Vinyl is still alive

Vinyl is making a comeback? Well, maybe not in the US. CNN International tells us the UK music industry presses vinyls in hopes to have DJs play them at parties: Vinyl holds out in digital world. More specifically, bands are using vinyls to reach out to new listeners.

Nice.

Here in the states, it’s not hard to find mainstream on vinyl, since that is what everyone wants to hear in the club (ugh). As for smaller bands, I’ve seen more and more 7″ releases put out by them. There is something about records that makes owning the music a different experience. Not to mention it never has any DRM. I won’t get into the sound quality debate here, but anyone that collects vinyl knows what I’m talking about. There is something about holding a disc with the tracks’ waveform imprinted physically on it. The same can’t be said for CDs. And with MP3s, it’s even less romantic.

Thanks to the Internet and global e-commerce, it looks like vinyl has a better chance of surviving. Everywhere people say “get with the times” but only a few say “I want that record.” Being online, you can reach out to that narrow “I want that record” niche all around the world, and you have a decent size audience. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve also seen a small rise in vinyl popularity around here in NY. People don’t even have turntables and still collect them. I find that awesome, but maybe my poser-dar isn’t functioning right.