Emily DesRoches

Music connects people and has evolved from physical media to digital downloading and streaming. From vinyl to CD, to streaming platforms, yet they all exist to this day. Not one form of music media trumps another.

The first 12-inch vinyl record was introduced by Columbia Records in 1948. They had 33 1/3 revolutions, with 23 minutes on each side, reaching around 46 minutes for each vinyl. This became the new standard for commercial recordings.

Today, vinyl records are in resurgence as younger generations have grown interest in the physical media. But what makes vinyl records so appealing today.

Possible Reasons Vinyl is on the Rise

Music cultures such as rock, hip-hop, and dance led to the rise of early vinyl. The sound itself is an aural experience. Visually, the packaging is deliberate and important. The new digital version of the music is invisible and insubstantial. Here are four ideas when discussing possible reasonings:

Sound Quality – The sound is not a clear and crisp experience. However, there is an authenticity that cannot be found in digital media. The warm tones and imperfections are desired when buying vinyl. Putting a record on a turntable, and changing it every 20 minutes gives the listener more involvement in the sound itself

Collectability – Vinyl holds value as there are multiple versions of the same album. Different colors, designs, and shapes that people want to collect and display. Vinyl is the materialization of music which makes it a simple collectable. There is no collectability in digital downloads because you cannot physically feel it. It is stored on a small device and showing it off seems insignificant.

Art and Display – The packaging on vinyl is extremely important in drawing the consumer. This may be a photo of the artist or some sort of illustration in relation to the album. Or even the color of the vinyl record itself that draws in consumers. This correlates with collectability where people want each distinct purposefully designed album for its look alone which cannot be found digitally.

The Feeling – Emotionally, there is nostalgia and discovery that comes from buying and owning vinyl. Listening to a vinyl record introduces one to songs on an album possibly not previously known. Or even a new bonus track specifically for that album. Looking through a “New Releases” or “Rarities” section of vinyl has that discovery aspect not found in digital streaming services.

Physically, vinyl allows people to physically touch the music and record itself. It allows for a tactile experience where one can pick up, feel, and smell, possibly bringing back memories, reminding them of a previous album, or an overall emotional response.

The Vinyl Revival

Vinyl gained a resurgence in 2007 and has been growing ever since. In 2022, vinyl surpassed CD sales for the first time since Def Leppard’s ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’ and Belinda Carlisle’s ‘Heaven Is a Place on Earth’ topped the charts in 1987. In 2023, the Recording Industry of America published that revenue record sales climbed to $1.4 billion. This accounted for nearly 10% of all music format sales.

Vinyl, Mass Corporations, and Celebrities

Large corporations like Target, Walmart, and Amazon are increasingly pushing vinyl. Now, having deliberately placed sections just for them in stores and consistently refreshing them with new releases alongside old ones.

The same can be said about celebrities like Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and Olivia Rodrigo who are pushing vinyl as part of their music brand. Taylor Swift is one of the main artists who is fueling the resurgence of vinyl. 10 million vinyl records were sold in the US total and nearly 10% of those were of Taylor Swift alone.

She consistently has broken records for vinyl sales starting in 2022 with her album ‘Midnights’ which set a weekly vinyl sales record with 575,000 copies. In 2023, with 1989 (Taylor’s Version) she sold 693,000 copies in a seven-day period. Now, in 2024 she broke that record once more with the Tortured Poets Department which sold more than 700,000 physical albums so far.

However, getting information on vinyl sales was limited when they were first on the rise and it was not until 1991 that Soundscan began tallying the sales of CDs, vinyl, downloads, etc. It is possible that some albums sold more back in the 1960s, 1970s, or 1980s when vinyl was at its peak, but there was no data to be collected.

What Swift focuses on for vinyl is what has been mentioned previously. She has multiple variants of her albums, each having subtle differences, from the look to distinct bonus tracks. Also, keeping the vinyl only in store for short times or being exclusive to certain stores such as Target.