for that is obscene. I'm not doing it. And I'm not getting a used one either.

@tonyvv Жыл бұрын

Scalping is not a factor in vinyl prices.

@jasondane4854 4 жыл бұрын

Hipsters with mommy and daddy's money driving prices up

@CeeStyleDj 4 жыл бұрын

That is definitely part of it. Companies think: "well, they seem to be willing to pay $28; let's keep it that way. That's BS. Spoiled or wealthy hipsters sometimes equate Price with Quality. Instead of using common sense and finding a record for $8, they will sometimes by the $30 record because it has a "perceived quality". Hate to come off cynical but I think one of the reasons why we're paying so much is because for lack of a better term, ignorant people don't know any better.

@Pauldjreadman 3 жыл бұрын

If vinyl was pressed as it was then prices will drop. I have bought big-name vinyls at £17 but no way would I buy a double black vinyl at £35. Many artists are pushing their prices up just for the sake of it and I'm not falling for it. What they are doing It's going ruin the market.

@freeman10000 3 жыл бұрын

Absolutely, vinyl will "return to the shadows" with such outrageous prices.

@pbenson56fran 4 жыл бұрын

Vinyl really wow! I have vinyl records from the pass. Wow!

@ejonesss 3 жыл бұрын

another thing that adds to the price is environmental costs. since vinyl is often a form of pvc there is heat applied witch releases toxic and poisonous fumes that the pressing house has to pay for in the form of a license or cap and trade . so to keep the costs down they could use a different kind of plastic that does not have toxic chemicals in it at the risk of catching fire because they also wouldnt have fire retardants either.

@warrendoris9669 4 жыл бұрын

$10 per bro! That is expensive, but you.re right_ vinyl is the.new thing again.😎

@freeman10000 3 жыл бұрын

I am sort of over vinyl. It is expensive and definitely doesn't sound as good as Compact Disc. Sure, I like the nostalgia and the ritual of playing records and I will still occasionally buy an LP for those reasons. However, records are becoming ridiculously expensive now and the quality of the sound just does not warrant the over the top expense when compared with CD's.

@JoeLaFon3 2 жыл бұрын

I get that. But it's really all about the mix. Alot of artists now especially the diy punk groups master specifically for vinyl and not digital or they do both. I seem to enjoy the mixed for vinyl over cd most of the time but I enjoy both

@AndrewWatson64 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the video. You explain the cost breakdown for small runs but that doesn't explain why large runs, such as Abba's new lp, cost £28 ($35?). Are they ripping us off?

@tonyvv Жыл бұрын

There's just kind of an established pricing structure for vinyl, and $25 to $35 is the range they retail for. It just means labels with longer vinyl runs make more profit than indie artists.

@aalfonso1981 Жыл бұрын

Vinyl is expensive because of the demand. That’s it

@tonyvv Жыл бұрын

I mean, at retail, yes. But I was talking about the cost for an artist to manufacture vinyl.

@legoboy-ox2kx 3 жыл бұрын

If you have a cult following as an artist, even just a few thousand fans, you'll easily sell 200 records for $25 or even $30 a piece.

@crazyprayingmantis5596 4 жыл бұрын

I don't understand the price difference which can sometimes be massive between two popular artists on big labels for just a run of the mill black single pressing. I also don't understand how I can buy a splattered limited edition press from a small independent band and label for less than say a copy of Queens greatest hits. My mind boggles.

@tonyvv 4 жыл бұрын

That's all about the margin the label/artist wants to make.

@crazyprayingmantis5596 4 жыл бұрын

@@tonyvv So the big labels/artists are the most greedy then

@tonyvv 4 жыл бұрын

@@crazyprayingmantis5596 Well... your words, not mine. They have more layers of cost to cover, that's for sure.

@crazyprayingmantis5596 4 жыл бұрын

@@tonyvv I watch a KZfaq channel of a record store that show all the new releases they get in and mention prices. The last one I watched they showed a double album for $19.95 later they showed another double album and it was $29.95 they both mentioned how strange it was the price difference and had confused looks on their faces. You can't justify that difference with 'layers of cost'. layers of cost is a fancy way of saying many people dipping into the ice cream taking their bit

@wanderingmirage 4 жыл бұрын

bad lighting but good info

@CardHandlers 3 жыл бұрын

Why is it so expensive? You're ripping people off. I know a manufacturer that charges $2.65 for a full color label, color inner and outer sleeve, wrapped in plastic and 180 grams.

@sabbathbloodysabbath3351 3 жыл бұрын

Which manufacturer is that? I'm thinking about a vinyl release for some of my own albums

@balconzone 3 жыл бұрын

Where,? And how many minimum qty,? I found one but to get 2.5 each you have to manufacture 2000 Vinyl. That is ,5.000$