Weaned on CDs, Reaching for Vinyl
聽CD長大後 愛上黑膠
By Allan Kozinn

Vinyl is growing out of its niche.
黑膠唱片正超越自身的利基市場。

There were always record collectors who disdained the compact disc, arguing that an LP’s grooves yielded warmth and depth that the CD’s digital code could not match.
過去總有不屑CD的唱片收藏家主張，黑膠唱片的溝紋能產生CD的數位碼無法匹敵的溫度與深度。

But the market largely ignored them. Record labels shuttered their LP pressing plants, except for a few that pressed mostly dance music, since vinyl remained the medium of choice for D. J.s.
但這類意見大抵遭到市場漠視。唱片公司關閉了黑膠唱片的壓片廠，僅存的幾家壓片廠主要為了舞曲生產，因為黑膠唱片仍是D. J.選擇的工具。

That early resistance was not futile, thanks largely to an audience of record collectors, many born after CDs were introduced in the 1980s.
早先的抗拒並非徒勞，主要還拜唱片收藏者族群所賜，其中許多人在1980年代CD問世後才出生。

These days, every major label and many smaller ones are releasing vinyl, leading to a spate of new pressing plants.
這些日子以來，每家唱片大廠和許多小型的唱片公司都發行黑膠唱片，導致新的壓片廠大量成立。

When the electronica duo Daft Punk released “Random Access Memories” in May, 6 percent of its first-week sales – 19,000 out of 339,000 – were on vinyl, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which measures music sales in the United States and Canada.
計算美國和加拿大唱片銷售量的「尼爾森音樂統計」指出，電子舞曲雙人組合「傻瓜龐克」五月發行《超時空記憶體》專輯時，首周賣出33萬9千張，其中1萬9千張是黑膠唱片，占了6%。

Other groups with a predominantly college-age audience have had similar success: the same week, the National sold 7,000 vinyl copies of “Trouble Will Find Me,” and 10,000 Vampire Weekend fans opted for the LP version of “Modern Vampires of the City.” And a growing number of classic albums – including the complete Beatles and early Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan catalogs – have had vinyl reissues in recent years.
其他以大學生年齡層為主要聽眾群的團體，也締造不錯的成績。同一周，「國民樂團」的《庸人自擾》賣出7千張黑膠唱片；「吸血鬼周末樂團」樂迷有一萬人購買新專輯《大都會的摩登吸血鬼》的黑膠版。愈來愈多的經典專輯，包括披頭四全集、早期的滾石合唱團作品以及巴布狄倫的老歌，近年來都重新發行黑膠唱片。

Michael Fremer, who monitors the field at Analogplanet.com, said: “None of these companies are pressing records to feel good. They’re doing it because they think they can sell.”
「類比星球」網站的傅雷默觀察黑膠唱片市場，他說：「沒有一家唱片公司壓片是壓爽的，他們壓片是因為認為有利可圖。」

Thomas Bernich of Brooklyn Phono says his company makes about 440,000 LPs a year, but a giant like Rainbo Records, in Canoga Park, California, turns out 6 million to 7.2 million, said Steve Sheldon, its general manager.
「布魯克林之聲」的伯尼奇表示，他的公司每年大約生產44萬張黑膠唱片。但是像加州卡諾加公園的壓片大廠Rainbo，總經理薛爾頓說，一年的壓片量從600萬到720萬張。

Quality Record Pressings, in Salina, Kansas, opened in 2011 after its owner, Chad Kassem, grew impatient with delays at a larger plant where his own line of blues reissues was being pressed. His company, which runs four presses – acquired used, but modified to run more efficiently – now makes LPs for all the majors labels. He is currently pressing 900,000 vinyl discs a year.
堪薩斯州薩林納的「優質壓片廠」成立於2011年，原因是老闆卡森原本要重新發行的藍調音樂黑膠唱片，在另一家壓片廠受到耽擱，他感到不耐，乾脆自己開壓片廠。他的公司目前有四家壓片廠，取得二手，但調整後運轉更有效率的裝備，現在為所有的唱片大廠壓製黑膠唱片，年產量高達90萬張。

“We’ve always had more work than we could do,” Mr. Kassem said. “When we never spent a dollar on advertising, but we’ve been busy from the day we opened.”
卡森說：「我們的工作總是接不完。我們沒花過一毛錢打廣告，可是我們從開張以來就一直沒閒過。」

There is a limit to how much the vinyl business can expand right now. When it seemed inevitable that CDs would supplant LPs, the companies that made vinyl presses shifted to making other kinds of machinery. The last new press was built in 1982, so relatively recent start-ups searched out used presses (the going rate is about $25,000) and reconditioned them.
黑膠唱片的市場能拓展到何種程度，目前有所限制。CD取代黑膠唱片看似大勢所趨時，生產壓片設備的業者轉而製造其他機械裝置。最後一部新的壓片機製造於1982年，因此比較晚成立的業者搜尋二手的壓片設備（壓片機目前市價大約2萬5千美元），再重新翻修。

Some pressing plants have looked into building new presses but have found the cost prohibitive – as much as $500,000.
有些壓片廠研究是否製造新的壓片機，發現成本過高，甚至高達50萬美元。

LPs sales are a matter of dispute. David Bakula, Nielsen SoundScan’s senior vice president of client development and insights, said that his company tracked 4.6 million domestic LP sales last year, an 18 percent increase over 2011, but still only 1.4 percent of the total market. This year, Mr. Bakula said, vinyl sales are on track to reach about 5.5 million.
黑膠唱片的銷售量是引起爭議之處。「尼爾森音樂統計」客戶發展與觀察部門的資深副總裁巴庫拉表示，去年統計國內共賣出460萬張黑膠唱片，比2011年增加18%，但只占市場總量的1.4%。巴庫拉說，黑膠唱片今年的銷售量可望達到550萬張。

Other measures of the field including figures from ancillary businesses. Heinz Lichtenegger, whose Vienna-based Audio Tuning company produces the Pro-Ject turntable, said his company sells 8,000 turntables a month.
其他衡量指標包括周邊產業的銷售數據。李希特內格爾設在維也納的「調音」公司，生產知名的Pro-Ject黑膠唱盤，每月可賣出8千個。

Music Direct, a Chicago company that owns Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, has a similarly broad stock, including turntables that ranges from the $249 to $25,000. Josh Bizar, the director of sales and marketing, said that Music Direct sold 500,000 LPs and “thousands of turntables” last year.
擁有發燒片名廠MFSL的芝加哥公司Music Direct，貨品種類也很多，包括價位從249到2萬5千美元的黑膠唱盤。業務和行銷部門總監畢札表示，Music Direct去年賣出50萬張黑膠唱片和數以千計的唱盤。

And the buyers, Mr. Bizar said, are by no means boomer nostalgists. “We never expected the vinyl resurgence to become as crazy as it is,” he said. “But it’s come full circle. We get kids calling us up and telling us why they listen to vinyl, and when we ask them why they don’t listen to CDs, they say, ‘CDs? My dad listens to CDs – why would I do that?’ ”
畢札說，買家絕非懷舊人士。他說：「我們從未料到黑膠唱片捲土重來聲勢竟如此浩大。不過這就像當初一樣，我們接到小朋友打電話告訴我們為何要聽黑膠唱片，當我們問他們為何不聽CD時，他們說，CD？我老爸就聽CD，我幹嘛跟他一樣？」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/10/arts/music/vinyl-records-are-making-a-comeback.html

2013-06-25聯合報/G5版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS張佑生譯 原文參見紐時週報八版左