Reddit users suggest inferior vinyl copies of Blackstar rush-pressed to capitalise on Bowie's death

26 February 2016, 15:39 | Written by Laurence Day

(News)

(David Bowie)

A thread on Reddit suggests that copies of David Bowie's final record Blackstar were rush-pressed in order to capitalise in the sales boost following his death.

The album was released last month on Bowie's 69th birthday, days before he passed away. In the days and weeks following his death, Bowie's music has shot up the charts.

Now some people who bought Blackstar on vinyl have been reporting surface noise issues,

User pauliwagon writes:

"A few weeks ago I purchased David Bowie's new album, Blackstar on vinyl. I love the album, but right from the first time I played it there is a considerable amount of surface noise that makes some of the quiet parts of the album almost unlistenable. It's very distracting from the music. I own a relatively decent turntable and of all the new albums that I own, this is the first to sound this bad right from the beginning. Could in be just a bad pressing out of the bunch? Has anyone else with this same album experienced similar problems? I'm no vinyl expert so I'm not sure if I should attempt to get another copy or if it is likely to have the same sort of background noise. (And I've cleaned the disc by hand already with no improvement, in case anyone is wondering)"

Other users have replied with similar issues, describing the levels of surface noise as "insanely loud" and "unlistenable at some points". One user suggests that "the 2016 RP was rushed to press to both make a buck off renewed interest and counter scalpers..."

Although there's not concrete evidence or statements from the manufacturers, many people have noted that the second run of Blackstar - which says 2016 on it, as opposed to 2015 - is the one at fault.

Read the original thread on Reddit.