Vinyl
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All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
Now that spring has sprung, it’s a good time to start cleaning up your collection of vinyl records. It’s no secret that vinyl records are hotter than ever, and regardless of whether you have a huge record collection or a small one, it’s good to keep them clean and organized.
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Just like any other forms of physical media, vinyl records need to be kept clean so that they work properly. Fingerprints, dust and scratches can damage the surface of the record itself, which can diminish the sound and add unwanted noise. Even natural oils from your hands can erode the surface of your vinyl records.
When it comes to cleaning your vinyls, there are special solutions, vinyl record brushes and cleaning kits that are designed to keep your records in pristine shape. For example, the Vinyl Buddy record cleaning kit ($20) has a near-perfect customer rating on Amazon and you’ll get a lot of items for a decent price.
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Vinyl Buddy Record Cleaner Kit 5 Piece Ultimate Cleaning System – Velvet Brush – Nylon Microfiber Brush – Stylus Brush – LP Cleaning Solution – Storage Pouch
$21.99 $31.95 31% OFF
The five-piece kit comes with a velvet brush, microfiber brush, stylus brush, cleaning solution and a storage pouch. The Groove Washer Walnut Record Cleaning Kit ($39.95) is another favorite of music lovers.
For something easier and possibly cheaper, depending on what you already have around the house, you can always go for Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner and water. Not familiar with Simple Green? It’s a natural, all-purpose cleaning solution that works on just about everything. From surfaces to soft carpets, Simple Green is designed to remove direct grease and stains on countertops, floors, fabric, equipment, vehicles and more. And it’s gentle enough to use on your vinyl records.
Simple Green retails for about $2-$5 for a 32-ounce spray bottle and around $10 for a gallon. You can get it at Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s and other retailers.
To clean your vinyl records, grab a microfiber cleaning cloth to remove the dust and static from the record. Next, dampen a clean microfiber cloth (preferably with distilled water) and lightly wipe the record surface in a circular motion — but steer clear of the middle of the record. Next, add a splash of Simple Green (the company recommends a 1:30 ratio) to a bowl of water and clean the record following the same circular motion as the earlier steps. Lastly, grab a dry microfiber cloth to dry the vinyl record (you can also use compressed air to blow away any residual dust).
After your record is clean, all that’s left to do is enjoy the music! Just make sure to check the needle on your record player so that there’s no leftover dust particles that could distort the sound. For additional shopping recommendations check out our list of best record players and turntables, best speakers for music lovers and storage options for your music collection .
Metallica has always had a strong independent streak for a band that spent its formative years on a major label. Now, a decade after getting the rights back to their biggest albums, the band is buying Furnace Record Pressing, a plant in Alexandria, Va., to serve its vinyl business, which has grown by keeping catalog albums in print and releasing ambitious box sets aimed at its legions of hardcore fans.
For a decade, Furnace has pressed records for the band, which has a reputation for releasing high-quality vinyl. At a time of supply-chain issues and manufacturing delays, the plant helped the group keep most of its albums available, plus a growing number of ambitious box sets. (Its most recent “black album” box set includes a double LP of the album, three live LPs, 14 CDs and 6 DVDs.) Last year, the group pressed more than 902,500 pieces of vinyl for more than 620,000 packages, according to management, not all of which are made at Furnace. The band sells roughly half of these in the U.S.
“We couldn’t be more happy to take our partnership with Furnace,” and its founders “to the next level,” said Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich in a statement. James Hetfield, the singer-guitarist who co-founded the band with Ulrich, said that the plant had been “great to Metallica and more importantly to our fans,” and that the purchase would ensure that potential vinyl buyers “will have continued access to high quality records in the future.”
Those fans are already buying a good deal of vinyl. In 2022 and 2021, Metallica rated among the best-selling acts on vinyl in the U.S., according to Luminate – No. 6 in 2022, with 387,000 albums sold and No. 7 in 2021 with 337,000 sold. That’s especially remarkable for a brand that hasn’t released a new album since 2016. (In 2022, the group’s most popular release was Master of Puppets, which sold 91,000, followed by “the black album” and Ride the Lightning.) In most years, the U.S. accounts for roughly half of the group’s vinyl sales worldwide.
“Metallica over-indexes dramatically with physical product,” says Marc Reiter, who helps run Blackened Recordings, the band’s label. “The fans enjoy owning the physical product.”
Although the band hasn’t released a new album since 2016 – the new album, 72 Seasons, comes out April 14 – there’s plenty of product out there. The band regularly releases box sets devoted to their albums, most recently Bob Rock-produced “black album,” and does a good job keeping in print its older releases.
