Type “record store near me” into your search engine of choice today, and you’ll probably find at least a few stores near you. If Google existed in the 1970s, the results may have looked almost identical. But vinyl records have not had a linear rise in popularity.
The first full-album length vinyl record was backed by Columbia Records in 1948. Before records, the only at-home music access was the radio — which gave little control over listening preferences.
The vinyl record basked in its glory days until it was usurped by the mighty Sony Walkman, which first hit markets in 1979.
Music has only become even more portable and convenient since the Walkman. In the 21st century, we have music on our phones and in our pockets at all times.
No need to purchase an album, either. Spotify and Apple Music — shoutout to my Apple Music lovers — have given us access to over 100 million songs. In other words, you can stream just about any song or artist that exists in the black hole of music production. Say goodbye to speakers and wired headphones. Just pop an AirPod in, and you’re golden.
Music could not be any easier to access than it is now. And as it seems for all fields of modern technology, ease is everything.
Completely contradictory to this, vinyl is making its comeback, especially among the generations who never knew analog music to begin with.
In the mid-2000s, vinyl sales reached an all time low, just around the time the first iPod was released.
However, vinyl sales began to steadily increase after that dip, until the market exploded in the 2020s. In the first half of 2021, 17 million vinyl records were sold in the United States, generating almost twice the revenue from the same period in 2020, according to the Recording Industry Association of America and reported by the New York Times
Around this time, record sales even surpassed CD sales for the first time since 1987. It seems as though the market interest has created an inversion of technology.
The world moved from vinyl to cassettes, then to CDs and handheld mobile devices, just to circle back completely to one of the most archaic forms of recording.
And who happens to be the leaders of vinyl collecting? Of course, its Gen Z adults aged 18-24.
In a desperate attempt to escape the digital world that consumes us, we as a generation are returning to the simpler pleasures of life.
We crave the excitement and thrill of the hunt for a newly released album, or a rare and hard-to-find pressing in every old record store you pass.
When you unbox a new record and spin it on the turntable for the first time, the needle crackles against the black vinyl, and the sound reverberates from the speakers. A new world comes alive and makes the listening experience impossibly distinctive.
It’s an experience to hold outside of our digital devices, which already consume countless hours of our days. In fact, record collecting can be healthy for us. According to Vinyl Alliance, “61% of Gen Z survey respondents are likely or very likely to replace digital habits with vinyl listening to improve their mental well-being.”
We are constantly, whether it’s conscious or subconscious, looking for ways to unplug and destress from the overwhelming world of media. Returning to the analog age of music is certainly one way to do it.
There’s something so intentionally nostalgic and romantic about a record that simply cannot and refuses to be replaced by the ease of music through other forms of digital media.
