Ep486: The State of Vinyl Collecting for 2025 w Billy Fields and Dillon Smith

Three vinyl nerds – Billy Fields from Warner Music Group, Dillon Smith of Noble Records and Nate Goyer of The Vinyl Guide - discuss the state of vinyl collecting in the year 2025 - trends, changes, evolution and thoughts and predictions on what's to come in the near future.

Topics Include:

• Introduction of Billy Fields as vinyl expert at Warner Music Group
• Dillon Smith introduced as Noble Records owner
• Initial discussion of 2024 vinyl market trends
• Billy mentions focus on maintaining subscriptions with Third Man Records
• Discussion of discovering Lee Dorsey records through social media
• Impact of online discovery versus traditional record store hunting
• Dillon reflects on personal collection growth in 2024
• Store inventory mix discussion: 70% used, 30% new
• Dillon describes efforts to prevent burnout through regular collection buying
• Changes in modern vinyl collections coming to market
• Impact of overpressed modern releases on secondary market
• UK vinyl market showing strongest growth internationally
• Release schedule alignment with digital affecting market success
• Taylor Swift's impact on vinyl sales globally
• Discussion of fewer bands in current charts versus solo artists
• Evolution of vinyl market since 2006-2008
• Economic factors affecting entertainment spending during tough times
• Local UK pressing plants helping market stability
• Changes in used record collections coming to market
• Impact of deceased collectors' collections entering market
• Discussion of subscription service impact on used market
• Original pressings versus reissues value discussion
• Impact of Tone Poet series on Blue Note original prices
• Quality improvements in modern pressing techniques
• Availability of better playback equipment today
• Discussion of collecting original pressings versus reissues
• Dillon's perspective on psychopathic collector mentality
• Voice of America collection acquisition mentioned
• Discussion of historical pressing quantities versus modern numbers
• Billy's approach to collecting versus hunting original pressings
• Impact of audio system quality on listening preferences
• Youth market engagement with vinyl discussion
• Different collecting approaches between generations
• Modern retail challenges with Target/Walmart pricing
• Discussion of variant pressings and market saturation
• Impact of FOMO buying on market
• Sustainability in vinyl production discussion
• PET vinyl alternatives being developed
• Plant efficiency improvements and environmental considerations
• Declining genres discussion - 1950s rock and traditional pop
• Rising interest in country music records
• Discussion of 90s country potential on vinyl
• Garth Brooks box set marketing strategy failure
• Predictions for 2025 vinyl market
• Direct-to-consumer strategy concerns
• Sustainability developments in record pressing
• Personal collection management strategies
• Discussion of recent records giving participants "goosebumps"
• Discussion wrap up

Video version available on the Noble Records YouTube channel

Commercial free, high resolution verion of this podcast is available at: www.Patreon.com/VinylGuide

Listen on Apple: https://apple.co/2Y6ORU0 Listen on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/36qhlc8