Closing Time

Quick year recap for the grinches in the house who can't wait for the holiday season to end

Photo by Miriana Dorobanțu on Unsplash

By the time you read this, Christmas will have passed, 2023 will be saying its farewells, and the new year will be gearing up for its first grand appearance.

Time spent with loved ones, or doing what you love, is a gift which I hope you received.

However, this time of year can be tricky for anxious peeps and generally for those who need, you know, just a normal weekend to chill at home and listen to their records (literally, my main audience). Hang in there, comrades. Normal life will resume soon.

Corporations which never got our business and people we haven’t seen in decades show up in our inbox with their meaningless wishes purely to boost their image and feel better about themselves.

Much as I didn’t want to add to the “year in review” pile of posts (nothing wrong with them—just too many), and I could happily explain the difference between a direct-drive and a belt-drive turntable as if it was any other Sunday, it’s kind of weird to talk shop through the frenzied noise of all these fireworks.

I’ll keep this short, I promise.

This year we saw vinyl surprass CD in units terms for the first time in 35 years. That’s huge.

Another huge event this year was Record Store Day, which is facing increasing criticism from indie labels. The rebuke is aimed primarily at big labels, so nothing new here, yet this budding animosity from indieland towards an event that was supposedly their salvation is an interesting plot twist.

Photo by Phillip Blocker on Unsplash

No doubt vinyl keeps growing; the main question is speed. This has, again, prompted some to yell peak vinyl like they do every year (they literally rehash their articles from last year with a few updates here and there).

I am not a big fan of predictions, particularly in such a niche sector like record collecting, and especially with a format that has managed to defy all conventional expectations.

What I will say, though, is that maybe we should expect fewer colour variants in the new year, if wars, labour shortages, supply chain issues and the cost of living crisis keep distorting the normal flow of supply and demand.

If this materialises, there might be some value distortions, with the (only) colour edition seeing its resale value shoot up significantly. If you can, and feel like supporting the artists or bands you love, buy the standard black vinyl to play, and the coloured one to keep in shrink.

Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

More anniversary editions of landmark/legacy records are almost a given, so try to grab first pressings of those iconic 1994 and 1998 records before the reissues hit the stores. Completists will be ready to pay. You’ll thank me later.

That’s it, folks. Happy new year and all that jazz. See you next week.

Thanks for reading/listening and, as always, happy spinning!