Its relationship with Furnace, which goes back almost a decade, has been part of that. “The catalog is always being pressed,” says Brant Weil, head of marketing at Q Prime, the band’s management company. A couple of years after the band got back the rights to its older albums, its management team realized that it needed a steady supply of vinyl that could live up to the bandmembers’ high standards.
Furnace, which then also brokered vinyl pressing capacity at other plants, arranged a deal with Pallas, a German pressing plant with a reputation for high-quality work, and Q Prime was able to arrange to essentially lease its own presses there. “We never want to be out of stock on Metallica vinyl,” Weil says. “I didn’t want our release plans to be dictated by manufacturing timelines.”
At that point, “any vinyl shortages ceased to be,” Reiter says. Eventually, as Furnace started pressing more records itself, they started pressing more for Metallica as well.
Gradually, the two companies grew close. “We looked at them as more of a partner than a client,” says Furnace found CEO Eric Astor. (As it happens, the first record Furnace worked on was the 2008 re-release of “the black album” as an audiophile edition.) Furnace, like Pallas, has a reputation for doing quality work at a time when some pressing plants have sacrificed quality for output. “We’d rather throw out some bad records than make as many as we can,” says Furnace COO Ali Miller. (Discarding some vinyl is a factor in quality control.) Furnace has been pressing copies of the band’s forthcoming album, 72 Seasons, since January.
Furnace will not change much, Astor says, and plans call for the plant to keep working on other projects, as well as ones for Metallica. “They want to keep the quality and service the whole industry,” Astor says. “It will give us the opportunity to invest more.”
The hope is that Furnace can grow – as both a partner to the band, as well as an investment the group and its team have come to understand well. “They have the same indie spirit we have,” Reiter says, “and they like doing things the right way, which is also the Metallica way.”
LONDON – Vinyl sales generated more money for record labels and artists than CDs for the first time in more than three decades in the United Kingdom last year, helping drive a 4.7% rise in overall music revenue, according to annual figures from labels trade body BPI published Thursday (March 9).
In 2022, sales of vinyl LPs climbed 3.1% year-on-year in the U.K. to £119.5 million ($142.4 million) and now account for over half (55%) of all trade revenues from physical sales. The last time vinyl revenues eclipsed CD sales in the United Kingdom, BPI says, was in 1987 when Michael Jackson’s Bad was the year’s best-selling album and Rick Astley had the best-selling single of the year with “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
In total, 5.5 million vinyl LPs were sold in the United Kingdom last year. That marks the highest level of vinyl purchases in the country since 1990, according to BPI figures released in January measuring music consumption. The best-selling vinyl titles in the U.K. in 2022 were Taylor Swift’s Midnights, Harry Styles’ Harry’s House and Arctic Monkeys’ The Car.
Despite the ongoing vinyl revival, overall revenue from physical formats was down 10.5% to £216 million ($258 million), with CD sales slipping 24% to £89 million ($107 million).
Offsetting that decline was 6.3% year-on-year growth in streaming revenues, which climbed to £885 million ($1 billion) and accounted for 67% of U.K. recorded music revenues in 2022 — up from 66.2% the 12 months prior. Vinyl sales made up 9% of the market in terms of annual trade revenues, while CDs accounted for 7%.
Breaking down streaming revenue, paid subscriptions generated £763 million ($910 million), up 4.8% on 2021, while ad-funded revenue grew by more than a fifth (22%) to £63 million ($75 million). Digital download sales fell 17.5% to £28 million ($33 million).
Synch revenues were up even more sharply, rising 39% year-on-year to £43 million ($51 million), while public performance income spiked 23% to £143 million ($170 million).
Total U.K. recorded music sales — comprising digital and physical revenues, public performance rights and synch — climbed 4.7% to £1.32 billion ($1.57 billion) in 2022. That marks a rise of 36% over the past five years, according to BPI, as well as the eighth-consecutive year of growth.
The United Kingdom is the world’s third biggest recorded music market behind the United States and Japan with sales of just over $1.8 billion in trade value, according to IFPI’s 2022 Global Music Report. (BPI’s year-end sales figures are based on pound sterling, rather than the far stronger U.S. dollar, hence the perceived decline in overall revenues when BPI’s figures are converted into dollars at a constant currency basis).
