A Skyline College student writes in The Skyline View campus newspaper,
“First was vinyl. Then cassette. Then 8-Track, CD and MP3. Next is … vinyl? … Vinyl is doing better than it has in over a decade.”
A Louisiana State University student, Justin Stafford, is a vinyl enthusiast with a collection of more than 100 records. He says “Those black shiny discs are back in style and sounding better than ever,”, he mentions in The Daily Reveille student newspaper. “Vinyl record sales are making a comeback after the market took a nosedive in the ‘90s, and music shops resembling those of yesteryear are popping up again in cities around the country.”
4 million LPs have been sold this year in the United States alone. According to the statistics shared by Nielson Soundscan, there has been a 30 percent increase from 2013 to 2014.
Interestingly enough, nostalgia isn’t as big a factor as you’d imagine. Geoff Taylor, chief executive of British music industry group BPI says in an interview,
“We’re witnessing a renaissance for records — they’re no longer retromania and are becoming the format of choice for more music fans.”
Bloomberg’s Suddath explains that the resurgence of LPs can be largely attributed to the type of people who place a premium on tradition recording types and the overall experience of listening.
It is a fact that Vinyl never actually died, but bands stopped putting out LP records as soon as music consumers switched to tapes, CDs, and now digital files. Collectors continued to curate old records and secondhand stores and record shops. The LP developed enough of a chalet that current bands have started pressing vinyl discs once again as well as charging a premium for the LP version of their albums.
As vinyl is now a luxury item and a sign of high fidelity to the artist’s album you are buying. It is a strange phenomenon and it may not last, however right now it is great news for music makers and music lovers alike.