Annoying trend? New vinyl equalization and compression

Quick story with parrallel links...

A few members of our (local and loosley formed) Vinyl Club were treated to a (rarely granted) tour of the newest and largest record pressing plant in Canada, just under two months ago. (We were told they produce about 16 million units/year, all DMM, for almost every Record Company) Our tour was arranged by a member's neice, who was an employee and surprisingly, our tour was conducted by the VP of the plant, a former Rock Musician  and Auto Industry Automation expert (all round Nice Guy too).

During the first stage, an orientation/Q&A session in the Boardroom, the VP was interested in what our interests were (all six of us have mid to Hi End systems), what our backgrounds were, specifically were any of us Musicians (I was P/T, early in life and one other still is) and how many records did each of us own (all in the thousands...). He told us about their short-ish history (about a dozen years) blah, blah, blah... Then we covered vinyl science, groove math, pressure, packaging... all that stuff but when we asked him about His Own System... it was a $200.00 Best Buy TT and wireless speakers...AHHHH WHATTT? And when one of us presented  Analogue Production and Mobile Fidelity records for comment and comparison in sound quality, packaging and marketing... we were told "Waste of material, lost revenue and general nonsense". Ooookay...

The tour proceeded to the Plant, it was clean, interesting and busy. We saw Taylor Swift, Picture Discs, 10"... all kinds of product being maufactured by ral people and most seemed engaged and happy. Great outing...fine people, but Yeah... gotta wonder...

"His Own System... it was a $200.00 Best Buy TT and wireless speakers...AHHHH WHATT?"

ticat-

The majority of new "vinyl" is likely being consumed by non audiophools with similar equipment.

My neighborhood store owner tells me that his Millennial/Gen Z/hipster crowd

often buy "vinyl" and don’t own a turntable.

Vinyl today is the Hard Medium that assists with keeping a Band / Performer afloat.

It is the revenues made through this merchandise sales, that enables them to exist and be able to grow their exposure.

The remuneration from streaming platforms is killing off natural born performers.

Collecting Vinyl and keeping it in the Cellophane, is a trend that is proving to be very good financially for struggling performers. These collectors are not with a concern for the pressing Quality, they just want Covers without creases.    

pindac

Sad but so true. I have witnessed this with my own eyes, My wife's adult son

was horrified by my suggestion to actually play one of his records!

I can still remember saying "playing them is what they are for"

I still can't believe it!

@seekerbob my son has never bought a record, but has watched me all his life putting records on to a turntable. All we can do is to condition the young to regard this as just another way to play music. A few of them might be alert enough to the stimuli in their auditory cortex to understand that it might be the best way. Maybe we should play compact cassettes as an alternative?