A scratch in the digital world
Published 12:01 am Friday, March 4, 2011
In our ongoing effort to get cultural prognosticators to “stop declaring things dead already,” we are happy to add another industry to our list, which includes, among others, newspapers, magazines, radio, books and bookstores, and thank you, Warren Buffett — freight trains.
What, would you guess, was the fastest-growing musical format in 2010?
Nope, not iTunes, or competitive Wii karaoke.
The fastest growing musical format was vinyl records, according to Nielssen SoundScan numbers, with 2.8 million units sold — the format’s best year since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991, USA Today reported. The resurgence of vinyl provides a real hope for independent record stores, the article states. That’s great, makes-you-want-to-burst-into-song news. And it’s not older, nostalgic types driving the sales. It’s young people. You know, the ones raised on computers and iPods.
Tim Cretsinger, who owns the Groovacious (that’s correct, dig it) music store in Cedar City, Utah, told USA Today about coming full circle:
“Vinyl seems to be the light at the end of the tunnel for those of us who have hung in there,” he said. “It’s kind of a surprising light at the end of the tunnel. It’s incredibly exciting.”
Logically, the rising interest in vinyl has created an accompanying interest in turntables. Cretsinger was tired of directing customers to places where they could purchase record players, and began carrying them himself.
Record store owners say people miss the “experience” of a vinyl album, including the scratches and skips, because it offers a truer sound and people are more likely to just sit and listen. It turns out people also like album covers, and liner notes.
“I think there was a pendulum swing back to the analog sound,” said John Kunz, who owns Waterloo Records in Austin, Texas. “It’s sound waves rather than zeroes and ones emulating a sound wave.”
Illustrating the young listener is Southern Utah University student Matthew Montgomery, 25, a Web developer and freelance music journalist, who appreciates the “aesthetic difference” between the sound of vinyl records and digital downloads.
“I think vinyl is incredibly exciting,” Montgomery said. “To see a resurgence in it is beautiful.”
Montgomery said the act of walking into a record store is part of vinyl’s allure as well.
“To me that represents a cultural idea that is incredibly attractive,” he said. “It’s a place you can explore and learn and talk to people.”
There’s a concept: Local stores that promote community and commerce. With the resurgence driven by the very young people society was so sure would scoff at anything non-digital. Music to our ears.
