Vinyl lovers spur new boom for old medium
Last Updated: Thursday, January 4, 2007 | 6:38 AM ET
CBC News
Independent and high-profile bands alike are competing for limited record-pressing resources in Edmonton, a sign that vinyl is in vogue again, says one record shop owner.
Rich Liukko, owner of Edmonton's Freecloud Records, says the kitsch factor associated with the old albums has given new life to the older medium.
"Indie bands around Edmonton used to put out records almost like vanity pressings," Liukko said. "Well, that's starting to get a lot harder to do, because the pressing plants are now pressing tonnes and tonnes of major-label vinyl again, which wasn't happening throughout the '90s."
Edmonton band Shout Out Out Out Out recently released a new CD and a set of vinyl singles. Frontman Nik Kozub says he finds vinyl appealing because it produces a warmer sound.
"A lot of the high frequencies that are on the CD version get rounded out a bit on the vinyl when they cut the plates for the vinyl. If there's too much really high-end sound or too much really, really low-end sound, it can make the needle jump around and your record can skip when you get them pressed," Kozub said.
"There are certain limitations to which frequency ranges can go on the vinyl … and that gives it that warmth that people are always talking about."
Late last year, Alan Levy, chairman and CEO of EMI Music, proclaimed the CD is dead. Levy said that recording companies should attempt to make CDs more appealing with value-added content, given the easy allure of digital music.
Liukko echoed Levy's sentiments, saying collectors have remained loyal to vinyl because it offers much more than CDs.
"CD's are little plastic things," he said. "The print on them is so tiny you have to squint to read it, the pictures are small. You buy a record, everything is a good print size, the pictures look fantastic, the artwork, the graphics, everything is just awesome."
Baby boomers buy back their pasts
Liukko says many baby boomers have arrived at his store in search of their once-prized music collections.
"A lot of older guys are coming in and saying that they got rid of their record collections when they were told that the CD was the definitive end of music and now they're coming back and buying their record collections back again," he said.
Many collectors say they're attracted to old albums for their history. A one-of-a-kind Velvet Underground recording fetched $25,200 US ($29,073) at auction last December.
"It's a piece of history that you're holding in your hands," Liukko says of old albums. "If you find an original copy of say the Beatles' first album, you have rock 'n' roll history in your hands. If you have the Beatles' first CD, you have 1986, and no one cares about 1986."
