Feature: The new generation of audiophiles falling in love with vinyl records

Sixty years after Keith Richards spotted Mick Jagger at Dartford railway station with a stack of blues records tucked under his arm, vinyl is enjoying a renaissance. And it’s not just crusty Rolling Stones-era audiophiles getting their sticky fingers on the black platters, but a new generation of music lovers that stream songs on the go and listen to records at home. Last year, Australians spent $29.3 million on new release vinyl, skyrocketing 32 per cent on 2019 and putting the format on track to eclipse CD sales this year. There’s every chance that vinyl, which couldn’t crack a million dollars in sales a decade ago when CDs dominated, may have already passed the shiny discs for the first time since the 1980s. The biggest surprise for lovers of old-school records devoted to the tactile experience — coloured vinyl, gatefold sleeves and lengthy liner notes, not to mention the perceived “warmer” sound — is that last year CDs still managed to shift $30.6 million in this country. The global vinyl revival is already in full swing, with Recording Industry Association of America data for 2020 showing vinyl albums made up 62 per cent, or $300 million, of total physical revenue in the US. Like the mullet, vinyl is back — ARIA even reinstated a dedicated vinyl album chart two years ago. Last year, Tame Impala topped the list by selling around 130,000 copies of their latest album, The Slow Rush. The Fremantle-based psych-rockers’ 2015 chart-topping release Currents was No. 6 on the 2020 vinyl chart, nestled between hit albums from global superstars Billie Eilish and Harry Styles. Tame Impala manager Jodie Regan said that all the bands on her label Spinning Top love vinyl. “And their fans love vinyl,” she said. “It is very important for us to have vinyl with every release.” Regan said that before Kevin Parker and co earned global fame and acclaim with Currents, the band would sell around half vinyl, half digital, “which was pretty astounding ... Tame has always been a big vinyl-selling act”. The vinyl top 10 also featured Powderfinger, Kylie Minogue, AC/DC, Queen and Nirvana, while another WA band, Spacey Jane, fell just outside with their debut smash Sunlight. The hit list is an eclectic but accurate snapshot of what your typical crate-digger might buy — something old, something new, something second-hand and an Aussie album or two. South Fremantle music lover Luke Walkey was 16 when a neighbour gave him his well-preserved record collection, which featured classics from the Rolling Stones, Blondie, Bob Dylan and, most notably, Led Zeppelin. “I was a massive fan as a teenager, I still am,” the 29-year-old says of the mighty Zep. “He gave me five out of their eight studio albums. I was like, ‘This is a dream come true’.” While Mr Walkey had accumulated a few CDs, he stopped buying them and doesn’t even have anything to play them on these days. He buys a mix of new and classic albums, including a few imported from the UK, and uses ubiquitous streaming service Spotify out of the house. “I might buy five or six really good albums that came out in a year,” he says. “I’ve only recently started getting into second hand because there’s so much good stuff out there. Before I only wanted new, so I knew it was in good condition. Now I’m happy to collect older ones as well.” Recent purchases range from New Order’s 1989 album Technique to UK electronic newcomers W.H. Lung. The most he has paid for an album is $75 for American prog-rockers Tool’s 2001 effort Lateralus. He likes to support lesser known bands by buying vinyl and merchandise direct from their websites. Mr Walkey loves the tactile nature of vinyl, and admits an attractive package can sway him to part with his hard-earned. “I know certain labels do coloured vinyl and I am more likely to buy it, because they look pretty cool,” he says. But he’s not a purist or audiophile, spending up big on expensive stereo equipment. Nor does he subscribe to the belief vinyl sounds better than digital. “Everyone says there’s that nice low buzz you get with using a turntable, which I get,” Mr Walkey muses. “I just don’t think it’s better. I’m not under any illusion that it’s better.” Dylan Sainsbury agrees. Which sounds like a potentially costly thing to admit given he owns Leederville record store Vinyl Cafe and is a director of international pressing agents XVinylX. “I don’t think it sounds best,” he says. “But it does have its own unique sound that people tend to like. It’s got a warmer sort of sound. It’s different.” Like Mr Walkey, Mr Sainsbury reckons records are more about the entire package. “It’s a nice thing to own. A CD doesn’t have the same impact,” he adds. “With a record you’ve got beautiful artwork, often coloured vinyl and a lot more information about the artist in the liner notes.” Vinyl records are far more collectable. “They hold their value. There are collectors probably sitting on millions ... it’s a nice retirement plan.” While he opened Vinyl Cafe four years ago, Mr Sainsbury has sold vinyl for the best part of a decade and he’s never sold CDs. “When I started JB Hi-Fi barely sold records. Amazon wasn’t such a big thing. Now we’re competing