Among old-school record types, it has long been suspected that many new fans buy vinyl for the collective thrill but never really drop the needle.
Brian Lovitt of Discord Records, the Washington label behind Post-Punk, said, “During Covid, we got a lot of mail-order complaints like ‘a 10-inch bend in the corner of the jacket’.” Fugazi-like icon. “We ask them if the record is going well and they’ll say, ‘I don’t know, I keep it a secret.'”
For artists, especially those without major-label endorsement, sticking with vinyl has now become a question of whether it’s worth the trouble.
“Vinyl feels legit right now,” said Cassandra Jenkins, a singer-songwriter in Brooklyn whose last album,An overview on the extraordinary nature, ” was a surprise vinyl hit – it debuted with a pressure of 300 copies and eventually went up to 7,000.
“It’s an investment for an artist,” she said. “I want these items that I can sell, so I’m going to invest in that.”
For some musicians like Jenkins, that investment is now beginning to influence the creative process. In February, following the release of their final album, they began working on follow-up material. But the long turnaround time for vinyl meant it had to start quickly, with a tight deadline, to get its music into the production pipeline.