“2022 was another great year for British music, but we must guard against any complacency in the face of growing challenges and keep promoting and protecting the value of music,” BPI chief strategy officer and interim CEO Sophie Jones said in a statement. She also called upon the U.K. music community to work together to “create the impetus” for further growth and “futureproof the success of British music in an increasingly competitive global music market.”
As previously reported, British artists accounted for the top 10 biggest-selling singles in the U.K. last year (either as the lead or as a featured artist) for the first time since year-end charts were introduced more than 50 years ago. Leading the pack was Harry Styles’ “As It Was,” which topped the U.K. singles chart for 10 consecutive weeks (it also spent 15 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100) and was streamed more than 180 million times in the country.
Joining Styles in the U.K. top 10 was Ed Sheeran, Cat Burns, Glass Animals, Lost Frequencies & Calum Scott, LF System, Sam Fender and Kate Bush, whose 1985 track “Running Up That Hill” spent three weeks at No. 1 following its high-profile Stranger Things synch; it was streamed 124 million times in her home country last year.
Styles also landed the year’s best-selling album with his third studio set, Harry’s House, making him the first artist to have both the United Kingdom’s top single and top album since Lewis Capaldi in 2019. Sheeran’s = (Equals) and Swift’s Midnights were the year’s second and third-best-selling albums.
On Thursday (March 9), the RIAA released its annual year-end report on recorded music revenues in the U.S., with an encouraging top line: In 2022, total revenue was up 6% to $15.9 billion, with paid subscription and wholesale revenues each surpassing $10 billion for the first time. That marks the seventh straight year of growth for an industry that at this point is far removed from the doldrums of the early part of the century.
In fact, the industry could credibly be a little underwhelmed by the rate of growth, as the 6% figure is the lowest percent increase across those seven years — and the only time other than pandemic-affected 2020 (+9.2%) that growth has fallen below double digits during that period. In actual figures, it’s the smallest increase ($900 million) year over year since 2016, when the business grew 11.4% and added $700 million.
There are plenty of other interesting takeaways to discern from digging through the RIAA’s report. Here are four (plus one bonus item!) that stand out.
Paid Subscriptions — Anything to Worry About?
Both the average number of paid subscribers (those subscribing to full-catalog services like Apple Music or Spotify’s paid tier) and the revenue from full-catalog paid subscriptions grew at much slower rates, both in percentage terms and in actual numbers, than in recent years. The former metric showed an increase of 8 million subscribers (9.5%; 84 million in 2021 to 92 million in 2022), while the latter metric reflected an increase of $600 million (7.2%; $8.56 billion to $9.17 billion). As with the overall growth rate for the industry, that’s the first time in several years that those figures grew by less than double-digit percentages. So, is it anything to worry about, when looking at how much growth there is left in the paid streaming business?
Not necessarily. For one thing, between 2018 and 2022, paid subscribers (up 96.2%) and revenue from full-catalog subscriptions (up 93.6%) have grown fairly in line with each other, and the revenue per subscriber has averaged $98.92 over that period of time (pandemic-affected 2020 was an outlier year, at $92.35). In 2022, the average revenue per subscriber was $99.77, which was down from $101.94 in 2021 but not out of line with the overall average.
That number should be expected to grow, given price increases by Apple Music, Amazon Music and Deezer in the past year and the increasing pressure on Spotify to boost its price higher than $9.99/month, where it has stayed since entering the U.S. in 2011. This will be something to keep an eye on as the year progresses, as strategies shift from gaining subscribers to getting more out of those who do subscribe, given that a ceiling on the number of subscribers could be coming into view (for context, the U.S. government counted 124 million households in the latest census).
Another reason for optimism: The above numbers don’t include limited-tier subscription revenue — things like Amazon Prime and fitness apps like Peloton — which crossed the $1 billion mark for the first time in 2022. Since 2020, when the pandemic led to a home fitness app craze and resulted in additional areas of limited music subscription beyond the traditional paid streaming realm, limited-tier subscription revenue has grown 47.7%. As more licensing opportunities arise, that sector should continue to contribute meaningful revenue moving forward.
Ad-Supported Streaming Takes a Hit
Ad-supported on-demand streaming revenue reached $1.8 billion in 2022, accounting for 11% of the overall revenues for the business last year. But growth was just 5.5% over 2021 — a big reality check after the category grew 46.7% in 2021 over pandemic-affected 2020 and 16.4% at the mid-year mark of 2022. Even in 2020, when the world essentially came to a standstill for several months, year-end ad-supported streaming revenues grew 16.8%, up $170 million — higher than the $95 million gain seen in 2022.
