Am I Only Streaming?

at

This afternoon.

Dublin Vinyl – Ireland’s ‘state-of-the-art and only record pressing plant’ – have launched The Record Hub, “an online record store designed to help music lovers new and old discover the joy of vinyl.

Hugh Scully writes:

A timely move, the launch of The Record Hub sees the vinyl revival in full rotation, with records set to outsell CDs for the first time since 1986 and global sales of vinyl the highest they’ve been in 30 years.

In Ireland alone, the past few years alone have seen huge growth, with vinyl record sales worth just €500,000 in 2014 and this year they are on target to hit over €5 million.

The Record Hub is the essential vinyl-only online store, promising to be ‘everyone’s local record shop’ and will sell everything from catalogue classics to forgotten gems, new releases, exclusives and accessories.

Free shipping is offered on all orders over €35.

Through its website, The Record Hub will offer advice and guidance on everything from album reviews to setting up a turntable and choosing the best speakers….

In fairness.

The Record Hub

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15 thoughts on “Am I Only Streaming?

  1. Slightly Bemused

    Very interesting, and I wish them all the best for it.

    I wonder, do all the original masters for the initial pressings of all the great albums still exist, somewhere perhaps in a studio’s basement gathering dust? If so, and with the relevant studio’s permission, of course, I wonder if they could re-issue some of the best albums of all time.

    Or is that what they mean by ‘catalogue classics’?

  2. Tomm

    Vinyl never went away and was the format of choice for underground electronic music. Now they are finding it really hard to access presses as swathes of toss pots are demanding some banal “classic” represses to basically use as furniture in their home.

      1. Tomm

        Completely different hobbies. One is music and performance based. The other is an attempt to manufacture an interesting personality.

        1. pedeyw

          You’re presuming so much there. I will try to buy an album I like on vinyl because I like listening to it on vinyl and I like to support whatever band or artist it happens to be. Electronic music doesn’t own Vinyl. The answer to your problem is not being a knob about other people’s interests, it’s making more pressing plants which a greater interest will inevitably lead to.

        2. pedeyw

          Also, “the other is an attempt to manufacture an interesting personality” could easily be thrown back at you, tbh. It’s a nasty dismissive contempt for anyone with a different taste to your own.

          1. Tomm

            Seems I’ve touched a nerve.

            There is no capacity to just open more presses for many complicated reasons. Unfortunately now labels that have kept vinyl alive for the past 20 years are now struggling to get pressings for interesting forward thinking music.

  3. Joxer

    this is the link to the Subscription service/Club thing : https://lovesvinyl.com/

    Slightly bemused. The majors would have most of their catalogues stored and either crank them out periodically or licence them to others to re-issue. Most Albums from late sixties to now would have been curated carefully. The gas thing is that in the 8ts most of the catalogues were released on CD hence a lot of digitising happened and made it easier to store.

    if you are looking to buy classics then head over to Discogs.com and you most likely will find what you are looking for

    1. Slightly Bemused

      Thanks, Joxer! I appreciate that response. It was that electronic is easier to store made me fear for the physical masters, and even perhaps the original multi-track tapes to which things were recorded. With so many organisations such as RTE and BBC reusing tape and dumping what are now priceless originals I was curious how the music industry may have approached it.

      I have no issue with listening to CDs – indeed I have what I consider a rather good and eclectic selection – but my first purchase was a vinyl single, and I was brought up on my Dad’s collection (ABBA, Vicky Leandros, various Greek artists, and a sublime recording of Duke Ellington on shellac, to name a few. He also had Joe Dolan, but I will forgive him that). Strangely it is as much the tactile experience of setting up the record on the player as it is the sound that appeals to me.

      I previously posted that the ABBA song SuperTrouper got me through some bad times. I have to say it was not just the song, but the ritual of turning on the player (my brother’s AIWA multi system), taking the record out, ensuring I held it right, cleaning it down and then starting it before sitting down under headphones that were way too big for me that helped.
      The clarity of CD and later digital formats does not bother me, but when I was stressed, I knew every single hiss and bump of that record, and they helped lull me into a calm that could face the rest of the day.

  4. A Pop Fan's Dream

    “By the end of this year, vinyl is set to outsell CDs for the first time since 1986.” – this is misleading as it relates to revenue rather than units sold. In some instances the price of a new LP is 2.5 times that of its CD equivalent. In the UK during 2019, CD sales were c.23.0m vs 4.9m LPs.

    I buy both formats but people shouldn’t be in a rush to bin the CD just yet.

    1. Slightly Bemused

      ” In some instances the price of a new LP is 2.5 times that of its CD equivalent”

      I remember when it was the other way round, pretty much!

      1. A Pop Fan's Dream

        Same here. My first CD was Pet Shop Boys – Please. Cost £18.99 in 1986. I also bought the LP which was a mere £7.99. Fast forward 30 years and their album Super was €26 with the CD costing half that.

  5. Catherine Vaughan

    I’ll probably stick to buying my music (both Vinyl and CD) from my favourite bricks and mortar independent record shop, but might dip in here from time to time.

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