Vinyl instead of CDs?

[SnowCal]

My band has been discussing not pressing any CDs and instead doing a vinyl and digital release for our in-progress LP.

I'm a CD-phile, but even I know the format is past its expiration date. Even my only reason for buying tons of them is to use them in my car. Music at home is all .mp3s now. And for many people that's true everywhere they go.

Vinyl is a limited market, but it's also a niche market that's willing to pay a premium for what they want. I feel like we could create a poster with download codes on the back for audience members who want to buy something at gigs.

Any thoughts or experiences with this?

[IPYF]

Have you had a look at what it's going to cost to press to vinyl?

Unless you're planning on selling over 1000 units it's tough to make it feasible.

[bassboysam]

CDs are a waste of time. The only thing they come in handy for is for mailing promos.

Vinyl is cool and as much as it is seeing a resurgence it is still quite limited. Expect to pay anywhere from $1500-$2000 for 100-300 records. It is a difficult sell though and you would think selling 200 records should be pretty easy but it's not. Without label support distros will not carry your material so you have to do all the promotion and sales yourself.

If you are a touring band then that helps as people tend to buy at the shows.

We pressed vinyl twice and barely managed to break-even. But that includes money from digital sales as well as money from what we get from ticket sales and not just vinyl sales.

[Kmonk]

People who are willing to pay a lot for vinyl are looking for older rare albums and is a limited market. Most vinyl recordings do not get a high price. Your best bet today is to go digital. If you want to sell your songs you can set up your website to charge for downloads.

[ma4rk]

Perhaps consider a split LP with another band?

[Duckwater]

If you have the right fanbase, go for it. One of my guitar players is a vinyl lover and will pay upwards of $300 for something that he really wants to hear in analog.

[Rickenjosh]

My band has had considerable luck selling our music on vinyl and digital, they are a great merch item at shows, we press 300 at a time.

[hailet]

I've been collecting picture vinyl LP's for years. Make your LP something special and it may sell more. Of course making your vinyl special also means it will cost more to produce. Good Luck.

[bassboysam]

Pressing vinyl on the hope that it becomes collectible is not a good idea

[dtripoli]

I prefer vinyl over CD any day. Much warmer sound.
That said, the bands that do issue vinyl, do so as an adjunct to CD-iTunes releases and are usual a done so as a collectors item or for their few audiophile fans.
Besides, how many people actually own record players?
Sure, press records all day long but I'd hazard to guess maybe only1%-3% of your fans have turntables and they are probably DJ's.

When my daughter was young and discovered my vinyl collection, I told her it was the same as a CD only better.
Her response was,
How does it fit in the CD player?

[Ric5]

Just sell mp3s on the internet at $1 each.

[kai_ski]

For my band's next EP we would like to do a 7" vinyl pressing of a few of our "best" songs to sell at shows, and maybe include a download code for the LP at some point.