Spring Break
Noting change in where students get their music
Alyssa Carroll
Issue date: 2/12/09 Section: Focus
Our parents had vinyls, we grew up on tapes and now the majority of us sail the Internet as musical pirates. Somewhere along the way, there was something called an eight-track. Though music download programs have become so readily available as well as inexpensive, there has been debate over which recording medium rules over the rest. With factors such as sound quality, accessibility and price being major factors, students are finding value in a variety of these options.
Finding new life in the rise of hipster culture and mash-up bands such as Girl Talk, vinyl and turntables are again on the rise. With many believing records to have the best sound quality of all the recording options, vinyl sales doubled from 990,000 units in 2007 to 1.88 million units in 2008, according to numbers released by Nielsen Co.
According to RollingStone.com, "Part of the leap can be attributed to Capitol Records' decision to reissue many of their most famous albums on vinyl, as the Beatles' Abbey Road was the year's second-highest-selling vinyl album, Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon ranked seventh and Radiohead's OK Computer rounded out the Top 10. Radiohead's In Rainbows, an album that began its career as a free download, was 2008's biggest vinyl seller…"
"I started buying vinyl because it's something tangible you can have for music and it increases in value pretty quickly," said Jesse Grab a 6th-semester journalism major. "My friend has a Bloc Party's vinyl he bought two years ago and it's worth almost $200 now and it was originally $20, I think. The sound is so much clearer on vinyl. MP3 quality is just awful in comparison."
As vinyl rises, CD sales have continued to drop, though they remain the most popular format. According to the Neilsen Co., "Total album sales, including album equivalents made up of single digital tracks, fell to 428.4 million units [in 2008], down 8.5 percent from 500.5 million in 2007. Physical album sales fell 20 percent to 362.6 million from 450.5 million, while digital album sales rose 32 percent to a record 65.8 million units." 2008's top CDs were Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III," followed by Coldplay's "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends" and Taylor Swift's "Fearless."
Finding new life in the rise of hipster culture and mash-up bands such as Girl Talk, vinyl and turntables are again on the rise. With many believing records to have the best sound quality of all the recording options, vinyl sales doubled from 990,000 units in 2007 to 1.88 million units in 2008, according to numbers released by Nielsen Co.
According to RollingStone.com, "Part of the leap can be attributed to Capitol Records' decision to reissue many of their most famous albums on vinyl, as the Beatles' Abbey Road was the year's second-highest-selling vinyl album, Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon ranked seventh and Radiohead's OK Computer rounded out the Top 10. Radiohead's In Rainbows, an album that began its career as a free download, was 2008's biggest vinyl seller…"
"I started buying vinyl because it's something tangible you can have for music and it increases in value pretty quickly," said Jesse Grab a 6th-semester journalism major. "My friend has a Bloc Party's vinyl he bought two years ago and it's worth almost $200 now and it was originally $20, I think. The sound is so much clearer on vinyl. MP3 quality is just awful in comparison."
As vinyl rises, CD sales have continued to drop, though they remain the most popular format. According to the Neilsen Co., "Total album sales, including album equivalents made up of single digital tracks, fell to 428.4 million units [in 2008], down 8.5 percent from 500.5 million in 2007. Physical album sales fell 20 percent to 362.6 million from 450.5 million, while digital album sales rose 32 percent to a record 65.8 million units." 2008's top CDs were Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III," followed by Coldplay's "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends" and Taylor Swift's "Fearless."
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Steven Urkal
posted 2/12/09 @ 12:12 PM EST
Its pretty well known that apple is now in front of Walmart. Your Feb. 2008 sourcing is more than a year old.
chris
posted 2/12/09 @ 2:19 PM EST
no bloc party vinyl is worth 200 sorry, i dont care if it's sealed Silent Alarm. Some idiot on ebay is trying to charge 200 but one of my copies was just sold a whileback for nowhere near that much. (Continued…)
Post a Comment