Vinyl, put to rest by new music technologies, rises from its grave.
“Anybody could stream, but owning a piece of vinyl is a physical product that offers more of an experience,” Village Vinyl owner John Lehel said.
In 2022, vinyl outsold CDs by 8 million units for the first time since 1987, making up 71 percent of physical format revenues, according to the 2022-year end music industry revenue report.
“We’ve noticed a slight [vinyl sale] uptick lately. The bigger one was maybe 10 years ago, where it got gigantic and it’s kind of stayed the same for a while,” Flat Black & Circular manager John Howard said.
Artists marketed towards Gen-Z and Millennials introduced a multitude of young adults to the world of vinyl. In 2023, Taylor Swift sold 2.4 million copies of vinyl, according to data tracking firm Luminate. Other top sellers include Harry Styles and Olivia Rodrigo.
“They’re [teenagers] more interested in having a collection rather than just pointing at your phone or your PlayStation3 or something storing digital things,” Howard said. “They want to have something people can look at and say ‘hey, come on over and see my collection, bring your collection,’ which is what vinyl started out in the 70s and 80s. It used to be more of a social thing.”
Seeing the vinyl stocked shelves at Target inspired junior Syndey Noelke to buy a record player. Since then, her collection continues to grow and currently holds 10 albums.
“I love that it’s a different version of music than just streaming, plus it’s from the past and something I’ve always found cool,” Noelke said.
Also joining the vinyl trend, junior Katherine Farmer wants to broaden her music platforms beyond streaming. In the future she plans to start a vinyl collection of her favorite artists and soundtracks: Conan Gray, Taylor Swift and Daisy Jones and the Six.
“It’s really interesting how younger people are really being drawn to things from back then. And how even though it (vinyl) came out so long ago, it is still carrying on from generation to generation,” Farmer said.
Whether the vinyl trend is here to stay remains to be seen or rather heard. However, sales continue to climb the charts, so hopes are high for the vinyl industry, according to Howard.
“Ever since streaming began with Napster and all that, we’ve always waited for the bubble to pop and things (vinyl) get less popular, but it just keeps going,” Howard said; “so we’re optimistic that it is going to keep going like this.”
