“I’m like a kid in a toy store.” Saji Pillai never tired of the magic of making a vinyl record: the burning of the mold, the pressing of the disk, the spitting of the first note under the needle…
In recent years, this seasoned music industry professional has been importing them from Europe for his own label or film studios.
To concentrate on Indian artists – and incidentally pay less tax – he decided to open his own manufacturing factory in Bombay (west), symbol of the slow renaissance in India of this eminently “retro” product.
“When I started working in the industry, vinyl records were at the end of their life,” remembers Saji Pillai. “The spark ignited after Covid and the interest was confirmed over the last two years. I said to myself that there was something to do.”
Today, the vinyl wave is global.
Its sales exceed those of CDs and DVDs which were to definitively bury it in the United States, the United Kingdom and even Brazil. For example, more than 41 million were sold in 2022 on the American market, for 33 million CDs.
And global stars like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Harry Styles no longer hesitate to release their new albums in this format.
Vinyl’s comeback has yet to reach this level of popularity in India. But the market is “progressing slowly”, observes Saji Pillai.
Throughout the country, convinced and passionate record stores are reopening stores.
– “Ceremonial” –
“When I started, people who sold records did it like they were selling potatoes or onions,” explains one of them, Jude D Souza, head of the Revolver Club. “I’ve always loved music, it’s my thing.”
Fans flock to its shelves. The last four of the turntable nostalgics were joined by the new converts of Generation Z – born between mid-1990 and 2010.
Like many other young people, Sachin Bhatt, 26, grew up listening to his music on an MP3 player or online.
Which hasn’t stopped him from recently getting into vinyl and its “ceremonial”.
“You go to the stalls, you carefully take out a bag, you pay more attention to it. And then when you listen, you spot details (…) it’s a ritual,” he describes.
“Vinyl records create a personal, tangible connection with the music you love,” continues Sachin Bhatt, inexhaustible. “I know a lot of young people who have vinyl records without having a turntable.”
“Listening to music in my AirPods no longer seems very convincing to me,” confirms another fan, Mihir Shah, 23 years old. “Feeling the record, the best sound that comes out of it, it’s totally different. With vinyl, there is a respect for the music.”
Mihir concedes, however, that his recent passion is expensive. “It was my father, a big fan, who paid for my first record player.”
– “Question of price” –
If the market of those who listen to music is massive in the most populous country in the world, it remains effectively constrained by the weak purchasing power of a large majority of them.
According to accounting giant EY, the music publishing market revenue will only reach $100 million in 2023 in India.
It costs from 50,000 to 100,000 rupees – 550 to 1,100 euros – for a record player, an amplifier, a pair of speakers and around ten vinyl records. The equivalent of half of an average monthly salary in India.
In a small street store in south Bombay, Abdul Razzak, 62, sells up to 400 second-hand records per month at prices varying between 550 and 2,500 rupees per unit (6 to 28 euros).
He too is delighted with the “rebound in popularity” of vinyl. But when asked about the future of the product in his country, he replies that everything will first depend on prices. “People will only buy it if it’s not ruinous,” he predicts.
Even if it remains limited, the announced market growth is enough to satisfy Saji Pillai.
“We have a production capacity of more than 30,000 records per month,” assures the boss of the new factory. “And we are organized in such a way that we can easily triple it.”
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