Could Jack White’s Ultra LP Make Vinyl Innovative Again?

Could Jack White’s Ultra LP Make Vinyl Innovative Again?

Jack White recently broke a world record by recording and pressing a 7-inch vinyl in less than four hours, but he has more innovation in store. Now, he’s developed what he’s calling an Ultra LP, which offers multiple playback features: bonus features for the bygone medium.

White’s new album, Lazaretto, will be released as an 11-track Ultra LP. But it will contain more than those 11 tracks: there will be two hidden under the centre label, one of which will play at 45 RPM and the other at 78 RPM, unlike the rest of the album which will spin at 33 1/3 RPM.

The vinyl will also feature a locked outer groove, which means Side A plays from the inside out and finishes on a continuous loop. Then, there’s also a hand-etched hologram on Side A, which is also the first of its kind. Obviously. You can watch White explain the features in the video below.

Clearly, White is on a mission to reinvigorate vinyl — but he’s not the only one. People are buying more vinyl than they have in decades. In 2013, sales increased 31 per cent to about six million units year-over-year. It’s not a single-year bump either, either. Sales have climbed to six million from after having been at about a million in 2007.

Whether the features of White’s new album really make vinyl innovative again is, of course, up for debate, but there’s no denying that it’s an interesting development in a newly growing market. Will features like this make you buy more vinyl? [Third Man Records via Stereogum via Verge]


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