The cost of LP's and CD's - an observation

Check out this graph sgreg1. A lot of younger people do buy vinyl, but keep in mind this graph is bought at least 1 album, not the total bought.  Over 55 are buying more than ever, perhaps a grasp at youth :-).   The group 45-54 bought less in 2019 than 2018.  This would be the first group who grew up with vinyl, but quickly replaced it early into adulthood. They don't have quite the attachment. Younger buyer are buying, but no real growth.


https://www.statista.com/statistics/1008779/vinyl-record-buyers-us-by-age/

So many CDs were made since 1982 that the ever-increasing amount of used ones has driven down prices as many people switched to the convenience of streaming. Ditto for movie DVDs! I prefer ownership of physical media. And will continue to buy CDs and DVDs at bargain prices.

I do most of my used LP buying on eBay for convenience. In my area (Pasco County, Florida) the Goodwills and thrift shops have sparse collections to hunt through. Not like where I previously lived - Fairfield County, CT (wealthiest part of a wealthy state). I hardly ever buy any new (reissue) LPs. Too expensive!

I shop at a local "antique store" for CDs. They were $2.99 when I first started shopping there (about 3 years ago). Then, they were lowered to $1.99, later 99 cents, now 50 cents. That’s not deflation, just supply and demand. Every thrift store in town, even Goodwill Stores, sells CDs for a dollar!

The decline of CD prices and the rise of LP prices are due to lots of factors but here are a few of them.

CD pricing followed a typical pattern for any new technology. At first they were expensive because manufacturing efficiencies hadn't been fully realized and because they were novel. New techy stuff is expensive at first and then comes down in price.

Besides manufacturing prices coming down there is excess capacity in the CD industry. Excess capacity leads to lower margins and lower prices.

Many catalog CDs have a renegotiated royalty formula to help the record label put out the CD at a lower price to attract sales.

Vinyl LPs were mass produced when CDs were a new thing. The plants were turning out zillions of records often at low quality. I've got hundreds of LPs that I bought in the 70's and 80's that are just awful - noisy, clicks, pops, you name it. I tried returning them a few times only to find that the new copy was just as bad. My experience agrees with corelli - I viewed CDs as a definite improvement in SQ when they came out.

Nowadays Vinyl is the boutique format. The records are made with more care and are of much better quality than they were 50 years ago. LPs cannot be mass produced in the same way as CDs so the manufacturing cost is higher. The surviving pressing plants care about the quality of their records and they understand that if they produce garbage they will destroy their market.

Lastly, the bands and labels consider LPs to be a high margin item. Vinyl sales are often a major source or revenue for modern bands. Money from streaming (unless you are Beyonce) is insignificant. If you buy  LPs from your favorite musicians you are genuinely contributing to their survival.

BTW, I have hundreds of CDs that I bought for under $5. There are lots of places to hunt for cheap CDs with urban record stores being a good place to start.