“Don’t call it a comeback, I been here for years,” were the words spoken by LL Cool J back in the 90s that transcended his career and became a platitude describing anything and everything that embraced a resurgence in pop culture. These days, it seems like that catchy little phrase perfectly describes the current trajectory of vinyl sales in the music industry.
In the age of wireless everything, where music is often consumed in fleeting, tiny little compressed files for the various streaming platforms, a seemingly antiquated format is making an explosive return – vinyl records. This might lead you to wonder, why is vinyl increasingly preferred when all the music you could ever want sits in your pocket? The answer lies in the unique, authentic experience that vinyl offers, a quality that often gets lost in today's world.
The Aesthetic Doesn’t Hurt
The charm of vinyl records extends far beyond just the listening experience. It starts from the moment you hold a record in your hands, admiring the album art in all its detailed glory. Then, there's the ritualistic pleasure of carefully placing the record on the turntable, gently dropping the needle, and hearing the faint crackle before the music begins to play. This physical, tactile experience adds a certain depth and aesthetic value that simply clicking 'play' on a screen can't replicate.
The curation of a streaming setup and space has become a fast growing craze amongst collectors online. If you had asked any Pinterest user 10 years ago if they predicted vinyl setups being a popular search, I am sure they would all think you’re nuts. Nowadays, aesthetics and listening to your favourite album seem to go hand in hand.
Quality Over Quantity
Vinyl enthusiasts often argue about the superior sound quality of records. While this can be subjective, it's undeniable that vinyl offers a warm, rich, and dynamic sound that digital files sometimes fail to capture. This is because analog formats like vinyl can capture the full sound wave of recorded music, offering a more authentic and immersive listening experience.
When preparing a song or album for streaming, the platforms have to prioritise the speed in which their users can select and play a song. With countless songs being available, the individual files needed to get as small as possible. Somewhere along the way much of the energy and atmosphere in a song gets lost in digital files, but vinyl preserves some of this magic!
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The Artist’s Intended Experience
If you’re an avid Spotify user, you might remember the days where the default listening experience was shuffled. This might now sound like a problem to many of us, but what if the artist intended for the album to be listened to in a specific order? Well thanks to Adele, Spotify fixed this issue in 2021.
The “Someone Like You” singer brought to the streaming giant’s attention that users should be able to listen to the stories as intended. This was a great step in the right direction, but what about all of those interludes you skip? Or those songs you haven’t given a chance to because you’ve never heard of it before?
With streaming platforms, it's way too easy to skip tracks, shuffle playlists, and jump between artists. With so much data being stored in one place it can be even easier to never listen to an album in its intended glory. However, with vinyl, listeners are encouraged to experience albums as cohesive works of art, just as the artist intended. This encourages a deeper connection with the music and a greater appreciation of the artistry involved.
Collect ‘Em All
Unlike the more absurd collectibles (looking at you NFTs), vinyl records offer tangible value as collectibles. The monetary value behind that rare pressing of The Beatles aren’t the only reasons to collect vinyl though. Just like other niches of collections many people choose to grow their catalogue based solely on genre, artwork, artist and more.
With artists like Taylor Swift taking a different approach to the game with the same album releasing with multiple different colours, and artwork, new collectors are having a field day!