The advertising slump last year was certainly a blow to U.S. industries, with layoffs across the music and tech landscapes in particular. Many companies cited “economic headwinds” due to a combination of factors, including the war in Ukraine, rising interest rates, inflation and the threat of recession as companies scaled back spending that had ballooned coming out of the pandemic and readjusted forecasts for an uncertain future. All of that certainly played a part. But since 2018, ad-supported on-demand streaming revenue grew 137%, becoming an increasingly large part of the overall pie. In comparison, 5.5% is likely a disappointing number to many in the industry.
Vinyl, Vinyl, Vinyl
Another year, another big headline involving vinyl’s 16-year winning streak: For the first time since 1987, the number of vinyl LPs sold in the United States (41 million) surpassed the number of CDs sold in the calendar year (33 million). Vinyl sales reached $1.2 billion in 2022, up 17.2%, while CD sales plummeted once again, decreasing 17.6% to $482 million. Despite the eye-popping vinyl revenue numbers, however, actual unit sales only rose 3%, meaning that the price of vinyl is getting more expensive. In 2021, the average vinyl record cost $26.12; in 2022, that number rose to $29.65. There’s plenty to unpack there, including increased production costs and inflation.
Another notable development in the vinyl craze that has sharpened in recent years is the shifting market share among vinyl retailers. As far back as 2015, when the industry started to emerge from its nadir, the market was dominated by indie records stores (45.42%), internet/mail order sellers like Amazon (32.88%) and chain stores like Best Buy (15%), according to Luminate. By 2018, indie stores and Amazon sales had essentially settled into a market share tie — each at 41% — while the Best Buys of the world had shrunk to just north of 10%.
But beginning in 2019, a fourth player began to emerge: Mass merchant stores like Walmart and Target, which dramatically expanded their inventories. As a result, their market share went from less than 1% in 2015 — accounting for some 7,000 sales — to 10.19% in 2019 and 14.75% in 2021, with sales of 6.1 million units. While the market share economics have shifted during that time, sales have continued to increase for each sector across the board. In short, part of what has been driving the boom has been sheer visibility in some of the biggest stores in the country, which has correlated to more sales, and thus more visibility, and around and around we’ve gone. (For those curious, in 2022 indie stores accounted for 48.1% of the market, having reclaimed their dominant position as the country emerged from the pandemic.)
The Synch Explosion
In the past few years, more and more songs have caught huge waves due to synchs in popular TV shows and films. Think Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” following its Stranger Things placement, The Cramps’ “Goo Goo Muck” following its Wednesday placement and Gerry Rafferty’s “Right Down The Line” from Euphoria, to name a few. That seems to have stemmed from the explosion of content, as the streaming wars in TV/film world heated up during that time — with Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Peacock, Paramount+, Apple TV+ and the rest all throwing money around to reel in subscribers. The RIAA numbers back that up: In 2022, synch revenue grew 24.8%, from $306.5 million to $382.5 million, marking a gigantic jump. In fact, from 2020 to 2022, synch revenue jumped 44.2%, outpacing the industry at large (which was up 30.3% in that span).
Will that upward trend continue? It’s unclear. The TV/film streamers have publicly cut back their content spends in the past six months as the battle for market share and subscribers veered into profligacy and waste, while corporations looked to reel in costs amid the broader economic landscape. But it’s possible those gains are here to stay, even if they regress a bit. One music group executive recently told Billboard that in addition to the big four streamers (Spotify, Apple, Amazon and YouTube), Netflix was quickly becoming a fifth major source of revenue thanks to a combination of direct synch payments and the long tail of streams that result from a high-profile placement. That’s something to keep an eye on moving forward.
Bonus Takeaway — Ringtones!
Finally, a small bonus addition from a personal favorite aspect of the RIAA report. The mid-to-late-2000s were, of course, a time of great uncertainty and anxiety in the recorded music business, as piracy and digital music chipped away at a once-dominant physical sales format. At their height in 2007, ringtones and ringbacks were able to plug the gap to the tune of $1.1 billion, according to the RIAA. (That would be around $1.6 billion today.) So, how much money did ringtones and ringbacks generate in 2022?
$11 million!
Please, RIAA, continue printing this as a line in every report, no matter how small the figure gets. While it’s currently the smallest line item by revenue in the entire report, I cherish it more than all the others.
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
Nothing beats the sound of a vinyl turntable, right?
For music lovers, having a vinyl setup in your home is the ultimate way to enjoy your favorite albums, but with all the turntables out there, it’s hard to find the perfect one.