with those big players because they’ve moved in on it as well,” he says. “But there’s still enough customers around for everyone to survive — independents as well as the big corporations.” Perth has a thriving scene of specialist record stores, including fellow Leederville stalwarts Urban Records. Then there’s Safari’s Record Shack and Noise Pollution Records in Northbridge, the longstanding Dada Records in the city and Mills Records, Junction Records and The Record Finder in Fremantle. Mr Sainsbury’s brother owns Rhubarb Records in East Victoria Park, which has expanded to a second outlet in Mt Lawley. Even though some of those stores diversify — Vinyl Cafe is a licensed restaurant with a barbershop in the back — there seems to be enough buyers to go around. Speaking the day after selling a second 1966 pressing of Beatles classic Revolver for a very reasonable $100, Mr Sainsbury says his customers are mostly “people in their 40s that never gave up collecting vinyl” and “people in their 20s and late teens” starting their collections. The average price for a record is around $30-$40, but rare or special releases can go for 10 times or more north of that, he said. In fact, one of the most expensive records he has sold was from Perth rockers Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, whose manager Murray Curnow described fans splurging $400-$500 for their limited releases as “madness”. “Vinyl is one of the lifebloods for us to be able to tour internationally,” he explains. “We noticed that with the first record’s initial pressings being so small, 150 to 250 copies, that they started to attract a value as a commodity for new fans discovering the band. “When we first toured the UK and Europe we combined the first two records together and that pressing mitigated the expense of touring.” Crumpets fans now snap up limited runs of 1000 “splatter” vinyl pressings. “The nicer the vinyl looks, the more limited it is, the more excited the fans get,” Mr Curnow says. “The vinyl resurgence is definitely well and truly under way, and it’s encouraging.” That’s the good news. However, the vinyl revival has created growing demand that the small numbers of pressing plants around the world are struggling to meet. Even before coronavirus, there were waits of around six to eight weeks for records to be pressed and delivered. Now, a six-month turnaround is typical and the freight costs are extreme — the bill for shipping 2000 copies of one recent Psychedelic Porn Crumpets album from Europe to Australia came in at an eye-watering $13,000. “It’s probably a third of the total cost of production,” said Mr Sainsbury, who co-owns XVinylX, which has offices in Perth, Portland and Prague. The agency, which has a pressing plant in the Czech Republic, covers Europe, the US and Australia, mostly for independent labels plus the occasional major label release. Able to produce box sets, gatefold sleeves and even holographic records, XVinylX ships direct to the customer to save time and money. Mr Sainsbury and his partners have looked at opening a pressing plant in Perth, but decided the market isn’t big enough and the costs would simply switch to shipping out of WA to interstate and overseas customers. Australia only has a few pressing plants. Zenith Records was joined in Melbourne earlier this year by Program Records. The country’s first new pressing plant in 30 years is already swamped with orders. The 20 or so pressing plants in the US have reportedly stopped taking new orders. Spinning Top label manager Kristy Pinder says getting records pressed and then getting them home is a huge headache. “The cost of shipping has at least doubled since COVID-19 as both commercial and cargo flights were impacted.” The top independent record label works the six-month production turnaround into their release schedule and tries to minimise shipping costs and delays by “split pressing” records in different countries for the likes of GUM, Peter Bibby and Haiku Hands. “This means two sets of pressing plants to manage manufacturing through, and double the cost for plates, artwork templates and test pressings,” Ms Pinder says. Organising the manufacture of records is such a big job that Spinning Top recently recruited a “vinyl broker” to negotiate with overseas pressing plants on their behalf. It’s a bizarre full circle that the humble 45rpm has gone through since the first long-play record was made by CBS in 1948. After decades of dominance the vinyl record was almost killed by the CD, kept alive by DJs and then strangely revitalised around the same time digital music streaming made more than 70 million songs instantly available via our phones. Even though streaming is king — worth $445 million, or 82 per cent of the $542 million overall music market in Australia last year — the humble platter is back on high rotation. Talk about turning the tables. ARIA TOP SELLING VINYL ALBUMS 2020 1. Tame Impala: The Slow Rush 2. Powderfinger: Odyssey Number 5, 20th Anniversary Edition 3. Queen: Greatest Hits 4. AC/DC: PWR/UP 5. Billie Eilish: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? 6. Tame Impala: Currents 7. Harry Styles: Fine Lines 8. Tyler, The Creator: Igor 9. Kylie Minogue: Disco 10. Nirvana: Nevermind