Loss of Dublin Vinyl a big blow
Despite a huge upsurge in the popularity of vinyl, Dublin Vinyl operated at a loss in 2022 and 2023.
Producing vinyl is very challenging these days, and despite a huge upsurge in popularity of the format, Dublin Vinyl operated at a loss in 2022 and 2023. The covid-19 pandemic, Brexit and the war in Ukraine were big blows, and the company also saw the loss of a major contract in the last few years. Remaining contracts will be honoured, but sadly Dublin Vinyl will soon be no more.
Dublin Vinyl opened in 2016 and has been very supportive of the domestic scene, which is thriving here in recent years. Numerous artists and bands have had their records pressed by Dublin Vinyl, but sadly, the huge demand for vinyl these days means that pressing plants are constantly under strain as well.
Dublin Vinyl, who are actually pressing records for loads of different labels, and are even pressing Taylor Swift records, would not only have served the independent vinyl scene, but also the big labels such as Sony too.
The vinyl boom in recent years means that huge pop acts such as Taylor Swift and Adele sell massive amounts of vinyl, and it has helped cause huge delays in the supply chain.
Independent artists now have to wait months and months for vinyl to be pressed and it’s even bad for major artists.
Having lived through numerous vinyl revivals over the years, I’ve never seen a situation where it’s been like this, and music fans of all ages are buying records.
There’s a lot more record players being sold too and while the delays frustrate record buyers, many of us still buy our favourite albums on vinyl. At one stage a few years ago, I thought the latest revival was a mere fad, but it’s definitely more sustained these days and I think vinyl will continue to be in demand.
It’s even reached supermarkets and other mainstream retail outlets at the moment, but it’s generally independent shops that have kept the record buying scene alive.
In Cork, we are blessed to still have a number of these outlets trading, and there are also second hand shops and regular record fairs running too.
At a record fair I’d often bump into some of the very same people who I would have met at these same fairs as a teenager in the late 80s and early 90s, but there’s many new generations of record buyers here too.
Music fans of all ages buy records and it can be literally anything from leftfield jazz to mainstream pop.
The big difference between buying them now and when I was young is the price and, even discounting inflation, records are more expensive in 2024.
Second hand records were very cheap when I was a kid and the record industry was making a big push into fooling people into thinking that the format was becoming obsolete. They also knew that many music fans would end up buying what they had already had on vinyl on the newer CD format, and as we all know, CDs were cheaper to produce and were sold even more expensively than wax. Records are expensive but record shops remain an integral part of the music community.
We are so lucky to have the likes of Plug’d, Bunker, Music Zone, 33RPM, The Vinyl Lounge and Rip-All. All of the owners and staff of these independent shops are passionate about music and do more than just sell records.
Most host gigs, listening parties and other community and arts driven events, and they have been unbelievably supportive to our local musicians and artists too.
I could tell you a million stories about how generous the likes of Ray, Jim, John and all of the others have been to me personally over the years, and having put in a few years on the other side of the counter in Comet in the 90s, I’ve seen first hand how these shops are at the hub of our music scenes.
Hopefully they will continue to survive in the next few years; selling records is rarely a lucrative business for small shops.
Vinyl will continue to thrive and survive too. I prefer having the newest sounds at my fingertips when I want them, but there’s still something extra special about hearing and playing something on record. And it’s a format that will live forever!
