Vinyl Revival?

Updated:

January 11, 2017 11:26 am

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With all the recent regurgitation about the downward spiral of CDs, and blah blah blah digital, Nielson Soundscan has shown an interesting resurgence in the sales of vinyl. What every serious music lover might already know has been catching on with the younger crowd – those who’ve had plenty of chances to ignore anything on a sales rack growing up in the ‘i-everything’ generation.With all the recent regurgitation about the downward spiral of CDs, and blah blah blah digital, Nielson Soundscan has shown an interesting resurgence in the sales of vinyl. What every serious music lover might already know has been catching on with the younger crowd – those who’ve had plenty of chances to ignore anything on a sales rack growing up in the ‘i-everything’ generation. And beyond the age-old argument of whether digital or analog captures the purest sound, the reason for this upswing might be much simpler: It’s just cheaper. Most vinyl, whether original or reissue, sells somewhere between $3 and $9. That’s a complete album with more bang-for-your-song buck. And then there’s the buzz of trolling through mountains of trash to find that one band, that one album, that has never seen the light of re-mastering.

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The Recording Industry Association of America reported a 36 percent increase in LP sales to 1.3 million between 2006-2007. While those numbers are still quite humble compared with the 450 million CDs that were sold, major bands still continue to press wax. The method once thought to be on its way out 10 years ago stubbornly lives on, and for reasons everything digital can’t be. “It’s about having that real piece of music in my hands, reading the liner notes and everything,” says Paul Camara, an assistant record store manager in Aurora, Colorado, in a recent interview with the Associated Press. “The younger kids are picking them up now. Some of it is collectability, [some are] going back to the retro feeling to play a vinyl record.” While still quaint, the rush of discovering new music from any decade isn’t lost on the old folks.