That's true Ray. We have been seeing that for a while. Vinyl sales doubled last year (don't really know how much that means)and the one main existing vinyl record supplier has increased it's space and staff to meet demand.

You are starting to see it among Target, Walmart and Best Buy's, as well as some books stores like BOOKS A MILLION, which are about the last retail sellers of music, and they are all having bins with vinyl in them. Mostly reissues of older records but some artists are starting to include vinyl as well.

Now before you start dragging out your turntable and expecting everyone to go back to vinyl, understand a few things. First of all it is MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE to produce. So where a CD might cost $1.50-$2.50 each to produce, package, shrink wrap, get UPC numbers, register, etc. Vinyl will be about $8.00-$10.00 each to produce. That means they have to be sold at much higher, like $25-$30 (The retail I have seen is $24.95, so it is not going to sell a ton of copies.And to take a lot of vinyl on the road for an artist takes up a lot of space and weight. If it is a flying artist, forget it.

It is mostly for hobbiests and audiophiles, who still collect and play records regularly. But they also have CD's in their collections as well as MP3's. My neighbor two doors down has that and likes to play them loud at parties.

But for artists such as my self who have always wanted our face on vinyl (did a 45 once) it could be really cool. Probably going to be expensive. The shortest runs are probably between 25 and 50 and tying up $300-$500 in inventory that it will take you months or years to sell, is a fairly extravigant expense. But would be cool. I am checking into it.

And yes, Artists, producers and labels ARE still looking for that HIT SONG. That THEY HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH. They are not going outside. That is just not going to happen. I'm sorry to burst bubbles but that is the real deal.

The major companies are PAYING THEIR WRITERS to write the songs. They have people on staff, and have hundreds more who are not on the staff but are in the loop, writing with their artists, bringing in songs from their own catalogues, going to hit writers, and legendary writers. Those are the ones who have shots. All the rest of us have to find ways to "get inside."

Interestingly enough, something I have been doing over the past few weeks fits exactly in that situation AND is about this same subject. I wrote a song called VINYL REVIVAL, which is about this EXACT SUBJECT, about a group of younger people finding an old record player and vinyl records and turning it up LOUD in a party.

This actually happened to me at a party a few weeks ago. The song, the idea of JOIE SCOTT, a hit writer with Colin Raye and Shania Twain cuts, and JIM PETEREK, who wrote EYE OF THE TIGER, HOLD ON LOOSELY, and of course, VEHICLE (Friendly stranger in the black sedan). Everyone loves Jim, and all the people who grew up with his music, including artists, who have performed and still perform them, producers, labels, etc. all treat him like royalty. So they are wanting to listen to what he does.
Our songplugger is SHERRYL BLACKMAN who is the top independent song plugger. We just did the demo two weeks ago and it sounds great.

Now we have to see if the fates intervene. Who knows? But writing a very timely subject matter song, with very current grooves and styles, that many people aer already responding to, with writers with extreme track records, great sounding demo, being pitched by someone most of the industry respects, all mean it will get a few good listens.

For me, that is all nice. But I am more enjoying building a relationship with Jim, who really likes my voice and writing style, so we will probably do much more, and writing with my friend Joie, who has been one of my best friends for 20 years and SHE has really been wanting to write something very cool with Jim.

So that is what makes me happy. Practical application. That is it in a nutshell. And that is what I teach to the people I work with as well. I have to practice what I preach.

MAB

Last edited by Marc Barnette; 04/20/15 03:39 PM.