In all honesty, I love the lawrence arms. I discovered them about three years ago and have been hooked since. Yet, after reading this article, I can’t help but think this is a desperate attempt to sell more records. I guess you gotta do what you gotta do to survive on making music these days. Especially on an independent label. I am just amazed at the resurgence of vinyl record versions lately. The underground music scene has been doing this since day one. And now its seems more successful than ever. Or maybe its more on the forefront because CDs are on their way out. I just wonder why the major labels haven’t caught on yet. Maybe there’s no market for vinyl versions of Madonna’s latest record? Sound logical.
Labels like Fat wreck chords and Suburban Home Records seems to be running with this. They’ve done things like releasing all of those Me first and the gimme gimme square dance record series and they sold out in a heartbeat. Along with the reprints of some of their first records. So is this the new business model for independent record labels? Not only vinyl but the special edition versions of previously released recordings? Its seem logical. You can’t download a vinyl LP or special-packaged CD. I personally love the idea of getting a digital download version with the purchase of the the vinyl. I wish every new record was available this way.
But it seems not everyone is jumping on this band wagon. Again, it appears to be the major labels. I read another article about how some artists aren’t even giving their music to iTunes and gambling on the future sales of CDs. I think that’s only a matter of time. ACDC will thrive for a while on their older fan base who don’t know how to use iTunes, or bit torrent, or a computer at all. Kid rock is another story. My theory is as soon as he writes hit of his own, he and his management will be singing another tune (pun totally intended).