The moment I turned 18, I knew what I was getting.
Vinyl Whistle in Leeds
I had spent almost a year asking for a record player before I was finally gifted one.
Strangely enough, just like many people who own vinyl records, I was not even born when vinyl was the standard format for music, and yet, I have spent two years building a collection.
There is more to owning a vinyl than just having a physical body of music; so what’s up with the revival of vinyls?
Greater appreciation for artists
With concert ticket prices on the rise, fans have found a new way to show an appreciation for their favourite artist that goes further than streaming.
Buying a tangible copy of your favourite album is more meaningful than simply adding the album to your digital library.
Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, 4.8 million vinyl records were bought in the UK, a 10% increase from 2019.
With human contact limited, owning a physical record of a musician’s piece of work was the closest many people could get to showing appreciation to the artist.
Given the price of physical copies of albums, many people only buy albums they connect with the most, making the collecting of vinyl records more heartfelt.
Not just a listening experience
Triumph, a sense of achievement and peace. That’s what I felt listening to Etta James play on my record player for the first time.
I had been searching for a copy of ‘At Last’ for almost two years beforehand, and I was over the moon to be able to finally add it to my collection.
And I think that’s why so many people buy vinyl, it's more than just a listening experience, it’s a journey.
You go on a hunt for a specific record that sends you across different stores, each one with its unique vibe.
And when you finally get your hands on the album, you can’t help but feel accomplished.
A story to tell
A birthday gift, a Secret Santa exchange, hours spent at a record fair - every one of my vinyl records has a story behind it.
And that’s what makes collecting records so attractive to so many people.
The story that comes with owning a piece of vinyl is perhaps more important to record buyers than actually being able to play it.
It’s reported that only 50% of people who own vinyl have a record player.
While they can’t say what the record sounds like on vinyl, they can describe who they were with when they bought it, what they were doing that day and what it meant to buy it.
Vinyls are more than a physical record of music, for many, and for me, they are a piece of memory with an added soundtrack.
Find out about how this revival is affecting record stores
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