Has vinyl become a luxury good?

[tomfs]

A relevant meme:

For my band, vinyl is a very important medium as a lot of people still collect physical releases within that genre (metal). The lead times on pressing are a killer though - 6+ months currently and we’ve seen plenty of bands end up with no copies on release day despite planning well ahead.

It’s going to have to change at some point, but I do enjoy collecting a physical thing and for some reason vinyl just appeals way more than CDs. I have started collecting a lot more cassettes recently though.

Have there ever been attempts to find a less harmful substance to use instead of vinyl? Tried googling a bit but haven’t found anything yet.

[ghostbuddy]

@Fin25

It’s not about how bad it is compared to other things. That sort of whataboutery ends in no-one doing anything because something is always worse. Personally, I’ve decided to consume music in the least environmentally damaging way I can, along with not using my car if I don’t have to and only eating meat occasionally and all the other choices I make to lessen my impact.

I’m not knocking on anybodys life choices, and actually felt like editing my reply away since it was needlessly argumentative. THAT SAID discussing the impact of our choices regarding the enviroment is really the only way to actually make a change. Not talking of anyone in this thread specifically, but people in general choose to lessen their enviromental impact by dropping or refraining from things they don’t really feel that passionate about to begin with, even if said things were really insignificant for lessening your enviromental impact. If the vinyl industry was wiped off the face of the earth, that plastic would just go to a different use, possibly for something people don’t care enough to keep for decades. Looking at what’s actually a HUGE issue regarding the enviroment, for example, is fast food and other single use plastic packaging that as you said, gets shipped to 3rd world countries and subsequently dumped into the ocean.

The fact that we’re all talking about this & you guys have stopped buying vinyl at least partly because it’s not enviromentally friendly shows that we care, but at the same time it doesn’t really change anything if the things we do are insignificant.

[Strutter]

I love vinyls and want to be on vinyl. Cassettes are cool too. They sound better than files and the act of listening to them is more meaningful and fun to me.

[Strangelov3]

Not sure what is meant by luxury. I interpret it as non essential.
Being born in the early 70s I grew up on vinyl records. Since the 80s I have collected possibly a thousand or so records. Inherited my moms eclectic vinyls, my uncles jazz hoard among my own treasures from dusty digs.

I’m down to about 6 crates and firmly in the non essential camp. Had a bunch stolen, sold many, and gifted many more. I’ll still occasionally buy a few but always for a bargain and mainly for sampling. I used to go fkn hunting for records. Devoting entire weekends for digs… estate sales, garage sales, out of state record stores and so on. The “free” time that once seemed abundant is expensive af these days, which equates to very little time for the hobby though it remains my preferred method of sampling. I get valuable inspiration from that process…

My kids have appreciation for the music I play but the medium seems ridiculous to them. Even my large leather bound CD collection is silly to them. Wait til they see my cassette collection which I left with folks overseas lol. Non tangible digital is what they consume and it fits the paradigm they understand. Open app, click button, reward. I often do the same, but old ways offer more reward to my soul. Still though, non essential.

[Fin25]

@ghostbuddy

people in general choose to lessen their enviromental impact by dropping or refraining from things they don’t really feel that passionate about to begin with

The flip side of this is that a lot of people are very protective of the harmful things they are passionate about and tend to see the damage it does as less relevant than other things, which may or may not be the case.

[Microtribe]

Cant over look it.

The plural of vinyl is vinyl .

Plural of record, is records.

Eg, I have many 7 inch records at home
Or, my friend Stuart has a room full of vinyl, at least half of it is just singles by The Fall.

[Fin25]

@Microtribe

at least half of it is just singles by The Fall.

What do you mean, just?

[Microtribe]

I got in a fight with Mark E Smith’s son once, went clubbing with the drummer and bass player after. Back in the days when the pills were still good. True story.

[Alienna]

[Strangelov3]

I know this… I would never speak it this way. I do like writing it though. Couldn’t tell ya why.

[Alienna]

I am a hardcore second hand vinyl collector,
the last phew months I notice on discogs that some prices are really getting out of control,
But I love my collection, I really do, and will never stop digging

[muzka]

I wish I had the patience to sell mine on discogs but I always did bulk sales of 1000 to get a quick sale. Would have got so much more on discogs but it would have been a slow process and many trips to the post office

[acidhouseforall]

@Fin25

Personally, I’ve decided to consume music in the least environmentally damaging way I can

That’s an interesting topic, maybe for another thread, but my question would be how is dematerialized music least damaging to the environment ? If all your music is sitting on some personal hard drives at home then I’d say yes, it’s pretty obvious a single (or two, or three) drive is least damaging than a 10k records collection like some of us enjoy. Where it’s not so obvious is when you take into account the music that is “in the cloud”. Servers, network transfers, etc.

Everything is wrong obviously, and we should all kill ourselves to save the planet.

[sndrsklr]

@ghostbuddy

but at the same time it doesn’t really change anything if the things we do are insignificant.

Imho that’s the wrong way to think about it. Everything we do is significant as none of us has the means to reach millions of people it’s the small things we do in our everyday lifes that start a change. In a society that is driven by profit it won’t happen that „the leaders“ will inspire change before it‘s too late.

I sold most of my record collection because I just don’t have the time anymore to listen to that much music and funded new gear with it which brings me more joy than spinning records at this point in my life. And with growing interest in vinyl it’s obvious that prices go up. But we surely don’t need the 100th reissue of an album you can buy for some pennies at a flea market just because record store day is happening yet again.

It’s a nice medium and I still love the handling of it but for me the negative aspects outweigh the positive ones and so I made the choice to not buy any new records anymore unless it’s something very special to me.

[Fin25]

@acidhouseforall

Everything is wrong obviously, and we should all kill ourselves to save the planet.

This.

Seriously though, I avoid streaming too and, to be fair, my music consumption is mostly limited to downloading a few things off bandcamp now and again.

[Alienna]

just part of my collection, and they are still used in sets, don’t know why exactly but they make me feel more comfortable to play with. Maybe getting old

[ghostbuddy]

@sndrsklr

Imho that’s the wrong way to think about it. Everything we do is significant as none of us has the means to reach millions of people it’s the small things we do in our everyday lifes that start a change. In a society that is driven by profit it won’t happen that „the leaders“ will inspire change before it‘s too late.

Sure, but if the small thing you choose to change doesn’t really change anything, well what difference does it make, then? You might feel better I guess. Instagram points?

[sndrsklr]

If it improves my way of living/quality of life then that’s enough for me.

[Alienna]

@insect

But would be great to find a solution for using “used vinyls” to press new vinyls like with the glas bottles.

100 %

[monomatik]

@acidhouseforall

Everything is wrong obviously, and we should all kill ourselves to save the planet.

The planet will be fine, we’re the ones who are screwed.

But I agree with @sndrsklr that any even small effort to change is significant.