Vinyl! Have the tables turned? Return of the Turntables
My interest in this topic began towards the end of 2014, while at the School of Graduate Studies, Canadian University Dubai, after reading an article on the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) website — I call this T ake #1 — and subsequently decided to share this with my MBA students in Dubai as part of their exam case study for Marketing Management (see the scenario analysis further down in this post).
On my return to the UK, I became involved in the course leadership of the MBA as well as module leadership of an undergraduate module on Brand Management — where there was a topic on “managing brands over time.” Talking about this notion of remaining relevant over time, the usual suspect were, of course the likes of Rolex and its mantra/ slogan — doesn’t just tell time, it tells history. This was another walk down memory lane for me — I would call this Take #2.
Take #3, however, came only on the night of St Patrick’s Day, as I picked up a free copy of the London Evening Standard, which has become a ritual since my relocation to the English capital. Easy to miss, but a column inconspicuously tucked away within this widely circulated, and yes, free daily, reawakened my pondering on retro brands (such as vinyl, albeit initially at the industry level). This all changed, however, as business level players were contextualised by one Frankie McCoy (see the London Evening Standard, 2016, p. 37). In that article McCoy started off with a hard hitting background commentary:
Forget iTunes — hipsters and suburban dads alike are listening to their banging tunes and sick beats on vinyl — hell, last year even Tesco started selling LPs. Get into the groove with the best turntables.
With this out of the way, McCoy went on the provide a brief profile of the BIG FIVE in the trade — and how these notable players were reinventing what many had thought was a dead, at worst, or dying, at best, brand — i.e. vinyl. However the “Big Five” machines (at the firm level) are associated with the vinyl resuscitation (at the industry level). Top hitters on the list arranged in cost price terms include (McCoy, 2016: 37):
1. Audiowood Barky, £1,252 (see etsy.com)
2. Rega Planar 3, £550 ( theaudiobarn.co.uk)
3. Gramovox Floating Record, £280 ( gramovox.com)
4. Pro-ject Elemental, £159 ( richersounds.com)
5. Crosley Cruiser Rosebud, £100 ( urbanoutfitters.com)
Now to the scenario analysis I promised earlier. The brief I provided my MBA was based on a BBC report, which reported that more than one million vinyl records had been sold in the UK before the end of 2014 — the first time the milestone has been achieved since 1996. The figures marked a largely unexpected resurgence in an industry now considered to be dominated by digital. Only recently Pink Floyd’s, “The Endless River,” became the fastest-selling vinyl release since 1997. The Official Chart Company told the BBC it will soon launch a weekly vinyl chart. Quoting Martin Talbot, MD of the company:
“ in an era when we’re all talking about digital music, the fact that these beautiful physical artefacts are still as popular as they are, is fantastic […] It’s really remarkable. We’re seeing it come back as a significant earner for the music industry as well. Only five years ago this business was worth around £3m a year. This year it’s going to be worth £20m …”
However, music industry officials acknowledged that vinyl will likely remain of a “niche interest.” Pink Floyd’s accolade as the fastest-selling vinyl release this century came thanks to just 6,000 sales — a tiny amount in comparison to the numbers amassed by competing digital formats — one example, being the One Direction’s surpassing of the one billion total streams on music service Spotify, compared with the one million milestone for vinyl sales. Perhaps fittingly, the best-selling vinyl in that period was David Bowie’s album, Nothing Has Changed — with total figures expected to rise to around 1.2 million with Christmas sales.
According to Gennaro Castaldo from music industry body the BPI (British Phonographic Industry):
“… most of us did write off vinyl […] Whilst the candle flickered and nearly went out… it didn’t entirely go out.” Castaldo adds, “I think the start of the 2000 period, a few rock bands came along — The Killers, Arctic Monkeys — it’s helped made vinyl cool again.”
As Castaldo put it (see David Lee, BBC, 27 November 2014):
“… the difference between vinyl and other formats is that it’s viewed as an art form, really — the audio quality, the sleeve notes, the cover art. Whilst other formats are being superseded every time technology improves, vinyl doesn’t really fit into that category because it’s more than that.”
There are two distinct groups to the vinyl debate — hipster versus warmth (or cold versus cool, if you like).
On the one hand, and taken, from the hipster slant, going by the words of individuals interviewed by the BBC, one generation, which grew up with vinyl, liked to keep increasing their record collection by continuing to buy music in that format. Meanwhile, a younger generation has adopted vinyl as an antidote to the own-nothing trend of services like iTunes and Spotify. As one shopper at Rough Trade East, a popular record store off Brick Lane in East London, “ I think it’s sort of a hipster thing […] Things that were cool decades ago, but fell out of fashion, are making a comeback.”
On the other hand, and talking about the warmth element, Nigel House, co-founder of the Rough Trade retail chain, despite his reservations about the cost of vinyl, did welcome the resurgence, even if, as he put it, it was a drop in the ocean of overall sales. According to him:
Certain styles of music, they need that warmth. They need that feeling. Soul, reggae, hip-hop, even punk — they sound so much better on vinyl.
“ Some records, I like the way they degrade. It’s like a photograph fading, it’s part of the whole beauty of vinyl.”
He also expressed his reservations to the BBC over what he thought of big record labels, pouncing on vinyl because it has become fashionable. Quoting a survey published in April 2014, by the ICM Group, “ 15% of physical music — whether vinyl, CD or, less likely, tape — was bought with no intention of ever listening to it.”
To wrap up the post I would leave you with one of the questions my MBA students needed to debate — At what stage of the product life cycle (PLC) would you place vinyl? Justify your answer by explaining the key features of the PLC, and in relation to other music formats?
*Note: My indicative answers would come in my follow-up post, but in the mean time, your comments would be most appreciated.
Sources:
Lee, D. (BBC, 27 November 2014) Vinyl record sales hit 18-year high. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30216638
McCoy, F. (London Evening Standard, 17 March 2016) London’s best record players, p. 37
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
