The Resurgence of Vinyl (That I blindly didn’t see coming)

Fact: I (still) collect CDs. Crazy right? I do this for several reasons, but in short, I simply like having physical copies of my music, and I appreciate the sound quality of a CD playing from my stereo. I usually purchase new CDs from HMV or order new or used from Amazon, but at the beginning of this summer I realized that there was a more obvious option – used record stores.

So the first time I entered one of these stores it was amazing. It was so exciting to me finding all of these CDs, some of which I had previously had trouble finding in HMV or online. I bonded with the employee manning the store that day over Iggy Pop’s Preliminaires and, needless to say, I walked out having spent almost $100.

The second time, however, saw the popping of my dream bubble. After cruising around for about twenty minutes and finding The Police’s Synchronicity, I asked the clerk working that day how often they get new CDs in. Now, I understand that CDs are slowly on the verge of becoming obsolete, but what I was not expecting was the condescending answer I got from this middle aged record store clerk who, after a scoff, told me “No one buys CDs anymore, it’s all about vinyl. Get with the times.” Okay sir, but you didn’t answer my question.

But this brought up a topic that, as a music lover, I had been avoiding for years: the resurgence of vinyl records. Until recently, I dismissed this resurgence as a hipster craze. I thought that the people buying these records were just looking for another way to be different. I now realize, however, that it is 2016 and it looks like vinyl isn’t going anywhere. According to the RIAA, vinyl sales have quadrupled in the past five years, while CD sales have decreased by over 50% since 2010.

So after the record store douche and discovering these numbers, I bought my first vinyl record. But here’s the thing: I don’t have a record player yet. I have every intention of getting one soon, but as of now, I’m sitting here with a used copy of Thriller on vinyl that I have owned for four months and never listened to, which is exactly what I didn’t want happening. However, I realized that I am not alone. In his 2014 feature for Pitchfork, Joel Oliphint discovers that 15% of people who buy physical formats of music never end up listening to them and buy them just to own.

Oh.

Okay so I’m starting to get vinyl. There’s a certain sense of nostalgia going into a record store and buying a vinyl version of your favourite album, just as I did. But here’s what I don’t get: is it necessary for a new pop album such as Taylor’s Swift’s 1989 to be on vinyl? Is it necessary that it be over twice as much as the CD version? There is obviously no sense of nostalgia here, and there is still an ongoing debate on whether the sound quality for newly released albums really is better on vinyl than on compact disc (hint: it isn’t), so why?

And that is the reason it took me so long to buy into vinyl. There still seems to be this idea that its just the “cool new thing” and the actual appreciation of the music is lost. It feels like style over substance, when it should at the very least be an equal combination of both. I’m interested to see what the future has in store for vinyl. Will the CD one day make a comeback in a similar way? Or maybe even the cassette?