Many artists are rising in popularity, such as Chappell Roan and Olivia Rodrigo. All over social media, many people are showing off their brand-new record players. Many have watched these videos and added a record player to their wishlist, or even went out and bought one, but have you ever stopped to wonder, “Why did they get so popular suddenly and where did they come from?”
1857, French inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville patented his first version of the phonautograph, a device used to record audio through pen and paper. Martinville had always been fascinated with sound and audio, so when he discovered a way to collect audio with a horn, diaphragm, and stylus, he was quick to patent his creation. Though this invention was great at collecting sound, it wasn’t able to project it.
Between the 1850s and 1890s, the phonautograph took many different forms. From a piece of paper and a horn to a plastic wax tube. In 1890, a disk version was released; however, it required a manual record player to operate. Despite the inconvenience of having to turn a handle to listen to your favorite song, it was a hit. Years after that, vinyl would meet many competitors but always outlasted each of them, that was until the CD came out.
CDs are much smaller discs and could hold more music, however, they aren’t durable like the infamous record. Vinyl and CDs were the music industry’s top competitors until streaming had a big break. Despite the lack of sales in the vinyl industry, in 2018, it surpassed CD sales.
Why is vinyl so popular now?
After doing a poll, our responses came back with 75% of GCHS students and faculty having records, 37.5% having CDs, and 18.9% having something other than records or CDs. 35.7% were freshmen, 14.3% were sophomores, 28.6% were juniors, and 21.4% were seniors. Majority of students who admitted to owning more than 5 records said they started collecting in middle school, while the majority also said they started their collection in 2023.
Why do these statistics matter?
It is theorized that sudden vinyl popularity came from the increase of TikTok among 12-18 year-olds.
Social media has a heavy influence on people, between 60% and 65% of teenagers have either TikTok or Instagram. However, this isn’t the case all the time, many people said they inherited them or have special memories tied to them. There’s also the fact that some people did it neither for the trend nor sentimental reasons, some people collect for the fun of it. It could also be the human desire for the physical copy of their favorite album.
All in all, there are many reasons why vinyl is making its comeback, but truth be told, it never fully died. It just found its way to the newer generations. Just because sales slowed down, doesn’t mean nobody had records. The ones who loved and cherished their vinyl records kept them, and that’s all that matters.