Fear not, Billboard has your back! To make it easy for you, we searched to find a selection of our favorite turntables (click here funky, sleek ways to store and display your record collection in your home or studio).
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Some of the products below are from retailers such as Amazon where Prime members can get free shipping (start your 30-day free trial here) and other benefits — including discounts and access to Prime Video and Prime Music.
See below for a list of eight of the best record players and turntables to buy in 2023. For more product recommendations, check out our tips on how to clean your vinyl records and the best speakers for music lovers.
Crosley CR8017B-BK Voyager Vintage Portable Vinyl Record Player Turntable with Bluetooth
$59.88 $99.95 40% OFF
Heyday turntables are budget-friendly favorite among TikTokers, but they’re currently out of stock at Target. If you don’t mind shopping pre-owned options, HeyDay turntables are available on resale sites like eBay. Plus, there are tons of other record players under $100 such as the Crosley CR8017A Voyager Portable Turntable pictured above and the ByronStatistics 3-Speed Vinyl Record Player ($51.24).
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Fluance RT81 Elite High Fidelity Vinyl Turntable Record Player
$249.99
Fluence RT81 is another highly rated record player. Features include an Audio Technica AT95E diamond elliptical tipped stylus (designed to track your record grooves with greater precision and accuracy for a high-definition audio experience) and a rubber slip mat for “superior isolation from unwanted vibrations.” Although Fluence record players do not include Bluetooth, you can connect them external speakers or click here to shop the Fluence RT81 turntable with five-inch bookshelf speakers ($489).
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U-Turn Audio – Orbit Plus Turntable with Built-in Preamp (White)
$399.00
Time for U-Turn! The U-Turn Orbit (available in white, red, black and blue) is known for it’s “balanced and neutral sound” and they’re popular on TikTok. This sleek turntable is equipped with an OA2 gimbal arm that utilizes “precision bearings” to ensure that the stylus moves freely, a low-resistance acrylic platter for “speed consistency” with anti-skate preset and an adjustable counterweight. The external, two-speed belt drive (33 1/3 RPM and 45 RPM) is designed to separate the “low-noise motor from the rest of the turntable.”
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Sony PS-LX310BT Turntable
$249.99
Moving up on the price scale, Sony’s PS-L310BT wireless turntable lets you experience vinyl in full stereo. This $250 turntable features a single button press, high-quality audio, Bluetooth connectivity and both operating speeds (33 1/3 rpm and 45 rpm).
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Audio-Technica AT-LP60XBT-RD Fully Automatic Belt-Drive Stereo Turntable, Red/Black, Bluetooth, Hi-Fi, 2 Speed
$219.00
Interested in Audio Technica? The AT LP-60 is discontinued but the AT-LPX60BT is a good alternative for beginners and intermediate listeners. Merging hi-fi audio and Bluetooth technology for wired and wireless listening, the AT-LP60XBT easily pairs with speakers and headphones. The turntable is available in several different colors including red, white, black, blue, silver and lilac.
Victrola
Victrola Revolution GO Portable Rechargeable Record Player $199.99
Need a portable record player? Check out Victrola’s portable, rechargeable Bluetooth record player. It features a three-speed belt driven turntable and an Audio Technica moving magnetic cartridge. The rechargeable battery lasts for up to 12 hours.
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Rega Planar 1 Record Player $595
If you can afford to go up in price, the Rega Planar 1 is a good starting point on the scale of high-end turntables. It features a brand new RB110 tonearm, built with the new Rega designed bespoke bearings with ultra-low friction performance and a 23mm, higher mass, phenolic platter equipped with an improved flywheel effect for better speed stability. The turntable runs on a 24v, low noise, synchronous motor designed to reduce the vibration transfer.
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Technics SL-1200MK7 Turntable
$1,099.95 $1,299.99 15% off% OFF
For DJs looking to invest in a quality turntable, Technics is the way to go. Last year, the brand unveiled the Technics SL-1200M7LPA Turntables celebrating the 50th anniversary of the popular series. The limited edition turntables — which were available in seven colors including red, black, blue, white, green, beige and yellow — were only around for a limited time but if you want an alternative from the same brand, go for the the SL-1200MK7.
Record Store Day unveiled the list of special releases for its 2023 event on Thursday (Feb. 16), which features vinyl exclusives from Taylor Swift, The 1975, Madonna and more.
