Page 9 - Zone Magazine Issue 013

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Danny Slade News Editor
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Vinyl outsells Digital Downloads for the first
time in years!
In the first week of December 2016 the tables were turned and the sale of vinyl records trounced digital download sales for the first time in many years. Vinyl sales hit £2.4m compared with the £2.1m made from digital music purchases, further proof that record shopping has gone mainstream and looks like Vinyl has not lost its alluring appeal to an ever-growing consumer market.
But before we ditch our digital accounts and dust of the 1210’s there are a number of variables that have to be taken into consideration. Firstly, when you look at the time of year it becomes clear that a lot of these sales are made up of Christmas purchases for people's loved ones and that these sales were not of dance tracks, although there is a growing consensus that points to the fact that the purchase of dance music on vinyl is on the up.
As a reviewer, I am finding that a vast amount of promos that I am sent for review are going to be vinyl releases when they hit the stores although they are sent as MP3 promo. This makes life a lot easier for the promo companies and the reviewers alike as there are no heavy piles of vinyl to deal with like there used to be in the days where you would receive around 200 vinyl promos a week.
But it does beg the question, why are more and more DJ’s returning to, or beginning to play vinyl when MP3s and to some small extent WAV files have become the norm over the last decade or so? Does it point to the fact that the so called modern DJ technology has finally been looked at as an inferior way for a DJ to practice his or her craft?
For years, Pioneer has been making it easier and easier for anyone with a healthy bank balance to become a DJ with features like BPM sync and software DJ systems like Serato and Traktor meaning that the time-honored tradition of beat matching is no longer important. All you need now is a usb stick or laptop computer loaded with the right music, a working knowledge of the effects unit and how to adjust the E.Q. (with your hands raised in the air) on the latest Pioneer mixer and the title of ‘Superstar DJ’ awaits you. If only it was that easy.
Although it is universally accepted that the pre-Christmas boost in vinyl sales has nothing to do with the DJ market I leave you with this sobering thought. If someone told me 20 years ago that DJ’s were soon to become the new musical superstars that they have now become with some DJ’s being multi-millionaires from playing other people's music I would have laughed, so who knows where we will be in another 20-year’s time? Viva la DJ Revolution!
FREE back- catalogue for ALL!!
The nice guys over at rREJET music are giving away their back- catalogue to everyone!
Celabrating their 16th year imprint this year, with some top quality tunes, supported by lots of big boys in the scene, grab your copies now!
http://www.facebook.com/rejekts
Also, if you subscribe to there promo list, you get promos up to 4 weeks in advance, digital & vinyl, and DJ mixes! All for 25.GBP
Thank you guys!
http://www.rejektmusic.bandcamp.com
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