Why are so many artists’ delaying their albums? A look into the global vinyl shortage
A mix of high demand from mainstream artists, Brexit and COVID play a part in the delays of vinyl pressings.
By Mia Lambdin
The news of the backlog of vinyl pressings first came to light when it was reported that Adele’s latest album ‘30’ had more than 500,000 copies pressed, allegedly causing a long line of backlog and limiting the resources needed to create vinyl for other musicians. This came at a time where multiple major artists were trying to get vinyls pressed – arguable due to finally releasing albums late into the COVID-19 pandemic as they now had the ability to tour their new music – as Ed Sheeran told The Kyle and Jackie O Show in July of 2021, “You have to do it really upfront, and Adele had basically booked out all the vinyl factories […] it was like me, Adele, Taylor Swift, ABBA, Elton John; all of us were trying to get our vinyl printed at the same time.”
Despite this, Adele can’t be blamed for booking so many pressing slots in order to meet theanticipated high demand for her album to be released on vinyl – from 2020 the sales of vinyl records in the UK have been the highest since they were 90’s, with the rise in sales starting in June 2020 when record stores reopened for the first time after COVID-19 lockdown. This comes with big artists like Taylor Swift releasing multiple editions of vinyl for diehard fans who are eager to collect every kind – for example, Swift released at least eight different variants of her album, ‘Folklore’, on vinyl in 2020. Many other mainstream artists have followed in these footsteps, making what used to be kept for events like Record Store Day the standard, and consequently putting pressure on vinyl factories to have the resources to meet their demand.
Keeping this in mind, there has been a recent trend in artists releasing albums and their subsequent vinyl records sometime later – Olivia Rodrigo’s hit debut album ‘Sour’ was only released on vinyl three months after the album was (with an anniversary rerelease in a variety of colours), Hayley Williams released the vinyl of her second solo album ‘Flowers for Vases/descansos’ seven months after release due to high demand – and even Taylor Swift released her ‘Evermore’ vinyl six months late. These setbacks of release potentially risk the vinyl not reaching their potential amount of sales as would have reached if they were released at the time as the LP came out – but perhaps these artists can afford the loss of profit.
The renaissance of vinyl buyers and collectors means demand is higher than ever, with mainstream artists able to supply this demand but leaving indie and DIY musicians struggling to make ends meet. Speaking with members of independent Kingston record company Banquet Records, they revealed; “it’s harder for indies – they have to push back their releases six months which means a lot of albums come out at the same time. The loss of sales in the first week of the album release [due to no vinyl sales] can be hard for them.” The uncertainty of the vinyl industry means smaller artists have been pushing back their album releases since 2020 in order to match up their vinyl release date with that of their LP in order to maximise sales, but often leading to clashes in release dates between musicians, creating competition and making it harder for the smaller artists to chart.
This also links to a bigger problem – streaming services. Banquet Records also shares, “vinyl collectors don’t mind waiting, but other customers don’t understand when they see the release on Spotify and think the vinyl will be out – but they have to wait no matter where they go because no store has the stock.” Along with this confusion from artists’ fans, the vinyl issue could partially be solved if streaming services paid musicians more money per stream. For merchandise, vinyls give artists the biggest profit – especially when multiple limited edition variants are released – which explains why both mainstream and indie artists want to get as many out there as possible in order to make some profit. If streaming sites like Spotify or YouTube were fairer in how they paid artists, there wouldn’t be such a big reliance on vinyls to be pressed in time for artists’ releases.
Ultimately, the shortage in vinyl and the delays it causes for artists stems from a high demand from fans and the musicians themselves, as well as the after-effects of the pandemic, with artists pushing to release their albums all at the same time. The resurgence of vinyl has been on a rise since the early 2010’s, but seems to have reached its boiling point with demand at an all-timehigh – an album release is now expected to include multiple variants of coloured vinyl, something that used to be kept for special anniversary releases or Record Store Day. Independent musicians are getting the worst end of this crisis, as vinyl collectors may be patient and willing to wait in order to collect the pieces they want for their collection – but in the longterm this does not support smaller artists who count on physical releases as a main point of profit, whetherselling vinyl online or on tour. The shortage doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon with record labels recognising the potential profit to be made, ordering more and more vinyl in various variants for their artist to make a large profit but creating a large backlog,monopolising the vinyl industry.