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Swift is returning to RSD this year with a 2xLP vinyl edition of Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, while The 1975 will drop Live With the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
Among the other releases in store for Record Store Day’s exclusive releases are Björk’s The Fossara Remixes in a 12-inch vinyl single, Brian Eno’s Forever Voiceless LP, a 5xLP version of Grateful Dead’s Boston Garden, Boston, MA 5/7/77 (Live), Billy Joel’s Live At The Great American Music Hall – 1975 in 2xLP, Madonna’s American Life Mixshow Mix (In Memory of Peter Rauhofer) LP, Dolly Parton’s The Monument Singles Collection 1964-1968 and many, many more. These exclusive titles are physically released only at indie record stores.
The full list of RSD releases will be available at participating record stores on Record Store Day (April 22). There is no website to purchase any item on the list, and fans must find a participating store to find out how they are celebrating RSD.
Be sure to check out the complete and extensive list of upcoming releases on the official Record Store Day website here.
Happy Valentine’s Day, Swifties! Taylor Swift has dropped a special surprise for Cupid’s holiday on Monday (Feb. 13) — a heart shaped vinyl recording of her performing tracks from her 2019 album Lover live in Paris.
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The vinyl announcement arrived on the pop star’s webstore and featured pictures of the new release. Lover (Live From Paris) will be spread across two heart-shaped vinyl records, one baby pink, the other baby blue. Sides A and B holds tracks “ME!,” “The Archer,” “Death By a Thousand Cuts” and “Cornelia Street,” while sides C and D holds tracks “The Man,” “Daylight,” “You Need to Cam Down” and the album’s title track, “Lover.”
“My heart’s been borrowed and yours has been blue. Now both are on vinyl to end up with you,” Taylor Nation tweeted. “#LoverLiveFromParis Special Edition Heart-Shaped Vinyl available while supplies last at store.taylorswift.com!”
The heart-shaped vinyl duo retails for $39.99 and is limited to one per customer, while fans in the United Kingdom are allowed to order two per customer. Fans looking to secure the limited release will likely need to act fast, as Swifties have a reputation for selling out Swift’s special releases rather quickly.
Upon Lover‘s release, it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and spent a total of 181 weeks on the all-genre tally. Singles “ME!” and “You Need to Cam Down” both charted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 while “Lover” and “The Man” hit Nos. 10 and 23, respectively.
Take a look at the new vinyl below.
Vinyl producer Mobile Fidelity has reached a settlement that could be worth as much as $25 million to resolve allegations that the company’s pricey “all analog” records were secretly created using digital methods. But some customers strongly object to the deal, saying it’s “tainted by the stink of collusion.”
The proposed agreement, first publicly filed in court last month, would allow tens of thousands of MoFi customers to secure a full refund for any eligible records that they purchased. Alternatively, it would also allow them to keep their albums and instead take a 5% cash refund or a 10% refund in credit.
The final monetary total depends on how many consumers utilize the settlement and which options they choose, but court filings say the money available under the deal is “expected to be over $25 million.” Under the settlement, MoFi will continue to deny any wrongdoing.
But the deal is not final, and it’s already facing stiff objections from attorneys who filed similar lawsuits against MoFi. They say the settlement was struck without their input, by “ineffectual” lawyers who took a bad deal: “Despite this clear abdication of their duties to class members, counsel … are now trying to ram an inadequate, collusive settlement through this court.”
The scandal at MoFi first erupted last summer, after Phoenix-area record store owner Mike Esposito posted a pair of videos to YouTube alleging that the company’s “all-analog” and “triple analog” records were in fact partially created using so-called direct stream digital technology. In one of the videos, MoFi’s engineers appeared to confirm that some digital tech had in fact been used in production.
As reported by the Washington Post, the digital revelations created “something of an existential crisis” in the analog-obsessed vinyl community. In a statement in late July, MoFi apologized for using “vague language” and for “taking for granted the goodwill and trust” of its customers: “We recognize our conduct has resulted in both anger and confusion in the marketplace. Moving forward, we are adopting a policy of 100% transparency regarding the provenance of our audio products.”
But the apology wasn’t enough to avoid litigation. In early August, a pair MoFi customers named Stephen J. Tuttle and Dustin Collman filed a proposed class action in Washington federal court, claiming the company’s analog branding had been “deceptive and misleading” and had duped them into paying premium prices.
Later, at least four more similar cases over the analog scandal were filed in federal courts around the country, including a class action filed in Illinois on behalf of a MoFi buyer named Adam Stiles, who claimed the company had “intentionally hid this fact from consumers.”
