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Vinyl Popularity

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Vinyl spins into popularity

Students collect records both modern and antique

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Benjamin Grantonic grantben000@hsestudents.org

Infographic by Benjamin Grantonic. Information from LA Times and RIAA.

Collecting has always been a popular pastime. From the Beanie Baby craze of the late 1990s to the consistently common coin collecting. Vinyl record collecting has become increasingly popular in recent years. This growth in popularity has been especially large among Gen Z members. While always available at specialty stores, such as Indy CD & Vinyl in Broad Ripple. Records and record players have become common in the big-box stores such as Target and Walmart. “I got into vinyl collecting because I love music, and it just seemed right for me to own some of my favorite albums on vinyl,” senior Jaime Llano said. Physical ownership of media is becoming less common in the modern day, with streaming being the dominant way music is consumed. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), streaming made up 85% of the profit in the music industry in 2020. Despite this, the desire to physically own music is still strong. Many students have this desire to have physical ownership of their favorite albums and music from their favorite artists. “[My sister] sent me the Rolling Stones, and David Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ because Bowie is my favorite, and the Kink’s ‘Face to Face,’” senior Ollie Price said. “[I love] anything by Bowie, I have six of them.” Some are also interested in vinyl collecting for a higher audio quality, especially compared to streaming services or other physical media. “I think the sound is much better than any other type of sound player I have,” Price said. “I’m a big fan of classic rock, so that’s good with vinyl because there is so much of that.” The increased interest in record collecting also intersects with another trend among Gen Z members: thrifting. Many vinyls are sold at places from antique shops to Goodwill to specialty used record stores, making them cheap options for expanding a record collection. “I don’t spend a lot of money on [vinyls],” sophomore Andrew Wheeler said. “I go to thrift stores and try to find them. Just recently, I found a Neil Diamond vinyl, I have the three seasons of ‘Stranger Things,’ and I also have an Edison record and a few other vinyls from before the 1950s from my grandma’s old antique shop.” The comeback of vinyl has also come with a general interest in other retro music mediums. A notable other piece of interest is audio cassettes, which have seen a comeback in recent years. Another is a renewed interest in CDs, which have waned in popularity since the rise of “I have two eight-track cartridges, I have a cassette collection, a CD collection and I also like to collect cassette decks,” Wheeler said. “You know, just the (media) players too.” Interest in vinyl and in physical media does not seem to be slowing down. According to the LA Times, the sales of vinyl records doubled between 2020 and 2021, jumping to 42 million units in 2021. “I really just like playing them,” Price said. “I like being able to turn them on when I am getting ready, so it’s just nice [to listen to].”

42

million records sold in 2021 doubled from 2020 85%

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