DJs and music industry opinion formers discussed what vinyl really means to them and the music business last Friday in a live streamed debate from East London's Google Campus.
On the panel was Mo'Wax boss James Lavelle - who recently raised over 30K via Kickstarter for a retrospective of album artwork.
‘When the world ends, they won’t find a cloud,’ James argued (referring to the digital music platform Soundcloud) ‘, there will just be a stack of vinyl…’
Also part of the debate, Playaz boss and Kiss FM presenter DJ Hype made the point that vinyl isn't cost effective for record labels and that technology moves on. ‘There’s no profit for the label in vinyl,’ he explains ‘, the sales are minimal, and it’s not worth it. Technology moves on. I don’t have a brick phone, I have an iphone… it’s a dying art form and we need to accept that it’s going…’
Making the case for the digital format was Peter Adediran, Music Industry lawyer and author of 'A Practical Guide to Business Law and the Internet', who stated 'Music Week may have reported an increase of vinyl sales, but no one is investing in vinyl production companies, the critical mass consume music digitally – the devices they play music on are for a digital format…’
Also present, DJs and label owners Funk Butcher and Sonny Wharton, who agreed that the craft of DJing should include being able to mix.
Mick Wilson, DJ Magazine's Technology Editor added also that whilst todays clubs might have top spec soundsystems it is harder to keep levels and sound quality constant using vinyl.
The debate -reached a furore on the twitter feed of Rinse FM's vinyl warrior Uncle Dugs, with international artists, fans and media getting involved.
Soundplate Editor Matt Benn said 'Hundreds of tweets proved that this is an issue that people really are very passionate about. It was amazing to see quality DJs and artists such as Atjazz, Hype, Amy Studt, Slipmatt and DJ Pioneer getting involved, as well as labels and radio stations - brands such as Breo, Pioneer, Native Union and Desperados. This debate definitely marks the first of many.'
Watch the debate in full, chaired by The Telegraph's Clive Morgan, at http://debate.soundplate.com/
