100VINYL RECORDS

This is a short publication that presents various facts, statistics, opinions and photos, vinyl related. All the information collected accumulates to 100. The intention of this publication is to show why us vinyl lovers do what we do but also to hopefully spark an interest in someone who wasn’t initially interested in the matter. The publication also contains a pocket sized guide on how to care for your vinyl records correctly.

I have always had an interest in collecting things so vinyl was just another thing to add to the list. I like the idea of having to work hard for your favourite pieces of music and having something physical is really appealing. I think collecting vinyl also reflects my passion for graphic design as I appreciate the physical aspect of the sleeve artwork which just isn’t the same when displayed digitally.

Artwork

7”

Obsession

Grooves

Wax

Scratching

LP

White Label

Sleeve

Turntable

Technics

Platinum

Single

RPM

12’

Collectable

Original

Rewind

45

Dubplate

A vinyl record is a flat, round disk with a spiral groove.

”Blue Monday” is one of the longest tracks ever to chart on the UK Singles Chart and is the biggest-selling 12” single of all time.

The first record I bought was Manchester’s own Paleman – All good EP

There’s a difference in sound between black and clear/coloured vinyl – They usually attain more pops and cracks (surface noise) over time than standard black vinyl.

You can buy a turntable designed for cats. A British company manufactured a cat scratch post that resembles an LP turntable.

For their 2012 Record Store Day album The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends created 10 blood-filled records. Each disc includes actual blood from some of the participants on the double-album. Each record cost $2,500 and sales of the records went directly to two charities in Oklahoma.Most expensive item sold on Discogs (One of the biggest online marketplaces) in 2014 was Throbbing Gristle – 24 Hours, Sold for $2200.00

Dubplate - Comes from dancehall reggae culture. Dubplate can refer either to an exclusive tune that only people with clout have access to or the acetate disk that those exclusive tunes are cut onto for play.

Scratching, sometimes referred to as scrubbing, is a DJ and turntablist technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while optionally manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer.

BPM is an Acronym for Beats Per Minute

Record Store Day is an internationally celebrated day observed the third Saturday of April each year.

The first vinyl LP (33 1/3 rpm) as we know them today was introduced in 1948.

Storing these records is an art in itself and the simplest way to do it is to put them vertically on a shelf or any other space. Stacking them up will ruin the quality and it will be impossible to salvage the ones lost due to this.

Till last year, a man named Paul Mawhinney was dubbed as the world’s biggest collector of records, with the count standing at about 3 million. Zero Freitas, a businessman, is now reported to be the proud owner of this collection.

Vinyl records have analogue recordings.

Heat and sunlight can quickly warp a vinyl record.

When dust sticks to vinyl records it is difficult to remove it. If it remains on the record, it will create a popping or cracking-scratching noises when the record is played.

LP stands for Long Play

The groove in a vinyl record starts at the outer edge of the disc and ends towards the centre of the disk.

People take damaged or warped records and turn them into household such as bowls, placemats or coasters.FACT

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More than one million vinyl records have been sold in the UK so far this year - the first time the milestone has been achieved since 1996.

A Velvet Underground record sold for $25, 000, making it one of the priciest ever sold.

SilverAlbum 60,000Single 100,000

GoldAlbum 100,000Single 400,000

Platinum300,000600,000

While digital album and song sales continued their downward spiral, record sales have more than doubled since last year. All this is according to Nielsen Soundscan, which reports that the 9.2 million wax tally is the highest since it started tracking sales in 1991.www.engadget.com

About 5,000 records and CDs are sold on Discogs every day.

US sales are estimated at 8.2 mil-lion for 2014, up 38% on the pre-vious year and the highest since Soundscan started counting back in 1991.

Black Friday had the second biggest week of sales (after Record Store Day 2014) since 1991

In the 70’s records were usually around £2.50 where as today they are towards the £16 mark.

Jack White’s ‘Lazaretto’ becomes biggest-selling vinyl album since 1994Sales of 60,00 make White’s second solo LP best-seller since Pearl Jam’s ‘Vitalogy’

The biggest-selling vinyl album of 2013 was Daft Punk’s ‘Random Access Memories’, which sold around 49,000 copies.

