VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Vinyl records have seen a revival — and they may be here to stay
Jonah Weintraub If it feels like vinyl records have been more trendy over the past decade, that isn’t just a hunch. The medium has skyrocketed in popularity as of late, and it doesn’t look to be slowing down either. Over the past two decades, vinyl records have been making a comeback. Less than 1 million units were sold in 2006, but last year that number was over 43 million — the highest since 1989. Casey Keefe, who’s the manager at Sound Garden Syracuse, has seen this vinyl resurgence firsthand.
Casey Keefe: You know, it’s interesting because when I first started here, we had records. We’ve always had some records and it’s grown exponentially. I mean, even in 2012, seeing what our stock was before and so what it’s become now, it’s crazy.
Weintraub: But that begs the question, why have vinyls continue to grow in popularity? Some say it’s due to the better audio quality or maybe the nostalgia. Others, like Syracuse high schooler Caigan McKenney think that records just feel more authentic.
Caigan McKenney: For me, vinyl is just like a way that you can get your physical media and like you can really connect with the artist through the pictures and the album and the color of the record. And it’s just like something special because you have that from the artist and it’s not just a digital format.
Weintraub: It’s members of Gen Z like McKenney that have sparked this vinyl revival and the record collecting community is happy to have those fresh faces.
Keefe: People are, you know, like recognizing “I can see it everywhere. I like this. This is cool.” So it’s no longer just like a, you know, a past thing. It’s a present thing. It’s the culture. It’s not just for one select customer, it’s for everybody.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — In 2006, less than a million vinyl units were sold throughout the United States. Fast forward to this past year, and that mark has skyrocketed to 43.2 million according to the RIAA.
The last time that many records were sold in a single year was 1989, when 35 million units went off the shelves.
Sound Garden Syracuse is the premier record store in the area, and manager Casey Keefe has witnessed the resurgence of vinyls over the course of his 12-year tenure at the shop.
“You know, it’s interesting because when I first started here, we had records. We’ve always had some records,” said Keefe. “And it’s grown exponentially. I mean, even in 2012, seeing what our stock was before and what it’s become now, it’s crazy.”
Driving the vinyl comeback is Generation-Z, which has reconnected with the medium. Syracuse high schooler Kaigan McKenney has roughly 300 records in his personal collection, and believes he and other younger listeners have grown to appreciate vinyls’ authenticity.
“Vinyl is just like a way that you can get your physical media and you can really connect with the artist through the pictures in the album and the color of the record,” said McKenney. “And it’s just like something special because you have that from the artist. And it’s not just a digital format.”
Keefe agrees that there is value in the ability to have a tangible version of music that you can more intimately listen to.
“There is like that aspect of actually sitting down, enjoying something, listening to it, holding it in your hands,” said Keefe. “You can just really inspect it and get to know a little bit more. It’s just a different kind of way of listening, enjoying and inhaling what an artist is trying to put out.”
That’s not the only factor that has gone into the reemergence of records, though. Another key factor is nostalgia.
“My grandparents really got me into it,” said McKenney. “I flipped through their old records and it was just like magical looking through different decades and wanting to expand on each decade and what each decade meant.”
For others, it might be the technology, which creates a notably more crisp audio product as opposed to digital formats. Yet regardless of why they’re storming back onto the scene, vinyls are seemingly here to stay.
“It’s no longer just like a past thing. It’s a present thing,” remarked Keefe. “It’s just a way to enjoy something.”