Not just a matter of nostalgia: loving the vinyl record in the digital age

The return of vinyl is a nostalgic issue or a reaction to the digital world? Vinyl: the Analogue Record in the Digital Age,  written by Bartmanski and Woodward responds at this question.

It is well known that in recent years old good vinyl records not only have not disappeared, but also became much more popular and appealing to contemporary generations, turning them into real iconic objects.

To exemplify this, suffice it to mention the success of the acclaimed 2016 TV show titled just Vinyl, created and produced by stars such as Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese, in which the events of a New York-based independent record around 1973 are narrated. This TV show is just one among the many signs of a trajectory that accorded to the vinyl a very special place within the today digital musical landscape.

However, while the Vinyl Tv show has been strongly influenced by a nostalgic attitude toward the past of music, the resurgence of the vinyl in music practices has to do much less with the effect of nostalgia and the sense of loss of a golden age and much with the creation of a very contemporary, alternative way to experience music in the digital age. No doubt that our love for the vinyl is clearly intertwined with the past of this object…

…Read the full article on “Digicult”