It seems too much success can be a problem according to Thaddeus Herrmann. I could never imagine that the quality LP industry was depending so much on just a few people.
Thanks for posting this. I enjoyed the read. I doubt the situation is very much different, although there has been an increase in capacity. Hopefully this helps the Indie labels a bit, although I'm not overly confident.
It ties in with a theory of mine: that when audiophiles buy into 'hype' they taint their own future experiences. By enthusiastically working themselves into a frenzy over vinyl they are simultaneously attenuating their own enjoyment of digital audio - the medium through which they could enjoy the most varied selection of music at the lowest cost and, as this article points out, will probably remain the only outlet for most recordings.
It ties in with a theory of mine: that when audiophiles buy into 'hype' they taint their own future experiences. By enthusiastically working themselves into a frenzy over vinyl they are simultaneously attenuating their own enjoyment of digital audio - the medium through which they could enjoy the most varied selection of music at the lowest cost and, as this article points out, will probably remain the only outlet for most recordings.
Yes, it's a great article. Written without any standard audiophile axe to grind, it dissects analogue audio in great detail, suggesting that it is a very complex, and even desirable, effect. But also that it's unpredictable and that you wouldn't want it applied to every recording. A subject for another topic, it also highlights that the effects are so complex and multi-layered that you can't adequately represent them with a few naive measurement values.
Since LPs have come back from the dead, it's not surprising that production has problems although my acquisitions in Europe (mostly classic jazz on DOL and Waxtime) have been of good quality. The lack of mass production facilities might not be that serious since vinyl will probably continue to be a niche product although the young seem to be the most numerous buyers. However I heard that new pressing machines were being produced in Canada, so who knows? The market will sort out the problems and I hope that sales keep soaring. Viva vínil!