“When defendant began using a digital mastering process in its records as opposed to purely analog, it inherently produced less valuable records — because the records were no longer of limited quantity and were not as close to the studio recording — yet still charged the higher price,” the lawyers for Stiles wrote at the time.
The proposed settlement, first filed on Jan. 15 in the lawsuit filed by Tuttle and Collman, is expected to cover at least 40,000 consumers who purchased records marketed as analog. The “total gross value” of the refunds and credits available to consumers is over $25 million, according to the agreement; the lawyers who filed the case will be paid $290,000 for their services.
Seeking approval of the settlement, attorneys for both sides argued the deal was reached through “arm’s-length negotiations” and represents “a fair compromise in light of potential risks of continued litigation.” They warned that if the case continued, MoFi might have success in defending itself by arguing that the customers didn’t actually suffer any real harm by buying the digitally-processed records.
In a statement to Billboard in response to a request for comment on the proposed settlement, MoFi lead counsel Joseph J. Madonia said: “Unfortunately, we can’t comment on pending litigation, but MoFi stands behind its records and is offering anyone who is not satisfied a refund.”
While the new settlement was filed solely in one case (the case filed by Tuttle and Collman), it would cover all applicable MoFi buyers nationwide — including those who filed the separate cases in other courts and weren’t involved in negotiating the deal. If the agreement is approved, those other customers would be eligible for the same refunds, but they would also be barred from continuing to bring their own claims against MoFi.
Faced with that scenario, the attorneys who filed those other cases are none-too-pleased about the deal.
In a Jan. 27 filing, the lawyers who filed the Illinois case on behalf of Stiles decried the agreement as a “reverse auction” settlement, alleging that MoFi essentially shopped around between the various lawsuits and picked the most “ineffectual” lawyers it could find in order to get the cheapest nationwide settlement possible. They claimed MoFi’s lawyer had directly stated that he would “pick the lowest bidder” from the five class actions.
“There is no doubt that the [settling] plaintiffs have inadequately represented the class,” they wrote, saying that the settlement will be “perpetually tainted by the stink of collusion.”
An attorney for the settling customers declined to comment on the allegations of “collusion” and “reverse auctions.” A representative for MoFi declined to comment directly on those claims, but in a court document filed this week in the Stiles case, the company’s attorneys flatly rejected those allegations, arguing that the proposed settlement would “afford the best possible representation for the class.”
Attorneys for the objecting customers did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday (Feb. 9).
Taylor Swift surprised Swifties on Thursday (Feb. 2) with a new version of Red (Taylor’s Version) on vinyl, and it’s finally available in, you guessed it, burning red.
“How are we celebrating All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (The Short Film)’s #GRAMMYs nominations? Dancing ‘round the kitchen in the refrigerator light…and heading to store.taylorswift.com to get #RedTaylorsVersionVinyl in burning red, while supplies last,” Taylor Nation shared on its social media accounts to spread the news.
Previously, the red edition of the re-recording had only been available as a Target exclusive, while the vinyl sold from Swift’s official webstore was just basic black when the album was released in Nov. 2021. At the time, the fan favorite record moved 605,000 album equivalent units to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Of that number, 114,000 were vinyl sales, and Red (Taylor’s Version) ultimately ended the year as the third top-selling vinyl of 2021 after just seven weeks of sales.
While some fans clamored in the comments for info on the next re-recording their queen might have up her sleeve — ahem, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), anyone? — others were happy to revel in the refrigerator light of their favorite autumn album. “I remember this era all too well,” one fan commented. Others added sentiments like, “it’s always time for the red era,” “More like all too unwell now,” and “red (taylor’s version) as a red vinyl??? absolute PERFECTION!!!” (There was also a particularly hilarious joker, who couldn’t help deadpanning, “We were all wrong Red (Taylor’s Version) was actually next.”)
At this weekend’s Grammy Awards, Swift’s ten-minute version of “All Too Well” is up for both song of the year and best music video. Meanwhile, vault track “I Bet You Think About Me” earned a nomination for best country song and “Carolina” from Where the Crawdads Sing got a nod for best song written for visual media.
Get a look at the red version of Red (Taylor’s Version) below.
In 2020, after years of steady growth, the vinyl market exploded. Sales climbed over 46% in the United States, according to Luminate. Then, remarkably, they jumped another 51% in 2021.
But in 2022, that growth plummeted to a rate that was far more pedestrian: Luminate reported that sales were up a little more than 4%. (Pull two juggernauts — Taylor Swift‘s Midnights and Harry Styles‘ Harry’s House — out of that number, and growth was less than 1%.) Year-over-year growth also fell in the United Kingdom from 23.2% to 2.9%, according to the British Phonographic Industry.
