Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Joe W. on June 25, 2021 at 4:20pm

I can't speak for others although I prefer signed LPs over CDs.

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Permalink Reply by ShadyBootlegger on June 25, 2021 at 4:22pm

I prefer cds to vinyl take up less space but if I was to frame and display I would want a vinyl sleeve over a cd insert I guess 

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Permalink Reply by Rich on June 25, 2021 at 5:25pm

I guess I never really saw that as the case, though maybe it is. Might be a hard comparison to really nail down though.

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Permalink Reply by M. on June 25, 2021 at 8:20pm

First of all, I don't know if I've noticed that the UK has significantly more vinyl releases, though I also haven't heard of the vast majority of the artists posted in this section and therefor tend to ignore most of them. One could theoretically scrape through all of the discussions in this group and figure out the number of US versus UK vinyl offerings, but a.) that'd be a royal pain in the butt, and b.) there's no good way to tell the quality of the sample being analyzed.

IF the UK does actually tend to offer more signed vinyls than the US, I would make a couple of wild-ass guesses why:
1.) Many UK artists posted in this section don't have as large a fanbase as the US artists. The potential relevance of this smaller fanbase for UK artists is that there is less demand for signed items. Less demand could mean fewer total items being signed and so the logistical challenges posed by signing vinyls (compared to CDs) is less influential in them deciding what to format to sell.
2.) Similarly, the profit margin for vinyls might be greater than that for CDs. So if you're only going to release a limited number of signed items, then signed vinyls will net you more for your effort. The revenue for vinyl sales is higher per unit than CDs.
3.) Charting in the US, which seems to precipitate signed releases domestically, is based on unit counts not revenue. Signed CDs are easier/cheaper to manufacture and distribute, and their lower price point makes them attainable for more fans resulting in higher unit sales. If UK artists aren’t as concerned about UK charting, they might not be concerned with absolutely maximizing impact, and can therefor stick with vinyl.

However, it doesn’t make sense for the UK to release more signed vinyls simply based on demand. The US has greater unit sales for vinyl (almost 6x UK), and vinyl makes up a much larger percentage of overall physical media sales in the US compared to the UK (~46% US vs. ~23% UK). Interestingly, the US population is roughly 5x that of the UK, but US physical sales are only 3x that of UK physical sales when comparing total number of units sold (not revenue).

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Permalink Reply by Dan on June 25, 2021 at 10:31pm

Interesting topic. Also another thing to take into account amongst many, the race to number one.

For most artists there is a real appeal getting a number one album in the USA or the UK for many reasons, much less so being number one in France or Italy for instance (other EU countries also have a strong local language artists scene).

That partly explains why the UK market is flooded with signed items for UK residents only, as the sales need to be for the UK market.

It is a lot easier to get a UK number one than a US number one album, and the 'prestige' is real.

Look at bands like Blackpink trying to make history being the first female kpop band to get a UK number one album. They failed because they were head to head with Queen, but offered a ton of signed items to boost sales. 

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Permalink Reply by Andy W on June 26, 2021 at 1:00am

Agree with Dan that UK is more attractive to using signed physical copies to impact initial chart position and this is probably the primary reason (you see this through artist webstores, Recordstore and other sites owned by the record company or artist).

Additionally the UK independent record stores seem to have better web presence than their US counterparts with most offering additional signed copies on the web from their instore signings.

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