Neil Young: Vinyl is a fashion statement

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.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.