20 - Underground music and market determinism: two worlds collide - Lukas Weber
The previous few years have laid witness to a shift in the way that consumers listen to music. In 2020, Discogs, the world’s most comprehensive crowdsourced database of electronic music, confirmed that the most popular physical music format sold was vinyl; Discogs vinyl sales were up over 40% from the previous year, having facilitated the sale of almost 12 million records. [1]
The reemergence of vinyl is emblematic of retro trends that are currently permeating our culture, with the resurgence of 90s fashion and polaroid photos as other examples. When we consider why, consumers often associate retro and nostalgic brands with older times, which were less commercial, safer, and more comprehensible. Perhaps this movement is offering solace and comfort by bringing back fond memories to consumers in their quest for authenticity.
Although the revival in vinyl has been largely positive, much to the dismay of record collectors, this has been accompanied by a meteoric rise in the market price of certain electronic records.
Generally, the affected records tend to be electronic music that were engineered and released in the 90s. Moreover, the songs typically have no more than a few thousand views on YouTube and cannot be found for download on file-sharing websites, such as SoulSeek, giving them an ‘underground’ atmosphere.
DJs that predominantly play underground electronic music spend countless hours trawling through Discogs, searching for those hidden gems that have not yet been popularised. Doing so, allows them to keep their sets fresh and exciting by playing tunes that the majority of the audience are unlikely to have heard before. This is, essentially, the essence of the ‘underground’ electronic music scene.
I have detailed a few examples of records below that have increased in price by several multiples:
In both examples, the current price of the record has more than doubled since the original listing price.
An extreme example of this price surge is the most expensive record ever sold on Discogs, Scaramanga Silk – Choose Your Weapon, which recently sold for a staggering £30,000. As few as 35 people claim to be in possession of the record, and no electronic copy is available to listen to on YouTube or file sharing applications.
This is in stark contrast to the price of popular records, which have remained relatively consistent. An example of this is one of the best-selling electronic vinyl releases in 2020, Peggy Gou – Moment EP, which can be purchased for approximately £30 (at the time of writing). This record has not deviated from the original listing price.
Given how few people will ever hear some of these ‘underground’ records being played, it seems almost counter-intuitive to charge hundreds of pounds for them. This begs the question as to what justifies the increase in price of these types of records?
The three competing forces which explain the manic market prices we’re observing today are discussed below.
1. Economics 101: supply versus demand. Given that very few of the 90s records receive represses, the supply is restricted to the few copies that still exist. Looking at the two record examples above, we see that the number of people that want the record is over 10 times the number of people that have the record. With such demand, it truly is a ‘sellers market’, meaning that even with sellers raising the prices, there is likely to remain a consumer who is willing to purchase the record.
2. They don’t make ‘em like they used to. Drum machines used to produce music in the 80s and 90s provide a different sound that is not readily available in modern music production applications, such as Logic and Ableton Live. The matchless sound of these archaic drum machines may well provide the edge over modern electronic music.
3. Keeping the sound underground. With electronic music more popular than ever, raising the market price of certain records serves as a way of keeping the records out of the hands of the masses, which keeps the sound ‘underground’. However, this may be detrimental to the longevity of the underground scene; rare records more likely end up in the hands of consumers with more disposable income than the average record digger. DJs with more disposable income will likely be able to harbour the rarest tracks, generating an inequity within the music scene.
The comeback of retro media has been largely positive, with consumers being transported to more comfortable times through nostalgia. However, as a direct result of this, the competing commercial forces are no longer in harmony, and have reacted by placing additional pressure on the price of underground records. As records grow increasingly expensive, can the underground electronic music scene survive?