by J. Michael Storey

Created on: September 19, 2008

I want to keep this short, because I believe the reason for the superiority of vinyl boils down to one easy to explain fact: it's harder to duplicate. There are a few other reasons like larger cover art, truer sound quality, limited colored editions, cost-effectiveness, but when it all comes down to it, it's just harder to steal from vinyl than from CDs.

I see the problem of mobility, the fact that almost no one has a working player, the unfortunate truth that finding a needle is harder than one might care to admit, but that's all business (and business can alter itself to adapt to change.) I think the innovation of offering a time-sensitive MP3 download to those who purchase the physical vinyl copy is great; by limiting the arenas your music is available makes it more valuable. I own a ton of limited edition vinyls, but only a few limited edition CDs.

Being a musician and a label owner, I love dealing with vinyl presses; I have yet to have a hard time dealing with them. They seem to truly love their jobs, their product, and their services. While I also press CDs, I have a much more difficult time with those presses. I also love the intimate details that go into making each record; you can't get the same vinyl twice. To me there is no debate...only logistics (which can be altered, as I stated earlier.)

I believe that, as cars progress, CDs will be phased out and MP3 player adapters will take over. With that simple fact, a dual-purchase like the one I mentioned above (vinyl and limited, time-sensitive MP3 downloads) would make a great team. It would be a very solid positive step in both a new and old direction that I feel would offer some comfort to the music industry itself. Most businessmen in this field gripe about the money factor: they are losing money every second of every day on CD sales, etc. Being that records cost less to press, and MP3s have virtually no overhead, labels stand to profit larger while charging less! What better situation to create than a win-win like this?

It doesn't shock me that most industry executives don't quite follow this logic; they haven't followed solid logic in nearly a decade. This is also a positive, as I believe that indie labels are the future of this business. If the majors refuse to acknowledge the overwhelming pros of this debate, and the indies keep pressing up vinyl and competing with majors online with MP3s, eventually this will pan out in favor of the 'little guys'. We're well overdue for the old fashioned label format anyway; what better way to start than by going, nearly, back to formula?!

I love talking vinyl, so please feel free to contact me to keep the topic alive. My contact information can be found on my profile right here on Helium.

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