With over 500,000 vinyl copies of her new album 30 being made, some are viewing Adele’s release as the reason for slowing the trade of records – but the issues with supply run deeper than that.
We’ve all seen the resurgence in the sales of vinyl. Whether it’s in some edgy café or your indie mate’s house, seeing these grooved discs of sound is no longer a shock. Last year, even, the sale of vinyl overtook the sale of CDs for the first time since 1986.
The proof is in the money too, with the global market of records being valued at $1.3billion in 2020. The downside, though, is that with such popularity for a tangible, physical product inevitably comes a limited supply.
Growth has been exponential too, with an estimated 16.1% increase in the sale of vinyl records in the UK taking place in the first three months of 2021, according to data from the Official Charts Company.
Last year, the sale of vinyl overtook the sale of CDs for the first time since 1986
So when it was recently reported that Adele was pressing half a million copies of her forthcoming album 30, there was concern in some quarters about how this will affect an already stretched supply.
One record store in Birkenhead, for instance, has even gone far enough to announce earlier this week that they won’t stock 30, in protest against the ‘plain disrespectful’ decision for 500,000 copies of it being pressed.
‘[Adele] can afford to press half a million copies, sure,’ Ben Savage, of Skeleton Records told whynow, ‘but it leaves absolutely no room in the market for anyone else. Adele doesn’t necessarily need the money from half a million sales.’
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Skeleton Records, in Birkenhead, is boycotting the sale of Adele’s forthcoming album.
‘If there wasn’t any vinyl shortage going on then maybe fair enough, but what makes Adele so special to everybody else that she ought to overcome the shortage and have half a million copies of her album when others aren’t even able to have a single copy of their album?’
Ben added how it was already ‘nigh-on impossible to acquire some of the bestselling stuff – the predictable stuff like Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, The Beatles. It’s hard to supply customer’s demand when they’re all out of stock.’
‘We’ve had customers come in who seem to think we’re not doing our job correctly because we can’t get hold of a copy of Rumours by Fleetwood Mac for them… The other effect has been with new releases, especially independent bands, who’ve been really struggling to get anything pressed.’
In short, the vinyl industry has been a victim of its own success
The responsibility, of course, doesn’t land squarely at Adele’s feet. Billboard, for instance, has estimated that global capability of pressing plants amounts to the production of 160 million vinyl records every year. Adele’s 30 will therefore amount to just 0.3% of that.
And whilst some may express ire at the seemingly monopolistic decision of a global megastar, to the detriment of smaller indie bands, the situation speaks to an industry which has been long overdue in meeting the demand for its product, which is estimated as more than double what it can currently supply.
In short, the vinyl industry has been a victim of its own success.
Other issues have hampered it too. Irregular freezing temperatures in Texas earlier this year led to a worldwide shortage of PVC – polyvinyl chloride, the substance from which vinyl records are made, which is mostly produced in the Lone Star State.
In February 2020, too, the Apollo/Transco plant in Banning, California – one of the only two lacquer pressing companies in the world, able to produce the lacquer discs that are essential to the production of vinyl records – was destroyed by a fire.
The plant produced 70-85% of the world’s lacquer and a statement on the company’s website still reads that the plant is ‘uncertain of our future at this point and are evaluating options as we try to work through this difficult time.’
The desire for vinyl far exceeds the current output, which doesn’t look set to improve anytime soon
Ongoing, well-documented issues surrounding a shortage of HGV drivers in the UK (the Road Haulage Association estimates there is now a shortage of 100,000 qualified drivers) haven’t helped the situation either.
Either way, the maths is simple. The desire for vinyl far exceeds the current output – a situation which doesn’t look set to improve anytime soon.
In other, perhaps cheerier, vinyl news, Art Vinyl launched their ‘Best Art Vinyl 2021’ on Tuesday, the annual quest to determine the most creative, well-designed record cover of the year.
The shortlist has so far been whittled-down to 50 contenders and includes the cover art for Duran Duran’s 15th studio album, ‘Future Past’, as well as Sir Elton John’s collaborative album ‘The Lockdown Sessions’.
Australian outfit Amyl and the Sniffers are also in the running for their album ‘Comfort To Me’, with its warped, gloopy face that’s grotesque in the right kind of way (it’s therefore my personal favourite for the accolade)
Take a look at the contenders here – even if you won’t stand much chance of getting to buy one. Not anytime soon, at least.
