10 Myths About Vinyl

Here are 5 of the 10 myths about vinyl records from recordpressing.com. These are the ones I liked the best, but you can read the rest here.

MYTH #10. Only old music sells on vinyl
False. In 2009, Radiohead was the #1 selling artist on vinyl. (Source: Soundscan 2009)

MYTH #9. Vinyl is dead
Not even close. Vinyl is the only physical music medium that is increasing in sales. In 2009, more than 2.5 million vinyl records were sold in the United States. Best Buy, the third largest music retailer, now has 50 stores that carry vinyl albums.

MYTH #8. New vinyl manufacturing equipment is currently being manufactured
False. There’s no doubt that pressing machinery is in high demand with the incredible resurgence of vinyl records. However, very little new manufacturing equipment is being made today. For example, the last cutting lathes were manufactured in the 1980s, and can only be found through independent service consultants and cutting room service departments.

MYTH #5. Gold records are made of gold
False. If this were true, I would have tried getting my hands on one a long time ago. When an artist goes “gold” or “platinum” it refers to the number of albums that were sold. Initially, trimmed and plated metal masters, mothers, or stampers were used to make the awards. Most gold and platinum records are actual vinyl records dipped in metallic paint. Sorry metal detector aficionados.

MYTH #2. Record labels are glued on
False. In the vinyl manufacturing process, special paper is used and baked to remove all moisture that makes adhesion possible. There is no glue used in the manufacturing process. Instead, special PVC melted into rubber patties, called “biscuits,” are placed between two record labels in a press. A metal stamper is used to apply pressure at a very hot temperature to melt and mold the biscuit and labels together to create the vinyl record.

Read the other 5 here.

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