CNBC: Why Millennials Are Buying More Vinyl Records

[Joe Galbraith]

The tactile experience of putting an LP on a turntable has nothing to do with the music. With cleaning, playing with the tone arm, cuing it up, etc., it is just more ceremonial than playing a digital file. Going from one digital file to another in random and not listening to the entire recording is a problem of discipline and one's level attention. It is not part of the music. I don't give a rat's ass about the liner notes or album art. That's not the music either. I don't care what someone else thinks about the artist or their music. I make my own determinations.

Don't underestimate the power of, as you said, LP playback is "cool again" regarding album sales.

I don't disagree with you re: discipline and level of attention. Digital music makes it easier to go from one file to another. Nor do I disagree with the ceremony of the LP experience. Many folks, myself included appreciate the beauty of quality art work on an LP jacket. It's more than music. All the elements together create the experience for some people. It's fine that you don't "give a rat's ass", some do. I doubt the average vinyl listener judges any artist or their music based on liner notes, Again, part of the ceremony.

Re-read my comment of increased competition: more people in record stores, buying records. It is naive to assume that the cool factor isn't in play. Have you been to urban Outfitters?

All your points above are fine, for you. The gist of the discussion is what is driving the increase of LP sales to Millennials. You know, the same group that has to junk their perfectly good iPhone 5 because Apple wants to separate you from your money with the cooler iPhone 6.

 

[edorr]

I don't disagree with you re: discipline and level of attention. Digital music makes it easier to go from one file to another. Nor do I disagree with the ceremony of the LP experience. Many folks, myself included appreciate the beauty of quality art work on an LP jacket. It's more than music. All the elements together create the experience for some people. It's fine that you don't "give a rat's ass", some do. I doubt the average vinyl listener judges any artist or their music based on liner notes, Again, part of the ceremony.

Re-read my comment of increased competition: more people in record stores, buying records. It is naive to assume that the cool factor isn't in play. Have you been to urban Outfitters?

All your points above are fine, for you. The gist of the discussion is what is driving the increase of LP sales to Millennials. You know, the same group that has to junk their perfectly good iPhone 5 because Apple wants to separate you from your money with the cooler iPhone 6.

Rumor has it Apple will soon be introducing a landline phone with rotary dial pad to market to the vinyl buying millenial market. It comes with a free hardcopy telephone directory to look up numbers for an authentic analog calling experience.

 

[MadFloyd]

Rumor has it Apple will soon be introducing a landline phone with rotary dial pad to market to the vinyl buying millenial market. It comes with a free hardcopy telephone directory to look up numbers for an authentic analog calling experience.

lol

 

[KeithR]

Rumor has it Apple will soon be introducing a landline phone with rotary dial pad to market to the vinyl buying millenial market. It comes with a free hardcopy telephone directory to look up numbers for an authentic analog calling experience.

Amazon has a real book store open again. In fact, independent book stores have made a large comeback.

 

[Joe Galbraith]

Rumor has it Apple will soon be introducing a landline phone with rotary dial pad to market to the vinyl buying millenial market. It comes with a free hardcopy telephone directory to look up numbers for an authentic analog calling experience.

Well played, sir. You win the Internet

 

[asiufy]

I love the record store experience way to much.
I was at Lost In The Grooves in Mt. Vernon this past Sunday (all used for now, new coming soon) and we all had a blast, spinning old 45's from the late 60's through the 70's piped through good old fashioned giant Cerwin Vegas. The owner went total DJ on us calling it the AM Gold set.
Everyone was sharing memories of times past, educating the younger ones. We were all scooting around the store smiling and laughing.
This was not a planned event it just broke out!
At one point he did a accidental needle drop about 5 seconds in, needle hit the record and bounced up, less than a second and I named that tune in one note.
I love to sit and just listen to music, but I believe that what happened in that store is WHAT the music experience is about and prefer that to sitting in a dark room by myself.

Excellent post!
I have similar memories in fellow record stores, and I cherish those moments! I always felt bad because I have a very lousy (musical) memory, and I could never remember the tunes people picked... Once they disclosed the song, it was *always* from an album I already had!!!
These memories are the reason we laid out the store the way we did, with records, couches, and a system set-up around them. It's lovely seeing folks engaged with the LP collection, picking stuff to listen, or being "DJ'ed" by us
I think the "dark room by myself" is a consequence of those collective moments. It's when you fully absord what was "learned" during the collective experience!