How 3D Printing Could Democratize Vinyl Revival and Become the Future of Independent Record Stores
Sometimes I have new ideas. Some are crazier than others, some more difficult to execute than others but instead of chasing them away, I usually write them down as a one-pager. I then store them in a drawer and go back to them from time to time to reflect on if they still make sense.
This is the first of a series of posts to share some of those ideas with you.
The “vinyl resurrection” is being threatened by the lack of pressing capacity. If at first independents pushed vinyl resurgence, with some help from initiatives like Record Store Day, they were quickly outpaced by big labels who now flood pressing plants with their catalogue reissues leaving none or little space for new releases from smaller labels and independent artists. Although new pressing machines are being created, it seems it will take a few years for supply to meet demand given the yearly growth rate of vinyl sales (53% in 2016). Meanwhile, smaller labels and artists will keep struggling to get their releases out there and we music fans will keep feeling frustrated for not getting our hands on this great new record.
It seems to me that we in the music industry are again reacting instead of acting. We’re using old methods to solve a current problem and we’re focused on the present. Shouldn’t we be looking for solutions for the next twenty years instead? And shouldn’t we be thinking about new business models around vinyl instead of replicating the old one?
Vinyl 3D Printing
Back in 2012, MIT Media Lab student Amanda Ghassaei, published an experiment with the first 3D printed vinyl record. It’s a rough experiment, as you can see from the video below, it shows the potential however and that, if proper resources are put into this, it’s technologically possible to 3D print vinyl records.
When I first saw this I thought “this is finally happening, how long will take for this to become commercially available?” Almost five years have passed since then and nothing happened.
Imagining Product and Business
First things first, I’m fully aware how complex the music industry is and how difficult it would be to get everyone involved to agree in such a new model. Still, please allow me to dream, it’s what we humans do best.
Let’s assume that the algorithm to perfectly convert vinyl master audio recordings into 3D printed vinyl records and the material compound already exists. This venture fund decided to put some cash in the hands of these talented engineers and they came up with the perfect solution, which is now patent pending. Now what? How do we make it into a product? How do we distribute it? How do we make money?
Currently production is often far away from points of sale, the UK market is mostly fed by pressing plants in Czech Republic, so the immediate use for this technology would be to bring manufacturing closer to retailers reducing transportation and distribution costs. Warehouses in each market would have some stock and a few printers to respond on demand. Even ecommerce giants like Amazon could benefit from this. Instead of the usual “out of stock, more coming in soon” the only variable would be “delivery time”, which would change depending if the item had to be printed or not. We’re talking about constant availability! This is already a better scenario than we currently have but what if we take a little bit further? What if production is in the point of sale?
Printing In Store and On Demand
To make things easier let’s give a name to this hypothetical company, let’s call it MusicPrint. Based on the “audio to 3D” algorithm, MusicPrint developed a suite of products that allow this whole new business to work. It all starts in the studio so MusicPrint created a plugin to every major audio software which allows to export the vinyl master recording in STL format, a 3D format recognized by most 3D printers. By making the plugin available to third parties, the company enters the studio workflow and makes adoption easier lowering barriers to entry. Obviously, MusicPrint also offers an audio to 3D conversion software to easily convert back catalogue.
Now the 3D file exists and it needs to be distributed together with the artwork. Although vinyl is directly printed in the store, it doesn’t eliminate distribution. What happens is that physical distribution moves once again to digital. Distributors like PIAS, Believe or the Orchard will receive the 3D file, metadata and artwork and distribute it to MusicPrint in the same way they already do with digital audio to Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, etc. In a way, MusicPrint becomes another DSP (Digital Service Provider).
Remember, this is a whole new business so MusicPrint also creates the printer. They team up with a small size 3D printer maker such as Portuguese startup BeeVeryCreative and create a small size vinyl 3D printer that can be placed behind any record store counter and print on demand vinyl records.
In the business’ early stage, MusicPrint sells the printer, the compound material in different weights and colours and the record sleeves. Stores will make monthly orders of compound and, instead of a full order of ready to sell records, they order a mix of records and consigned record sleeves.
Use Case
“Eleanor” enters a store looking for the latest Bon Iver record. Unable to find it, she asks the store assistant for help. It’s sold out but the assistant suggests they can print one for her. It will take about an hour. She chooses 180g red-coloured vinyl, gives her contact details and pays for the record. Approximately one hour later, she receives a message saying her record is ready and available for pick up.
You’re probably thinking that the time it takes to print a record might be a problem. Well it depends how we look into it, this can actually be an opportunity to increase in-store retention and therefore cross sales. It’s also an opportunity to get data from the customer like contact details and music taste, which can then be use for targeted promotional campaigns.