“Some labels report sales are down,” says Nick Gordon, chief partnership officer at Symphonic Distribution. And big retailers like Walmart offered some titles at a heavily discounted price around the holiday season, stoking fears among the smaller players that those stores had overbought — maybe an indication of slackening demand.
Despite these figures, Gordon believes the vinyl market remains “healthy.” And several of his peers — from distributors to indie-label heads, chain stores to independent retailers — also seem unruffled by the slower growth. “It corrected the market,” says Todd Oenbrink, sales director for All Media Supply, a Florida-based indie wholesaler.
“It feels like a welcomed return to normalcy,” agrees Terry Cole, founder and owner of Loveland, Ohio-based store Plaid Room Records and the label Colemine Records. “It feels way healthier. This industry is not set up for rapid growth.”
And according to Russ Krupnick, managing partner of the market research company MusicWatch, “core metrics” in the vinyl market are still “showing strength.” “Our initial look at the data from 2022 is indicating that the number of vinyl buyers is still holding up,” he continues. “And in early projections, it looks like the used vinyl market is going to be up by double digits.”
During the first two years of the pandemic, demand for vinyl grew like crazy, outpacing production capacity. But retailers, distributors and manufacturers consider those two years an aberration — from 2015 to 2019, year-over-year growth ranged from around 9% to 17%.
When few music fans were going to shows due to COVID-19, “vinyl took a far greater share of music fan spending than it would otherwise take,” says Stephen Godfroy, director and co-owner of Rough Trade, which saw 30% growth in vinyl sales in 2022. “We saw exuberance for all sorts of things during the peak COVID era — vinyl, Netflix, cooking lessons, home improvement,” Krupnick notes.
Now listeners “are spending money on other things — going out drinking, going out eating, going to gigs — whereas they couldn’t do that much in lockdown,” says Peter Quicke, chair of independent label Ninja Tune. (Vinyl sales for Ninja Tune rose over 25% in 2022.) Even so, vinyl sales still grew.
With higher prices for raw materials and labor, the cost of records has also increased, another potential growth dampener. Several independent store owners expect major-label prices to increase again in 2023. “We keep hearing there are more [price hikes] to come,” says John Kunz, owner of Waterloo Records in Austin. “I wonder how that 10- or 20-something shopper is going to be able to afford that.”
Price sensitivity, especially in an uncertain macroeconomic climate, is a chief worry in the independent record store owner and label community. Already “we see customers backing away from the high prices for new releases,” says Michael Kurtz, co-founder of Record Store Day.
But at the same time, the vinyl industry’s production capacity is expected to rise in 2023. Slower growth last year “was less about people suddenly not wanting to buy as many records and more about the amount of records available to purchase,” says Cameron Schaefer, CEO of Vinyl Me, Please. (VMP sales were up 15% in 2022.) “The biggest limiter on growth is just pressing.” “We could have sold much more vinyl in 2022 if only we could have gotten hold of more supply of the right product,” Godfroy agrees.
Independent labels are still struggling with long turnaround times, executives say, which leads to missed sales for their artists — especially when an album doesn’t hit stores and streaming services at the same time. But more plants are coming online — Vinyl Me, Please expects to have its own new plant operational this year, for example — and existing facilities are adding capacity.
There are other potentially positive signs. Krupnick published a study on “the vinyl revolution” in 2022 which found that the most common barrier to buying records was “I don’t have or want to buy a turntable;” similarly, Luminate’s year-end report noted that only 50% of vinyl buyers have a record player. But “when Harry Styles came out last year, we saw a spike in turntable sales,” says Crissi Bariatti, music buyer at Barnes & Noble. “We are converting a lot of new vinyl fans” who might purchase LPs for years to come. (The chain had an “amazing December” for vinyl sales, and “January numbers are great” as well.)
Fluctuation in growth isn’t uncommon, of course. “Ebb and flow in vinyl sales over short periods” is natural, according to Scott Hagen, CEO of Victrola, a product of “what the new releases are, what the availability is in that moment in time, and what the general traffic in retail is.” (That was down in the fourth quarter of 2022.) Schaefer from Vinyl Me, Please predicts that “the next two years will give a much better preview of what to expect from the vinyl industry in the long term.”
“People got excited by high numbers in the years prior,” he continues. “If we can get to 10% a year, stay there and do that well? That’s healthy.”