The Tortured Analogy Department
Print is having its own moment, not a vinyl moment.
Comparing what’s happened in the world of music sales over the last 15 years or so with what’s going on in magazines right now misses some fundamental differences between the formats and the markets.
But if we can ditch the tortured analogies, there is one key lesson magazine makers can learn from analogue music’s fight back.
Zero to hero
Through the 90s, vinyl records almost completely went away - total vinyl sales in the US in 2005 were worth $35 million and there was pretty much no large-scale vinyl production on the planet.
in 2023, less than 20 years later, US vinyl sales were worth $1.4 billion.
That’s great news for music makers, but here is where comparisons with the magazine market fall apart. Commercially, vinyl was all but dead. Print just won’t lie down and die.
Even after years of decline, PWC says consumer magazine sales alone were worth almost $60 billion in 2022. And that brings us nicely to the next reason why comparing print and vinyl is BS.
For reading, print is pretty much the perfect substrate.
For playing music, vinyl sucks.
Last year, for Media Voices, I wrote:
Back in the day, I could not wait to ditch my records for CDs. When vinyl is your only listening option and your approach to stuff is more mindless clutz than museum curator, it’s a massive pain in the arse. The scratches on my records weren’t a quaint reminder of the analogue space we inhabit: they were an annoying, sometimes catastrophic, impediment to my listening pleasure.
Vinyl made way for digital because digital was better. The vinyl comeback has nothing to do with sound quality or convenience. It’s all about the aesthetic and 17 years of straight growth in the vinyl markets have come because music labels and artists reimagined vinyl as a premium offer alongside the disposability of streaming.
Tay Tay knows
Vinyl only accounts for 11% of total music sales in the US, but the people buying it are passionate about their music. And that’s where magazine makers can learn something from the vinyl resurgence.
If you want an actual valid vinyl-print comparison to think about, consider the approaches of billionaire pop sensation Taylor Swift and 100-year old news magazine Time.
T-Swizzle’s fans are part of the most digitally aware music audience in history. And yet her newest album - The Tortured Poets Department - is out on vinyl, with a special edition available in the UK from HMV for £44.99.
Why would anyone stump up nearly £50 for something that they can stream for free through their regular music subscriptions? Because they adore Taylor Swift and this double album with a bonus track, collectible sleeve and 24-page book with replica handwritten lyrics and never-before-seen photos proves it.
Time magazine typically distributes 180,000 copies to retailers, but for its 2023 Person of The Year issue it sent out more than 837,000 copies.
Who was Time’s Person of The Year last year? You guessed it, Taylor Swift, and Time played a blinder. They created three different covers for the issue, with single copies selling for $9.99 and three-cover bundles selling for $19.89.
Feeding the Swifties’ need to prove their passion netted Time a 365% increase on average single-copy sales.
Mismanaging decline
So the biggest lesson magazine makers can learn from the music makers? To look forward not back. Vinyl growth hasn’t come from selling Pink Floyd reissues to middle-aged dudes with more money than sense. In 2022, eight of the year’s Top-10 titles were new releases.
The music business has embraced vinyl as an opportunity, a chance to add value to digital outputs. The magazine business needs to do the same, not because print and vinyl are the same, but because record buyers and magazine buyers are the same.
And next week I’ll exlain how.
Peter
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Excellent title