In 2017, HMV reported that there had been a huge increase in demand and purchases of vinyl records since the 1980’s. Yes, we have Spotify and yes, we have YouTube but what they both fail to give us that records to is authenticity to the music. Hearing the needle scratch across the record and hearing the music blast out from our record players just sounds so much better than blasting Fleetwood Mac from my MacBook!
It seems that everyone 25 and under has a record player or knows someone who has – which 10 years ago would not have been the case. For a time, we were obsessed with minimizing everything; vinyl records became cassettes, cassettes became CD’s and CD’s became portable listening devices such as the iPod and iPhone. But, it seems that with the increase of the ‘hipster’ who seek to be alternative they have increased the vintage appeal of the record.
Whilst, records do sound amazing and look really cool they are extremely expensive. You can buy The 1975’s album on CD for £5.99 but on vinyl it’ll cost you £20.95 – a vast difference. But, I believe that adds to the overall appeal and fun of records – the price means we’re often lead to shop around and buy second-hand records for dirt cheap. When I first purchased my own record player I bought a 20 pack of records for £20 from Gumtree, they were so authentic and even had written the original owners name and the date bought (most from the 70’s and 80’s) and consisted of everything from Elvis to Fleetwood Mac.
Records come with their own community – some people are obsessed with collecting records and it so wonderfully detaches us from our phones! We don’t have to worry about who will see our embarrassing songs we’re listening to on Spotify (okay, maybe I aimed this at me – yes, I was playing Hannah Montana albums yesterday and no, I’m not ashamed) because vinyl records are offline listening in the best form.
Overall, I believe that records are worth the splurge. Not only because they look pretty on my Instagram stories but because they offer a warm sound quality unlike any other that just makes the experience of listening to music so much better.
Becky Gibbs
