Neil Young has dismissed the vinyl revival as “nothing but a fashion statement.”
Young – who has released his own digital music player the Pono – accuses record companies of tricking fans into thinking they are buying music that was specifically mastered for vinyl, when, he says, most of it was mastered for CD and simply printed on vinyl.
Young tells The Frame: “A lot of people that buy vinyl today don’t realise that they’re listening to CD masters on vinyl, and that’s because the record companies have figured out that people want vinyl.
“And they’re only making CD masters in digital, so all the new products that come out on vinyl are actually CDs on vinyl, which is really nothing but a fashion statement.”
The singer adds that he hopes the resurgence of the format continues, but says: “This is a convenience-oriented society and vinyl is not a convenient thing.”
This week, record company bosses described the surge in vinyl sales as a fad. Sales of LPs in the UK broke through the one million mark last year for the first time since 1996.
