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RE: April 1st Update. . .

Questions 1, 2, and 3 are entirely related.

No-one anticipated the vinyl revival would become quite as international as it became across 2014, and no-one anticipated it would continue to grow at such an exponential rate in the places it had begun.

For example, we were expecting the UK vinyl market to increase by about 20%-30% year-on-year, as it has been doing since about 2009. Instead, the LP market grew 98% in a single year, and the growth has been across the board. This kind of growth is good, but potentially catastrophic for small businesses - I know of a couple of well-respected companies in the turntable business who are placing orders into late 2016, because demand is in overload.

The other problem with this overload is simple - try asking the bank for extended credit on what they see as a dead entertainment format. You either get a flat 'no' or end up signing the sort of contract that you haven't seen since you last saw Goodfellas.

As a 2015 TT business, you don't get to pay for extra staff needed to be in the TT business in 2015 until the money to pay for those extra staff starts coming in, which is why bosses spend all day and night building stuff. And if they are building stuff, they don't have time to answer emails about the stuff they haven't built yet.

There are those who are experiencing the same sudden growth problems VPI is suffering, but they aren't quite so visible here because most of you aren't spending $500 on a complete turntable package, or because their brand doesn't have the same traction in the US. There are also a lot of brands where the vinyl revival is simply passing them by. At least VPI is one of the all-too-rare rising stars.

On the other hand, I completely get why 'cut VPI some slack' doesn't work here, because a lot of slack has already been cut. But in part, this is because I don't think there are many other US TT makers with a dog in the international fight any more. Which is a shame.
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Editor, Hi-Fi Plus magazine, Lun-duhnn, Ingerland, innit

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