Benefits for Record Stores
Printing vinyl on demand would allow record stores to easily control stock and, most importantly, never lose a sale — constant availability. Also, time spent in store waiting for the record to be printed could increase cross sales. “Eleanor” will probably browse the records in the store to kill some time while she waits. She might find another record she likes or simply fall in love with the record that’s been playing in the store. Time spent in store increases the probability of impulse purchases.
Record stores should also be prepared to take advantage of this potential increase of time spent inside the store by providing a more complete experience. Stores like Rough Trade East in London already provide other services like cafeteria. Why not drink a cup of coffee, eat a slice of cake and read the latest music news while you wait for your new fresh vinyl?
Although I currently work with state of the art technology for the music industry on Musikki/Exclusiph my relationship with Music actually started through brick and mortar. I worked for 6 years in a record store chain to pay for University and when I graduated, I opened an independent record store called wahWah that only opened at night (no, it wasn’t for vampires). Our biggest concern at the time was stock; we wanted to keep it low so we would always have positive cash flow to order all new releases. The way we solved it was by designing the store in a way that it seemed to be always full of records and by having a good ordering system, which allowed us to order basically everything the customer wanted. Records in stock were handpicked and that helped empower us as top curators as well. People would come to our store for recommendation. Another detail was that there was a pub on the same floor and we would let people in and drink their beer or red wine with us. It worked, the store stayed open for almost 5 years, — had to close it when Musikki started — stock was always low and most of our sales were from either cross sales or client orders. This happened with delivery times from 2 to 3 weeks, now imagine if delivery time was 1 hour.
Benefits For the Music Fan
Diversity! Freedom of choice! I don’t want to buy only catalogue reissues; I want to buy that new record I’ve been listening to on streaming for the past few weeks. I also want it now and not in 3 months when the vinyl edition is finally out.
Benefits For Artists
Equal opportunities! No more bottleneck of vinyl pressing that pushes smaller artists and labels to the end of the line. Any band could have their releases in vinyl. Even if the band only has one fan, that fan can buy the record because there won’t be any minimum pressing quantities. This obviously means less initial investment from the artist or label for vinyl releases. They can use that money to promote the record instead.
It’s also easier to convert momentum into immediate sales. Nowadays everyone is fighting for the listeners’ attention. There’s so much good music out there and so many channels pushing new stuff at us that it’s becoming uncommon for someone to stay hooked on a record for months. If you don’t have your record ready to sell when your music is creating some sort of momentum, you might have lost your opportunity to sell. For example, last year I was hooked on Julien Baker’s Something. Couldn’t get the record during that period, it was only sold at her US label website, so it eventually lost priority on my shopping list.
[By the way, Damon Glover if you’re reading this, looking forward to that VR vinyl edition but please release Childish Gambino’s record ASAP. I desperately need that! ]
Beyond Record Stores and E-commerce
Let’s continue pretending. MusicPrint had a very good first year and this new concept is here to stay. What happens next?
Well, competition of course! New printer models hit the market promising faster printing periods and becoming even more portable. New opportunities appear with companies created to solve specific parts of this process like, for example, on demand record artwork printing. Of course there are also new companies offering similar or exact services to MusicPrint. Is this bad for MusicPrint? Of course not, they’ve created a new market and hold patents for the 3D Audio file and the compound material (remember the patent pending?). During the gold rush the man who made the first million wasn’t the one who found gold, it was the one selling shovels. MusicPrint now changes its business model and licenses its patents to other companies. It makes a cut from everything that is being sold and at the same time enables a new market to flourish.
Faster printing cycles and more portable printers also create the opportunity for other use cases. Bands start taking printers to their shows and selling on demand vinyl records during their gigs. No more “we’ve run out of records”! By the way, this happens a lot at the shows I attend. I never understood why nobody ever asks for my email, phone number or even to pay for the record and send it to my place afterwards. Come on, people are excited with the show; don’t lose the opportunity to convert!
Another possible scenario is that DSP’s like Spotify and Shazam start selling on demand printed vinyl directly to their listeners. There are already experiments with ticket, records and even merchandise cross sales on Spotify and this would fit nicely.
Responding Devil’s Advocates
You’re probably wondering if there’s the risk of this model getting out of control. Will the end consumer be able to print “pirated” records at home? Based solely on technology, short answer is “yes, they will” but there are other things to consider. People buy vinyl because they want to own a physical representation of a record they love. It’s not just about listening to music on a record player. Also, people won’t “burn” vinyl like they “burned” CDs back in the day even because now they have all the music they need on YouTube and Spotify. Vinyl 3D printing will come. The question is what will we do about it? Will we wait for it to happen and try to regulate it later or will we act now and set the grounds for a proper business?
I must admit I could be a little bit biased here. I love vinyl and used to own a record store and this might be influencing my vision of the future, a future where records continue to make sense. But I’ve also worked for many years in research. So I prefer to think that this is the analytical me, applying a scientific approach to something that I know of and yes, also love. I mean, who doesn’t love the smell of fresh vinyl in the morning?
