![]() ![]() The vinyl record has been a groundbreaking invention to provide easy and cheap access to music and it can be compared to the invention of movable type printing by Gutenberg in the fifteenth century.Īlthough Thomas Edison’s initial patent on the phonograph dated on 1887 described flat disks named “lateral cuts” records, the cylinder has been the very first industrial medium used for reproducing and playing recorded music. Obviously, the recent interest for vinyl records goes far beyond music. The vinyl record business today only does a very small percentage of the music sales and cannot compare with the streaming business except maybe for the % of profitability if I check Spotify latest quarterly financial results. Why this vinyl revival happened ? Why this inconvenient black “polyvinyl chloride” wafer came back in the race around 2007 to take its revenge on its still young prodigal son, the infamous CD that has also been almost totally replaced by downloads and streaming services ? The last decades burnt, without remorse so many technologies we had been using and loving for years to consume image, sound or art. The renewed interest for vinyl records has been one of the most surprising and bizarre comebacks in the entertainment industry. ![]() At last, if some of you are still interested, I will let you know a bit more about my own record collecting hobby, giving you advice / tips about starting and managing a vinyl collection. Then, I will give you my thoughts about the vinyl revival that is to me very representative of the period we are living. In this series of posts, I will first make a short summary of the history of vinyl records. The Internet has totally changed this hobby connecting all record collectors over the world, giving access to the tiniest detailed information about the most obscure band but also killing record shops and fairs where collectors previously met before. I specialize in late 60’s and early 70’s US rock. It’s not a mass-market product anymore but a luxury and quite elitist item.Īt last, as you may have already understood, I have been collecting vinyl records for a long time. After a relentless decline that should have ended with its complete death, the vinyl record revival surprised the industry and elevated the vinyl record to a trendy iconic status thanks to modern marketing campaigns. Secondly, the rebirth of the vinyl record in the midst of the crisis of the music industry is fascinating. It had a prominent impact on the world-wide culture of the second half of the last century. The first reason I wrote this series of posts is because the vinyl record was a very innovative technology that made possible a broad access to recorded music. ![]() It may be surprising to talk about vinyl records on LinkedIn although a “Vinyl Record Collecting Network” user group started in 2009. ![]()
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