Vinyl is irreplaceable.
Vinyl became one of my interesting topic to investigate because vinyl possess some unique feeling for me.”Vinyl emerged in its standard form of the 33rpm double-sided, long-playing (‘LP’) record via Columbia Records in 1948. It rose to prominence in the subsequent decade, dominated the trade in the 1960s and 1970s, and declined in the 1980s (Bartmanski and Woodward, 2015).” Gen X had lots of memories with vinyl; it gave them nostalgia as vinyl is getting lesser and a lot of new music does not produce vinyl format. I still remember my dad told me that he brought his favorite artist vinyl and play it on his friend vinyl player every weekend as he could not afford a vinyl player. Guitarist Steve Vai said: “There is something very romantic about vinyl. It is a kickback to your youth. You get the vinyl album, and you get the album artwork (Wright, 2013).” There are precious memories with the vinyl.
Thus, vinyl is irreplaceable because it provides different experience compare to others music format. “Technically, the vinyl recording is a closer analog to the actual waveform produced by the music in that the wave is directly represented by the groove in the record,” said James Paul Sain, a University of Florida professor of composition(Mark, 2015). Steve also proposed that vinyl is different from another music format: “… … the CD is obviously a little cleaner and crisper, but the vinyl has a warmth and a rounded-off fatness, so to speak. It is sort of the difference between getting into a warm bath or getting into a cold bath(Wright, 2013).” This is the reason why vinyl couldn’t be replaced by other music format and became favorite for some minority.
Furthermore, vinyl are getting less popular among the gen Y because it is not convenient as in order to play a vinyl you need to get a vinyl player and it is not portable; unlike music in digital format, we can listen to it at anywhere we want using our mobile phone. Thus, Vinyl also need to be clean once in awhile in order to get rid of the dust and keep it nicely. However, one of my friend he is big fans of vinyl, he got lots of different vinyl album and own various of vinyl player. For him, vinyl had become part of his hobby.
Anyway, vinyl also gaining some boost in sales as people are interested in the retro product. Chief executive of Retail Doctor Group Brian Walker said: “while vinyl records are still niche, he wasn’t surprised by the spike in sales, citing a trend in “personality-driven” retro products (Timna, 2015).” Vinyl can become popular again if people realize its unique and beauty.
Vinyl player sketching
References
Bartmanski, D. and Woodward, I. (2015). The vinyl: The analogue medium in the age of digital reproduction. Journal of Consumer Culture, 15(1), pp.3-27.
Mark, E. (2015). Music to whose ear. Quality Progress, 48(2), pp.14-16.
Timna, J. (2015). Nostalgia power helps vinyl sales turn the tables: Music. The Age, p.25.
Wright, J. (2013). GUITARIST STEVE VAI EXPLAINS WHY HE’S HAD A LASTING LOVE AFFAIR WITH VINYL RECORDS.