News

I’d have bought that catalog three times back then if I wasn’t 7yrs old at the time. Those were some great pressings back then.

I remember wanting Simon & Garfunkel’s “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme” so badly in 1967 that I paid list price for it, which I recall was $4.98 or $5.98 (I could be wrong). Assuming $5, that’s almost $39 in today’s money. Today’s LPs are definitely not more expensive than that. Inflation is real, folks.

I agree that Records are actually inflated. You can just go to Amazon and compare the price to a CD and it's typically double the price. This a far cry from 20 years ago when records cost less than a CD. While I state they are inflated, I'm not suggesting that they aren't fairly priced. There isn't an infrastructure to bring the prices down. The price is going to reflect what the market can bear. It's a seller's market, so the price goes up.

I honestly have never liked the argument that we compare yesterday's dollar to today's dollars for entertainment items or anything else nonessential. These numbers are purported as if there is some kind of magical force that drive up the cost of these items that is directly associated with time. This just isn't the case. A CD is a very similar commodity to a record, and the price of CD is less than it was 20 years ago. What's the justification for this, then? What about color TVs. In 1973 what did a color TV cost? Well I'll present documentation. This is a 1973 NY Times article about a 15 inch RCA color TV for $379.95. Now what do you get for $379.95 in a TV today. I'll grant with it being Cyber Monday today, this isn't the best day to document the price of a television. But I'll state that there is an entire section of TVs priced under $400 at Best Buy's website. There 148 offerings and the smallest on is 32" but there are 20 of them that 4K and 55" or larger. This hardly seems like inflation to me.

https://www.nytimes.com/1973/03/06/archives/new-lowprice-color-tv-is-int...

Prices don't increase because of inflation. That's not what inflation is. Inflation is a reflection of actual price increases toward our entire cost of living. There are different commodity that we buy that make up our lifestyles. And each commodity price is based on actual market conditions. And in a sellers market, the prices go higher because they have what you want and if you won't pay their price, someone else will. So records just cost more than CDs. Why? Because it's fair.

I bought a 21" Sony Trinitron in 1984, on special, for $699. Top dollar for a very fine TV at the time. The Cyber Monday sale today has a 72" Samsung LED for $599. That LED shouldn't be less than $3500 dollars today though, should it?

Yes it has to do with material costs, efficiencies, etc. But it's all about what the market will bear...you've got a specialized product, you can charge for it. Making records and album covers from raw materials costs way less today than it did back in the 70s. The savings isn't passed on to the consumer because of a lack of competition and a stranglehold that the present recording industry has on the elite vinyl record collecting market.

I don't appreciate the argument that records should cost $30 today, because they're a tech product. If records were $15, you'd have a lot more kids buying records, and affordable turntables and affordable speakers and amps. Voila! We'd have the potential for a real thriving industry, instead of one that's just getting by, satisfied with providing an elite product to elite purchasers.

I purchased the Dead box from VMP - and even though it may be overpriced a bit - every LP in my set was perfect - flat, quiet and beautiful. I know that VMP states online that the set is limited to 7500 copies, but my copy is numbered 2375/2500. I have to assume the demand wasn't as great as they expected at 7500 copies for the price, so they may have reduced the number to 2500 but never updated their website.

I have all the Dead vinyl in this box many times over (with the exception of Without A Net - the one cut from digital - that was released when I wasn't buying vinyl and has yet, until this box, been reissued on vinyl), and I am still amazed at the quality of these records. Especially Live/Dead - Chris Bellman did a stupendous job with the original mix (not the remix) on this new cut.

It is missing many albums. It is titled "The story of the Grateful Dead" How can you tell the story and leave out some very important chapters ?

Just on the price of new records, e.g. Tom Petty's Wildflowers & All The Rest is $175 on Acoustic Sounds which is very reasonable for a 7LP boxset. Unfortunately when that boxset arrives in Europe the prices vary between €230 and €250, converted to dollars that is $275-$299 which is staggering. Even stranger when you consider the vinyl is pressed in Europe. There are plenty of examples of this. Are EU pressings much more expensive in the US?

James, Dublin, Ireland

PS: Absolutely loved the 'best sounding LPs' videos, with one caveat the Davy Spillane instrument is Uilleann pipes, an Irish version of 'bagpipes', just saying!

I agree with you, Mike... record prices seem stable when you factor inflation, and surely the margins were fatter back in '73. But I don't think inflation tells the whole story, because I don't think records behave like "ordinary goods" in the microeconomic sense.

There might be 140 versions of 'American Beauty' on Discogs, but there's still scarcity when it comes to quality copies, and different consumers - audiophiles, collectors, newbies, etc - will perceive the value and utility of various pressings/releases in different ways, which can do funky things to the supply & demand curve.

I scratch my head when I see folks balk at the prices of these VMP boxes, given they're pressed in tiny quantities and even used, they tend to sell for significantly more than the original prices. Also, much as I wish VMP would press everything at RTI, I give them credit for trying to work with labels that do reissues the right way: sourcing the best masters and solid engineers, as well as tracking down original artists to ensure they properly share in the proceeds, or even play roles in the project.

Today VMP dropped the "Story of Tribe Records" box, and I happily forked over $300 for it. Tribe put out some incredible jazz in the early 70s, and I'd love to see you review the box, Mike. I'm curious how it will compare to the UK Pure Pleasure reissues out there, or to the insanely rare/expensive originals.

