Looks like pre order record prices are on the up.
In my local indie (always a couple of quid more than Amazon but they pay their taxes) I noticed that the new Bill Callahan (Double LP) is £33.99 while a couple of Thievery Corporation limited issue represses (Double LP) are £43.99 each.
New release single albums seem to be £25 to £30
The last time we had a fuel crisis the records just got thinner without seeming to suffer on SQ, Not sure we need everything on 180g
Not as if the presssing plants have no work either, vinyl release can be 6 months behind the CD or streaming release.
I’m not sure I’ve noticed the typical price of vinyl going from twenty to thirty something quid, but then again I don’t tend to buy new records unless I’m convinced it’s been mastered and pressed properly, and I’m likely to play it more than say 5 times.
A lot of modern vinyl can be pretty poor and sounds just as compressed as any other format like it’s been phoned in with no care.
I am trying to remember the relative price of records compared to gigs.
I remember it was a huge decision to buy a record in my teens and twenties but then I wasn’t earning much and had other money pits.
The price ticket is still on my copy of Springsteen’s The River and it was £3.99 for a double album. The price for a ticket to see him on the tour for that album at Wembley Arena was £6.00
Although in those days maybe they toured at a loss to promote the record
I am going to see Cat Power next weekend at the Albert Hall, the ticket was £62.00 so maybe reccords are not expensive (relatively)
" In 1968, a new LP could go for about $4. Adjusting for inflation, that’s almost $30 today. When the Beatles dropped their “White Album” around Thanksgiving of that year, it cost around ten bucks — the equivalent of $70 today"
If you add the cottage industry aspect (economy of scale) closure of many venues and the much smaller market records are doing OK. People will always want to be entertained, how they choose to be entertained / distracted is a different thing. (More formats / changes in cultural norms etc dilute this)
The gig price did depend on where you went, the price I quoted above was for a major venue and promoter, I seem to remember seeing Genesis do The Lamb for about a fiver whereas gigs in the Greyhound in Croydon were a couple of quid.
I had a weekend ticket for Reading in 75 for £5.95 including parking and camping!
There has been a 180 shift in pricing between recorded music and live gigs predominantly down to downloads (The lessening of physical media sales). Most artists makes less from physical media sales and more from gigging today. The gap in revenue is closed by larger tours / stadiums / Endorsements / music syncs to ads etc etc. The £100 tickets etc for major artists is becoming the norm - Thank the management / Spotify.
I have talked to young people at work who like their music, They are happy to pay £50 a month for a phone but look at you as if you are mad if you suggest paying for music
There was a survey done in the late 90’s that asked 100 16-18 yr olds how much they would pay for a CD. The answer was 0.
The value of music / art completely had been undermined by technology, the marketers in turn sold the concert as an ‘experience’ in much the same way cinema’s sell the ‘experience’ over Pirate bay.
The interesting thing about the vinyl resurgence was that some people found a ‘value’ on the physical artifact / expression of art. Big name artists are now doing 360 deals including rights to catalogues, tours, syncs etc Live nation started doing this in the late 90’s.
