The Wall Street Journal is Totally Full of Sh*t When It Says the Vinyl Boom is Over. Here’s Why.
You may have heard rumblings from certain quarters that the vinyl resurrection is over. I have a long-running feud with a friend who is convinced that the whole thing was a fad, even though we’re now in the 10th year of vinyl growth in an environment where sales of physical and digital product are cratering.
Wall Street Journal writer Neil Shah seems to back up those opinions. However, Shah is totally full of shit. Utterly and completely brimming over with poop. To explain why, lLet me hand you over to this fantastic article from Analog Planet.
Back in 2015, Wall Steet Journal correspondent Neil Shah wrote a curious piece called “The Biggest Music Comeback of 2014: Vinyl Records”. Curious because while the headline heralds that “the biggest music comeback of 2014” was the resurgence of vinyl records, the story itself threw a mud caked wet blanket over the entire experience, one created by Mr. Shah’s cynical and highly selective use of the information he obtained by talking to people in the industry.
While all of the people in the industry that I know were then and are now highly optimistic about vinyl’s future, Mr. Shah used only negative quotes—and from people I know feel otherwise about vinyl’s future.
Shah wrote in that story that the vinyl business was “on its last legs” at a time when we all knew the precise opposite was the truth.
Shah described TPC, a huge, worldwide petro chemical conglomerate that I recently visited near Bangkok as “a three-man shop in Long Beach, California.” Why? Because it fit into his phony narrative—one he invented and “proved” via his highly selective, thoroughly dishonest use of quotes from people I know who are high on vinyl’s future. Very dishonest reporting.
Shah quotes History of Recorded Sound’s Len Horowitz, who related to Shah how a cutting lathe broke down and it took “weeks to come back online”. Shah calls the lathe a “sensitive piece of electronics.” Not really.
Lathes are the “brick shit houses” of the record producing chain. How often does a lathe break? Not often. Is there a lathe shortage? No. Do lathes often break down? No. Does the cutter head require maintenance and careful attention? Yes.
Shah wrote in that article “there has yet to be a big move by entrepreneurs to inject capital and confidence into this largely artisanal industry. Investors aren’t interested in sinking serious cash into an industry that represents 2% of total music sales.”
On what basis does Shah make such an assertion? On the basis of ignorance and/or not asking the right people the right questions.
You really need to read the rest of it. The story speaks the truth about vinyl.
