Steadily increasing for almost 20 years ago, the global vinyl record market would have reached US $ 1.3 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow another 15% within five years, according to marketing research firm IMARC Group. The return to vogue of the vinyl record is a very real phenomenon, but it is also starting to crack the music industry. State of play with Quebec links in the recording industry.
On November 3, the magazine Variety revealed that Columbia, Adele’s record company, had pressed 500,000 vinyl copies of the new album it unveiled on Friday. On social networks, musicians and labels independent, the very people who have kept the 33 and 45-rpm market alive for almost three decades, reacted promptly by denouncing the stranglehold of majorson vinyl record manufacturing plants (only two in Great Britain, six in Canada, less than thirty in the United States, the largest in the Czech Republic) no longer sufficient to meet demand.
“I believe that Adele has become a little the face of this crisis and all these production delays which have been accumulating for almost two years already”, judge Olivier Simard of the Société des loisirs, young record store, coffee shop and artisanal manufacturer of vinyls which has been operating for a year in the Saint-Roch district of Quebec. “His case is just one example among others testifying to the fragility of the supply chain. “
A fragility that directly affects record producers and independent record stores already damaged. Indeed, the lack of manpower and manufacturers, the explosion in demand and the number of different albums to be produced are now causing significant delays in the production and distribution of albums, to such an extent that some independent record companies are considering turning to the compact disc to compensate.
“The headache right now is that we have to plan our orders even earlier to make sure we have the vinyl records in hand when the release date of a new album”, explains Valérie Bourdages, responsible for artist development at Bonsound.
When she took office two years ago, the deadline to order 500 or 1000 copies of a vinyl album was three months; on the same date last year, “we already noticed that three months was no longer realistic. Today, I say to our artists that we must deliver the master tapes at least six months in advance to be sure of receiving the discs. Six months is a long time and it is stressful ”, each stage of vinyl production can cause its share of problems, and therefore delays.
At Le Vinylist, the largest vinyl manufacturer in the province, the production schedule is already planned until August 2022. “A lot of people are contacting us these days, including labels Americans, because they are no longer able to do business elsewhere, ”notes Pierre-Luc Savard, who, with his brother Dominic, started producing records in the capital in August 2019. The company required investments of nearly $ 1 million which was used in particular to acquire an automated WarnTone press from the Ontario firm Viryl capable of producing up to 1,100 copies per day.
“For several factories around the world, the calendar for 2022 is already booked in full, ”adds Pierre-Luc Savard, who has just initialed an agreement with an American producer to press 40,000 copies of a single title, a record for the young company. The brothers are already considering an expansion project to meet demand, particularly that of local industry: “Meeting Quebec demand is important for us. We will always set aside time for the independents here because otherwise the Adele of this world will monopolize the industry and the small players will be left behind. “
The weak links
The recording industry is currently going through a “perfect storm”, to use Valérie Bourdages’ words. Several factors put pressure on the production line, starting with the increased demand from music lovers for the good old LP. “Without concerts during the pandemic, many music lovers spent in the store; it is certain that the demand for vinyl has been strong for a year, ”confirms Jean-François Rioux, owner of the record store Le Vacarme, rue Saint-Hubert.
With this demand also comes that of the large retailers (Walmart, Amazon) who, scenting for a good deal, are taking the means to expand their offer. Then there is the abundance of new releases, several artists having waited for an upturn in the pandemic to offer their projects, and the majors’ eagerness to market reissues and new albums by their artists in 33-rpm format. “We didn’t really see that in pop music before, but today the majors are getting into vinyl,” notes Valérie Bourdages. Since last summer, Lorde, Billie Eilish, Elton John, ABBA, to name a few, have released their vinyl albums. Even Ed Sheeran, who launched his own a few weeks ago, complained about Adele’s production delay!
The reasons for this crisis are also structural, according to Olivier Simard: in each of the stages of the production of a record, certain actors have a very specialized role, but they are not numerous enough to do all the work in time. “Between the moment a record company places the order and when we have received all the material necessary to press the records, it can take three months,” he laments.
One piece of the puzzle is of particular concern to the industry: hairspray. In short, to make vinyls, you have to install fingerprints on the presses (” stampers “In English), which are designed from the” master disk “, itself designed from a metal disk obtained using two techniques, the DMM (direct metal mastering, a copper disc, more economical) or the traditional, preferred for its results in terms of sound quality, of the aluminum disc covered with a lacquer.
However, since the fire of the Californian company Apollo Masters Corp in February 2020, there is only one company in the world that manufactures lacquers, the Japanese MDC Master Lacquer. Most of the studios that provide the stage mastering albums and who burn these on the lacquer have discs in reserve, but all the same. “Apollo supplied 80% of lacquers in the world, it has become the bottleneck of the entire production chain” in the medium term, warns Pierre-Luc Simard.
The return of the CD?
The perfect storm, then, said Valérie Bourdages. Faced with these delays, more and more artists are launching their albums in digital format and warning their fans that the delivery of the vinyl will be weeks, if not months, later. At Bonsound, we prefer to wait and offer the vinyl as soon as it is released: “Even if the public is accommodating and understands the delays, we prefer not to keep the fans waiting”, especially since the major part of album sales is made. at the time of its release.
If Bonsound copes with the situation despite everything, other smaller labels independents come to question the production of vinyl albums. This is the case of the young label Montrealer Hot Tramp Records, which plans to release the debut album by alternative pop singer-songwriter Maryze next spring. Sarah Armiento, Founder of Hot Tramp: “Today, we are told that the deadlines are seven months to receive vinyls, so we wonder: should we order compact discs instead? “
“Honestly, I would prefer the CD, because I think it’s better for an independent artist”, as the deadlines to receive the records are shorter (around three weeks), where the production costs are much less high and that the profit margin per album is much more advantageous than on vinyl, explains Armiento. “Frankly, it’s hard enough to make a profit out of vinyl for an independent artist, because you don’t order large quantities of albums, so the unit cost is higher. If, in addition, you have to wait to receive them before going on tour – because it is especially in concert that we sell discs -, you might as well choose the compact disc. “
Will the vinyl crisis revive the CD market? Sarah Armiento believes that the medium will appeal to the audience of Maryze: “Its fans are from Generation Z, who see the CD as a retro object”, an object otherwise much less expensive than a vinyl album.
The crisis has also caused in the last year an increase in the price of new vinyl – sometimes more than $ 5 of the unit price of an album – as well as an effect of scarcity in the shops, which deplores the owner of the record store Le Uproar.
“My shop has been in existence for three years; Over the past year, I have been accumulating more and more backorders [back order], says Jean-François Rioux. My lists of back order keep getting longer, especially for popular titles, the ones I was selling every week. It is not normal that these albums are not available, we are talking about big titles that Mr. and Mrs. Everybody buy. Even the sales representatives of distributors and record companies don’t know what to expect. It makes me miss sales, but it’s also a shame for the customers. “
“One of my distributors recently told me: ‘The crisis has only just begun, we still have months to live with it,’” warns Jean-François Rioux.