Before people started using the iPod in 2001 and the compact disk in 1983, there were record players. Thomas Edison invented the first record player in 1877. Vinyl records hit their peak in 1977. Music continues to develop into more digital formats, and most music is obtained by downloading a file off the internet.
However vinyl records have found their place in the twenty-first century. According to a study from The Economist, vinyl record sales in America increased 39 percent from 2010 to 2011.
While 400,000 vinyl records were sold at a Brooklyn plant in 2011, a love for vinyl records exists in Provo also.
Tom Brinton, bassist for The New Electric sound and advertising major, said he has collected vinyl records for the last two years.
“The first place I got my records was at Savers,” Brinton said. “DI has a lot of records but it isn’t music that I’m interested in. I saw them there and I thought I should start collecting them. I didn’t have a record player at the time.”
His grandmother gave him her turntable and stereo set-up later.
Chris Bunker“Vinyl is superior because you have to put on the album,” Brinton said. “They come with the lyrics, so you sit down and follow. I think the reason that vinyl is starting to come back is that you get different things out of music when you’re just listening.”
Brinton said he has records from classic rock artists including Fleetwood Mac, YES and The Eagles.
According to Rolling Stone, modern singers such as Fleet Foxes, Mumford & Sons, and Adele topped the charts for best-seller vinyl records in 2011. The Beatles’ Abbey Road has remained on the top for the last three consecutive years proving collectors tend to gravitate toward classics.
Terra Allen, a pre-illustration major, said her brother loves to collect classic rock records and possesses albums from The Eagles, Steve Miller Band and The Beatles.
“He is really into classic rock bands,” Allen said. “And so he goes to the thrift store next to our house and they have tons. He likes to go and get them just to have them.”
Ally Jones, a vinyl collector and archaeology major, said she likes to collect classic rock, classical music and Broadway albums.
“What I have kind of depends on what I find, what I want,” She said.
Jones said she started collecting vinyl records by chance.
“It was really just an accident,” She said. “I was studying with one of my friends, and for his job he archives records … When they have too many of a specific record, they throw the extras away.’”
After hearing her friend say he would throw the records away, she said she would take them because she likes to collect vinyl records for the sake of collecting old things, and a few others like collecting vinyl for the same reason.
“I feel like there will always be people who do it because they really like old things and they just enjoy having something kind of different, and it’s fun to use,” Jones said. “But I think a lot of the people I see around today with record players only really have them because it’s a cool thing to do. So eventually that part will phase out.”
Jones acquired a record player for a third of a used player’s normal price. She said she likes to put on a record, sit on the couch and relax while listening to it.
While vinyl continues to grow in sales, it is yet to be determined whether a larger population buys them for fashion or for fascination.
