Research: Motives of Vinyl Use (Author: Robert Arndt)

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Vinyl makes the difference

An empirical study of vinyl consumers and their motives

„Is it so wrong, wanting to be at home with your record collection? It’s not like collecting records is like collecting stamps, or beer mats, or antique thimbles.There’s a whole world in here, a nicer, dirtier, more violent, more peaceful, more colourful, sleazier,more dangerous, more loving world than the world I live in.”

Nick Hornby, Author

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1. Introduction

Since digital media like the CD and MP3 play the dominant roles in today’s music business, talkingabout vinyl always seems to have a touch of nostalgia.And indeed, from an economic perspective vinyl has been dead since at least 1989 when CD salestopped the number of sold records for the first time. Today, vinyl is a niche product with a marketshare of about 0.3 percent

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in Germany (Bundesverband der Phonographischen Wirtschaft, 2007, p.20)and 0.6 percent in the US (RIAA, 2007). The music industry calls it a „sunset business [...] just bigenough to feed a couple of small suppliers“ (Bruckmaier, 2001, p.17).Although digital music media certainly has a lot of benefits compared to records, some people stillseem to have a very emotional relationship to that ‘good, old vinyl’. The term “Black Gold” – oftenused as a synonym for records – speaks for itself. The vinyl-phenomenon is also often a topic inMagazines and Newspaper articles, which refer to it as a cultural phenomenon. These stories usuallyare full of legends, myths and clichés. For example, it says each vinyl record would “tell its own story,each one got its individual face and - above all – they have character.” (Farkas, 1998, p.11).Especially the sound is much more „intense and personal“ than the one of CD´s (Stock, 2005, p.64).Also the consumers of vinyl records are often stereotyped as “a bunch of anonymous melancholics,who admire the record like a cult” (Platzen, 2003, p.38), or as “deniers of (technical) progress, whorefuse new technologies like a defiant child” (“Vinyl-Zeitalter adieu?”, 1994, p.15).This ‘analogue counter movement’ we’re talking about is relatively small as record sales represent lessthan 1 percent of all record sales in the US and in Germany (see above). But on the other hand salesseem to be relatively stable since about ten years (Bundesverband der Phonographischen Wirtschaft,2006, p.24; RIAA, 2007). In the UK vinyl accounted even 14.7% of all physical singles sales in 2005(“Back in the groove”, 2006).Looking at the sales numbers, there still seems to be some reason why music fans chose vinyl. Dealingwith this subject one will find different explanations very soon. For some vinyl consumers, theanalogue sound might be the ‚USP’, others – especially Hip Hop DJ´s – use records as a tool for

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Base: Total music sales in 2006, Germany, including music-downloads, ring tones etc.

3scratching. Some others might even see some sort of a political statement in their consumption of vinyl, because it stands for a lifestyle, which is not driven by the latest technology.So obviously there seems to be a lot of reasons why people still buy vinyl. But there has been lessscientific attempt to prove how much all the clichés and stereotypes can be found in reality. Besidesthe motives of vinyl consumption, we also want to find out who these people are that still use recordplayers instead of digital devices like MP3- or CD-Player. That’s why attitudes and behaviour alsohave to be considered in the following survey. At the end it will be necessary to check out if we canidentify different types of vinyl buyers that are different in regard to their usage and their attitudetowards vinyl.Summarized the following questions are put in the centre of this paper:

Why do music consumers still buy vinyl records these days? Is it reasonable to differentiate vinyl consumers by their motives? If yes, what kind of ‘motive’- clusters can we identify and what are their specific characteristics?

The relevance of these questions is given by a variety of reasons. As we all know technology is rapidlychanging and the competition between old and new media probably has never been as hard as in thesedays. At least there seems to be a consensus that all media become digital, sooner or later. Usually allthe eyes of analysts and researchers are on the new media. But this research shall make a contributionto answer the questions of how the rise of new media influences the use and the attitude towards anold, widely replaced medium.The consumer’s perspective becomes very important in this context. Music fans don’t only chose whatmusic to listen to, but also how to listen to it. That means they have to choose between a whole lot of different devices and data carriers, which can be practical but also confusing. Research that goes alongwith digital change tends to focus on the technical feasibility of a new medium. The followingresearch instead puts the needs of the user in its centre.We should also not forget, that vinyl records are a cultural good that has been used since for onehundred years. Today, its meaning for a mainstream audience is totally marginalized. Therefore oneshould take a closer look at those people who keep vinyl alive.