The price of vinyl: Are collector’s box sets really worth it?
Deemed obsolete in a world of CDs and MP3 downloads, there was a time not too long ago when new vinyl releases were few and far between, reserved for the last few wax obsessives clutching their turntables. Now, however, the vinyl industry is booming, with more and more records being released every week, causing financial nightmares for completist music fans hellbent on curating a perfect collection.
One aspect of the vinyl boom that seems geared exclusively towards those completist collectors is box-set releases, but are these overly expensive, cumbersome releases really worth your time?
Box sets are, by no means, a new addition to the vinyl landscape. The history of the format goes back decades, with classical suites and big band jazz performances some of the first records to be released in a long-form, box-set format. However, the modern music industry seems to pump these out with exhaustive regularity. Every month, there seems to be a new, super-expensive box set attached to some legendary name, occasionally offering some new material or interesting extras, but predominantly feeling like a cash-grab by record executives capitalising on the success of these notables.
Take the recent Bruce Springsteen box set, Tracks II, for instance. Composed of seven LPs originally recorded between 1983 and 2017, the box set included 82 previously unreleased songs by ‘The Boss’, promising to offer an unparalleled insight into the songwriter’s extensive career. Inevitably, those previously unheard tracks and wealth of material was more than appealing to Springsteen’s legions of devoted fans but, on a purely surface level, they ended up paying £280 (£40 per LP) for a collection of songs which Springsteen himself deemed not good enough to release when they were originally recorded years ago.
More recently, a new David Bowie box set has been announced, I Can’t Give Everything Away, commanding an eye-watering price tag of £400 for 18 LPs chronicling Bowie’s output from 2002 to his death in 2016. Both Springsteen and Bowie have incredibly devoted fan bases, some of whom will undoubtedly shell out hundreds of pounds for these releases, but, in a world where money is incredibly tight and music fans are being fleeced at every turn, what place is there for these overly-expansive releases?
A cynical, but not totally inaccurate, take on the rise of box sets in recent years might link the releases to a growing sense that collecting vinyl records is a hobby, rather than a music format interest. Increasingly, we are seeing releases emblazoned with ‘limited edition’ stickers, on coloured vinyl or pressed in apparently limited numbers, reeling collectors in with the kind of consumerism that would make many music artists reel with disgust.
Box sets are an extension of that ‘limited edition’ collecting consumerism; as evidenced by the fact that these releases often come complete with a wealth of cheap tat—a limited edition badge, slip mat, or collection of stickers which add no real value to the release other than a few quid to the retail price.
On the other hand, the landscape of music consumption is currently dominated by streaming services that pay artists very little. It is often said that buying a record, or buying some kind of merchandise, will always help an artist continue to thrive more than many thousands of streams. So, it should follow that buying a £200 box set would give an unparalleled boost to the artists.
In reality, though, those expansive, expensive box sets are typically only released by established, legendary artists and are usually controlled entirely by record label executives intent on making a quick buck out of previously shelved material. What’s more, as in the case of Bowie, a lot of these releases come up after the original artist has already passed away, adding a new sense of cynicism to the proceedings.
Aside from anything else, there is still an ongoing issue of smaller, up-and-coming, and independent bands being unable to get their music pressed onto vinyl because major labels tend to be prioritised at the remaining pressing plants. Clogging up those plants with endless re-releases and box sets of material that either weren’t successful or good enough to be released decades ago hardly seems like an effective way to keep the music industry thriving. Is that seven-LP gap of scrapped Springsteen albums really worth filling?