A “Dead Thread “ so this may be a good place to remind everyone of the new Zappa documentary you may have heard about.... View it with Amazon Prime and I’m guessing other streaming services......Well worth the $5 to “rent”.....yes he was human.... and a single minded genius...check it out!!!!

If it's "bugging" you just buy used records and fo-gett-about-it!!!!

Both sides have points in their favor.

I would add...

Average hourly wage in 1973 was $4.03 per hour.

(Sourced from Pew research.)

In 2020, it is somewhere between $11.63 (real income) and $24.87 per hour.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/216259/monthly-real-average-hourly-e...

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/wages

Using 3.49 for a 1973 LP....we see the average person 'earned' 1.15 records per hour.

Using the $34.00 per record used in the blog, we see the average person earns between .34 and .73 records per hour.

We have seen a decline in the average person's record buying power.

Music is much more available today, but it depends. LPs for instance, once the mass market vehicle for our listening, is a niche product now. LPs are more labor intensive to produce than any other music medium. The fact they are as affordable as they are is amazing. They are not, however, always as easy to get. Locally save for used LPS there is not a single retail outlet in my town of about 15K people. Of course if you wait a couple of days to receive an internet order this is usually not a dead end to getting one's vinyl fix. Even then many LPs are not in any way ridiculously priced. They are often close, maybe less, to that magic $5 price many of my generation grew up on when adjusted for the inflation index. I can't complain. But what i will say is there is much more music available "to listen to" for less than ever before. Right, that means streaming or basically renting. But I have no problem in 2020 with "renting" music and I'll admit to thinking a couple of decades ago that the concept of not owning your music was balderdash. It has proven to be a really fine way of expanding one's listening habits and now with fast internet connections and HD options a most excellent choice. I do miss having the gatefold album in front of me but I can get over that by having my laptop handy and a quick search usually brings up more information than even the most highly annotated gatefolds Still...there ain't nothing like dropping the needle on an album of music you set aside income to acquire then brought home like a found treasure.

Using present/future value of money with inflation gives a general idea - understand the point and move on - of course, it might not be perfect but it's a ballpark - I mean I was a kid, I used to have to SAVE for a couple of weeks for a $10 (I am more like an 80s guy) LP - I think what my kids get/take and realize that it would take them more or less the same amount of money to save for a $25 to $30 LP. But to argue all the finer points of LP and other goods production... come on... I understand you want to be right all the time... but well, let's not lose sight of the real argument..

This thread has become sidetracked but the discussion about cost of reissue titles is interesting. Last week I took delivery of a dozen or so hybrid SACDs from English reissue label Vocalion Dutton. A lot of Philly Soul titles, Art Garfunkel, George Benson, Charlie Rich, Paul Revere & the Raiders - a very mixed bag. The discs are made in Austria and supplied in jewel cases with modest or no liner notes, etc. Most of the discs have two albums on each disc. And each of those is made available in stereo and the original quadraphonic version. The on screen menu for the multichannel version is basic but functional. The sleeves state clearly: “Remastered from the original analogue tapes by Michael J. Dutton.” In all cases these are the first reissues of the quad versions in more than forty years. They sound very good. Price is £12.99 (around $17) each whether one buys them direct from the label’s website or from Amazon.

One of the titles I bought was Earth, Wind & Fire’s fine 1976 album Spirit which is coupled on the disc with 1975’s triple platinum album That’s the Way of the World. Both albums are presented in their stereo and original quadraphonic versions. Issued in 2020.

The disc sits on my shelf alongside Mobile Fidelity’s 2005 issue of That’s the Way of the World, which is also a hybrid SACD but is presented in stereo only albeit with 5 bonus cuts that are not available on the English release. The MoFi is sourced from the original master tape. The liner notes and packaging on that reissue is also minimal but is more attractive than the Vocalion Dutton release.

I have not A/B’d the discs yet. My point is that MoFi SACD titles sell at $30 in the US (around £22 and for a great deal more over here if one can find them. So on the face of it, the English disc offers two albums in stereo and multichannel for around half the cost of the MoFi that offers only one album in stereo albeit with five bonus cuts.

I am not picking on MoFi for their pricing. $30 or thereabouts is fairly standard pricing for an audiophile SACD reissue.

I have no idea if Vocalion Dutton have the licence for Europe only. That may be the case. But wherever they sell them they need to sell enough units to recoup their costs.

How is it possible to sell these discs at this price point? I can only think that there are significant costs of some labels in making reissue titles available that are not related to the physical cost of manufacture (I should be surprised if making hybrid SACDs in Austria is inexpensive) or licensing costs. And it seems those costs may be more flexible than one might think. They may have a great deal to do with distribution and retailer costs.

Love this website and discussions. According to Robert Reich (former Clinton admin) and others, average, inflation-adjusted wages have stayed flat/declined since the mid 70s. Simultaneously, cost-of-living has soared, 'hockey-sticking' up on a graph. We vinyl/audio enthusiasts are likely a 'skew' from the majority, likely seeing are personal wages keep some sort of pace with inflation, allowing us to debate the relative 'luxury problem' of whether modern vinyl prices are acceptable or not.