Interview, Record Store Day - Chris on Radio 3!

In recognition of Record Store Day 2015, BBC Radio 3 invited Chris into the studio on Saturday morning to discuss vinyl, downloads, streaming and the future of the classical music record industry in general.

If you missed the show you can find a summary of the main talking points, and Chris's thoughts on them below.

(The small picture on the right shows Andrew McGregor (CD Review presenter), Alan Davey (Radio 3 Controller), Richard Morrison (The Times) and Chris gathered round the Radio 3 record player).

… on the growth in vinyl sales

Here at Presto we sell some vinyl, although for classical it is in fairly small numbers. In the UK, vinyl accounted for only 0.1% of classical sales last year, so it is very niche still and I don’t expect that to grow significantly.

… on why classical appears to have been slow to embrace the upsurge in vinyl sales

I don’t think it is a demographic thing – but I do think that market-size is a factor. We’ve got to remember that, across the whole industry, classical accounts for only 3-4% of all music...It's small and it's niche - and while niches are good they need to be financially viable as well.

… on the advantages of vinyl

Vinyl is a great thing to ‘collect’. The huge covers (compared to CD covers) make them more impressive to look at and browse through. I don’t buy the argument that vinyl ‘sounds better’, even when pristine, and the fact that a CD still sounds exactly the same 25 years after purchase (no pops, no scratches) makes a strong case for that format if the music is the main priority.

The fact that you can’t easily skip on an LP must also be great for the artists who make the recording, because it’s much more likely that someone is going to sit down and listen to the whole thing from beginning to end. With CDs - and even more so with streaming - you hear the first three seconds and might think ‘Actually I don’t like that track, I’ll move onto the next one…’

... on whether music is too cheap these days

The cost of the recorded music in real terms has come down tremendously over the years – it used to be a big investment to buy a recording, and now maybe it is too cheap. For a retailer and consumer it’s nice to be able to buy lots of things, and access lots of things [through a streaming service], without spending lots of money, but ultimately it must have an impact on how much we value that music.

… on the appetite for contemporary music

We know we have quite a few customers who particularly look out for contemporary new releases each month. Independent record labels are doing a tremendous job, and there are no shortage of interesting releases which people can sample through our sound samples. Some people we know listen to a release on a streaming service like Spotify to decide if they like it, and then come to us buy the CD if they do. People still seem to generally want the CD, as it comes with the booklet and full notes.

… on Brian Couzens, founder of Chandos, who sadly died last week

We owe a huge debt to Brian and what he has achieved at Chandos. His recordings have helped significantly in putting a number of British composers on the map and the discs of composers like Bax, Finzi, Howells, Vaughan Williams, and many others are often the top recommendations. The label continues to go from strength to strength under the guidance of Brian’s son Ralph, with the ongoing series of Mendelssohn and Janacek recordings near the top of my current shopping-list.

... on Chandos as a competitor in the download market

Chandos were one of the first people into the download market and it is testament to the visionary people like Brian and other independent labels who do want to drive the industry forward as well as make great recordings.

… on streaming services generally

You can access a recording of just about any work, so if you you’re not bothered about which artist or conductor you want it is a compelling offer. However, a significant number of classical labels don’t put their new recordings on streaming services, and in some cases withhold their entire catalogues. This is because as a model, for classical, it is not quite there yet: the financials of making a new recording compared to the revenue currently received does not add up. No doubt this will change in the future, and hopefully Presto can play a big part in helping to drive that change. Classical consumers also want to be able to find things easily, and they want access to the booklet and notes. Both of these demands are issues on most streaming services around today.

… on whether the CD is on the way out or not

It certainly doesn’t seem so! At Presto we still sell plenty, and our sales are still going up. The Official Charts Company report that in 2014, CDs accounted for 78% of classical music purchases, and actually grew slightly in total volume on the year before.

… on the future of CDs

While CDs generally are still going strong, we are finding some older recordings are being deleted as sales volumes are such that it is not really viable to repress in the traditional way. This is why we’re so excited by our ‘Presto’ CD initiative, where we print the discs one by one as people want them. It looks exactly like a factory pressed CD – you get the full booklet, the full inlay – and of course the audio is exactly the same as the CD. We have over 750 titles already and are on course to reach a few thousand by the end of the year. There are some really great recordings in here, and I feel a real sense of pride in being part of the process of making these available again. We’ve had tremendous support already from Universal Music, and are looking forward to bringing other labels into the initiative in the near future.

… on SACD, and Hi-Resolution downloads

For Presto, SACD releases still perform well, and we believe many people buy them partly because of the better audio quality (and in some cases surround-sound) which they offer. However, it hasn’t got across-the-industry backing, and so it seems at the moment that the future of ‘better-than-CD-quality’ sound really lies in the download market and 24-bit FLAC downloads in particular.

… on the complexity of Hi-Resolution downloads for the all but the most tech-savvy

The range of file formats is getting narrower – FLAC seems to be establishing itself as the 24-bit format. In terms of hi-fi equipment however and how to integrate it into your home, then there are still a lots of options (perhaps too many options), so you need a pretty comprehensive understanding or you need to seek specialist advice. The relative complexity compared to playing a CD is probably the biggest factor holding Hi-Resolution sound back, more so than the cost in my opinion.

… on whether Hi-Resolution sound is actually better

On good equipment it is definitely noticeably better. I was up at Linn Records in Glasgow a few weeks ago, visiting their factory, and we sat down in their listening room to hear some comparisons of the same music on rubbish mp3, CD quality, and 24-bit (96kHz and 192kHz). On the 24-bit versions I could really hear the difference in quality. There was a spatial awareness in the sound which really elevated the listening experience to a whole new level. Admittedly we were listening on £100,000-worth of equipment (and not everybody’s got that!) but if you want the best-quality sound, then that’s the future, and I’m sure you can achieve noticeable improvement without spending quite so much money.