Vinyl only releases; elitism,protectionism or just plain nonsense?

Do not let yourself close into this trap. I have not purchased a vinyl (apart from new timecode vinyls hehe) in the last 5 years and have not regretted it.

There is a lot of good vinyl only techno out there. It can be quite annoying but I think it is a good way for artists to make some money. I think it is easy to think you are missing out because there are a lot of good tunes on vinyl but the labels are only going to spend the money on vinyl if they know it will sell or they will lose money.

D-Jam, post: 28387, member: 3 wrote: What sounds/genres are doing this?

I look at “vinyl only” as “I will never be known, and I’ll spend my life complaining how vinyl died and no one respects music.”

Only times I’ve bought vinyl recently was for old tunes I can’t find digitally.

This is common in classic UK dubstep circles. Since dubstep draws a lot of its influences from Dub music, it also inherited the “dubplate culture”. Most big tracks from big-name producers are released in limited runs and vinyl-only, mostly for exclusivity. VIP-ownership is also a big deal, and the highest-rated dubstep DJ (DJ Youngsta) frequently plays sets composed only of unreleased dubplates and VIPs.

As a beginner dubstep DJ and an American, I feel left out for 2 reasons. First is that massive choons are released only on vinyl, which is inaccessible to me currently. They are also released on European record labels, meaning high import costs if one were to purchase. Secondly, it seems that only Europeans appreciate/are aware of this type of dubstep, so there are rarely events in which to hear these exclusive tunes on a “proper system”. The few events that do play in the US are found in the largest population cities, ie NYC, Chicago, LA.

As a side-effect of this vinyl-centric scene, digital DJing is frowned upon. An aspiring dubstep DJ wouldn’t gain any positive rep by bringing a controller/software to a UK dubstep night.

D-Jam, post: 28648, member: 3 wrote:

Case in point. If that tight little scene wants to complain how Skrillex “hijacked” their sound and cheesed it up, then perhaps they should do more to broaden their sound as opposed to trying to keep it their exclusive little world. .

Whats interesting is the best of the dubstep scene in the UK (IMHO) has already moved on to new sounds. Labels like Planet Mu, Eglo, Warp, TT, Night Slugs, Deep Medi Musik, Hessle Audio Swamp 81, Dummy Mag, Tectonic, Lucky Me, Merck etc etc have moved in many different directions and so have many of their followers. Some key artists that come to mind James Blake, Burial, Headhunter (aka Addison Groove), Mark Pritchard, OM Unit just to name a few have expanded well beyond their dubstep roots.

Maybe the vinyl only thing has had something to do with it, maybe a reaction to skrillex has helped it as well, or maybe there will always be progressives in the scene, just like there will always be musical conservatives who try to hold onto paradise lost.

Like D-Jam said its your choice about what sounds and which people you want to associate yourself with, so don’t let the medium hold you back. (My advice would be to embrace as many mediums as you can)