The industry is limited to the dozen or so plants currently operating in the States. The biggest is Nashville’s United, which operates 22 presses that pump out 30,000 to 40,000 records a day.

Over 640 exclusive products

245 UK stores participated

Total sales at independent stores worldwide increased by

646% from the week prior

Vinyl sales on the day were boosted by 2,042%

Independent Labels 78% Major Labels 22%

Reissues (54%) New Releases (46%

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I don’t know, I just… I love records.I mean, they’re not for everyone, you know?You really have to take care of vinyl.It’s very delicate, it can get wrecked easily. You really have to love it.Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World (2012)

I see people playing Serato and they spend their whole night in the club watching their laptop screen and they could be at home, they don’t even notice the people. I want as little visual information as possible, all I want to see is the needle and knowing how far it has to go in so I interact more with the people around me and get a sense of what’s happening in the room.Four Tet

I don’t think 3 or 4 thousand records is a lot considering it’s my job. I lose track of what I have, I sometimes feel that if someone pulled out a random record from my shelves, chances are I wouldn’t know what it was.Ben UFO

I remember nervously flicking through records, too scared to ask any questions in case I looked stupid and then occasionally thinking well this white label looks like its worth a bet, then get home and find out what it was later.PhotekN S

You have really gone out of your way to put this piece of music into your possession. You put the record on the platter and then the needle, its like the whole thing is like preparing a meal, its so involving. Mark Ronson

I am critical when it comes to album art and when there is a great album like the first snoop album and the art is so bad, not even in a kitch way can I say this art is ok, that art is just bad and it is too good of a record to have art that is that bad.Shepard Fairey

I am a vinyl junkie baby, If I don’t have the vinyl man, id go beat your grandmother up because I got to get my vinyl fix on man! You couldn’t get no files, there wasn’t any of this Limewire, Youtube, there wasn’t any downloading, to separate yourself from the other DJ you had to have this collection.DJ Jazzy Jay

Me collecting all these records, is the reason why I’m here. So I don’t think I would change anything.DJ Jazzy Jeff

I love the packaging, I like how it feels, I like how it sounds. I find MP3’s quite impersonal.Mr Thing

Each record has its own story and association with me, that a list on a screen wouldn’t have.Mr Scruff

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I enjoy buying and playing vinyl because it’s not just a file which can be downloaded, it’s a physical thing which comes with artwork and an individual soundJono Liggett

I really like the artwork but also the turntable the records are actually played on. I enjoy reading the information on the sleeve and rooting through the boxes in record stores.Andrew Wood

The fact you have to be so delicate with them makes you want to listen to every song with this comes the artwork which are collectable and decorative items in their own right. Hannah Claydon

I have always had an interest in collecting things so this was something to add to the list. I like the idea of having to work hard for your favourite pieces of music and having something physical is really appealing.Charlie Wood

They take up far too much space, they cost too much and I personally cant tell the difference between the sound quality of a CD.Linda Wood

I like the artwork and apparently they sound better.. But I don’t understand why people like them so much..Megan Edwards

I personally have never owned a vinyl record or a player, however, I love them aesthetically and I love the sound.Polly Woollard

I don’t have any vinyls personally but I know my dad’s kept his collection because I think they’re worth some-thing more to him than the money he could make selling them.Lo Wilcock

Normally buy them because you get limited edition/signed/hand printed, also bring a record nights are more fun then just listening to spotify.Florence Packer

I don’t personally buy any vinyl’s, cos I don’t have a deck and I can’t be bothered getting one. But I defi-nitely think that they are valuable in many ways. The sound quality is usually ‘warmer’, there is more grain and many people think it just sounds nicer. I think that when vinyl’s were the only way to listen to records there was a lot more appreciation for the music and also the designs for the sleeves. I think album artwork is rushed nowadays, mass produced, generic. I think vinyl sleeve designs are fantastic and are pieces of art in their own right.Cameron James Wolfe

RECORD

SLEEVES

MUSIC IS TO THE

SOULWHAT

WORDS ARE TO

THE MIND

Charlie WoodLeeds College of Art