Let me share a tidbit of trivia with you: Did you know that the first commercially available vinyl long-playing record was produced in 1931 by RCA Victor? Yep, that old vinyl LP has been with us for a long time.
Why am I bringing that dusty random fact up?
Well, it just so happens that along with this being Easter weekend (have a happy Easter, by the way), this Saturday happens to be the seventh annual Record Store Day. Back in 2008, event founder Michael Kurtz kicked things off in hopes of reminding everybody that the venerated old LP wasn’t quite dead yet. And to his surprise, there were a lot of people who agreed with him. Now there are more than 2,000 record shops that specialize in these old-timey albums, dropping the needle on the party every year. And more and more musicians joining the rally call, too.
In ’08, for instance, there were 10 special vinyl releases to mark the big day. This year there are 450—everything from unique reissues of old classics to a special platter edition of One Direction’s “Midnight Memories” album.
No, I’m not bringing this up because I’m old as dirt and I want them kids to get back to makin’ real music on somthin’ ya can hold in yer mits. (Although, that’s not a bad reason either.) I’m bringing it up because I find it interesting that vinyl just refuses to go away. That spinning groovy record seems to be making an unlikely comeback.
And this at a time when much of the music industry seems to be sinking like a lead eight-track. CD sales, for instance, continued their precipitous drop in the marketplace, declining a whopping 14.5% last year. And in case you’re thinking, “Well, that’s because everything’s gone digital,” Nielsen SoundScan said that digital-music sales took a hit, too. Overall album sales fell 8.4%. But vinyl sales grew 32%, from 4.5 million units sold in 2012 to 6 million sold in 2013.
OK, sure, 6 million units in yearly sales is just a drop in the bucket compared to the volume of singles sold by iTunes. But, hey, vinyl is on the grow. And turntables are becoming a growing business, too. They’re not just for old guys and hipsters any more. Kids are getting them. In fact, the whole vinyl industry is finding itself in a kind of artsy niche.
“People who are collecting vinyl, they’re like art collectors: They have a collection, they look at it, they appreciate it,” said Bruce Duff, a vinyl expert and director of regional marketing and personal management at Knitting Factory Management/Entertainment, in a USA Today article. “You collect an artist because you enjoy what he or she does, and it’s something you treasure and relearn about as time goes on.”
Which makes some sense. I mean even the cover art on some of those old LPs was something worth enjoying in the days when artists had a bit of cardboard canvas to work with.
My daughter gave me a turntable for Christmas, and I’ve been loving it. You gotta admit, the whole record player and rotating vinyl disc thing is kinda cool. I mean, when was the last time somebody walked into your room, gaped open-mouthed at your iPod and begged you to play it?
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