During my time at Landmark College there is always one thing that seems to be brought up–Vinyl. I first learned just how big vinyl is when I joined the radio team. It was all over the place, they even encouraged you to use vinyl’s during your radio show. However, it’s not just Landmark that’s into vinyl, it’s also the town of Putney, VT. In Putney there is a store named Next Chapter Records.
Next Chapter Records was first opened by Mitch Harrison and Janine Molesky in Putney, Vermont in 2022. They sell vintage vinyl, normal vinyls, CDs, shirts, and vinyl cleaning supplies. Their goal is to “provide our customers with the sights and sounds of a record store and to bring them the music they love and seek out according to the store’s website.
However, it’s not only the residents of Putney who are getting into vinyl, it’s also the teachers, and students here at Landmark College. One teacher I interviewed was RyanWare, Assistant Professor of Writing Studies,. Professor Ware first got into vinyl when his older brother, who is seven years older than him, already had vinyl Ware was never allowed to go into his brother’s room, so he would sneak around and snoop through his stuff. He remembers holding a copy of his brother’s Nirvana’s Bleach on vinyl. When seeing the vinyl Professor Ware noticed how much bigger it was compared to his cassettes. He also stated that most importantly he could see the actual audio cut physically and materially into the record. Nowadays his vinyl collection has far surpassed his brothers’.
When I asked Professor Ware what separates vinyl from today’s online music, he said that, “I’m an ‘audiophile,’ which means I appreciate and seek out the highest quality sound. Vinyl, if pressed properly and played on the proper equipment, sounds far better than, say, a FLAC file.” He also said that he can tell the difference between listening to online music and listening to vinyl. Ware also said that, “things still tend to get buried or muddied when files are compressed over and over and over and over.” Another point he made is that depending on network connection your sound quality may deteriorate, but not with vinyl.
When I asked Ware why he thought vinyl was so big here at Landmark, he actually said that he didn’t know it was such a big thing. However, he said that listening to vinyl has “really become a big part of more-than-casual-music fans.” He also said that “Platforms like TikTok and Instagram certainly influence new music fans, give them FOMO, make them want to follow the revived vinyl trend.” Professor Ware also gave an example of how big vinyl has gotten when he said that one of his favorite bands, Opeth, had to push back their records due to such high demand.
Before Ware got into vinyl, he viewed it as “mysterious.” He thought “why do I have to be so careful with this thing when I can just throw my tapes around everywhere?” But when he held his first vinyl, he immediately felt responsible for maintaining the quality of it.
When I asked how newcomers could get into vinyl Ware gave me a link to https://www.discogs.com/ saying this is how to “learn about what vinyl collecting entails. Engage in literate activity around vinyl. Get informed. Start collecting. Follow your tastes and vinyl will be a nice treat, and perhaps like me, an obsession.”
I also had a chance to interview Owain Lucas, WLMC Station Manager
Owain said that his dad was the first person who introduced him to vinyl, saying, “My dad was someone who was interested in vinyl for a long time and would play it in the house every so often.” Owain got his first turntable when he turned 18 and a Phil Collins compilation album. Owain also said he got into vinyl because, “There is a sound & authenticity to having records and owning a physical object that contains the music, as opposed to ripping it from the internet.”
The next question I asked was why vinyl was so big, specifically on the radio team here at Landmark. “One of the reasons it’s so big is because of the annual Vinylthon event that takes place every year in April, which is a 48-hour marathon of all vinyl music, celebrating music of all eras on a classic format. Another reason was a policy that was implemented in the fall of 2023, where any music in WLMC automation had to be owned either by the college, or by community members at LC,” said Owain. This later led to the station leadership team’s drive to buy up both LPs and CDs.
I asked Owain why he preferred vinyl over online music. Owain said that, “There is an authenticity and specialness to owning an album on physical media, that you do not get on streaming. Rare albums have a high value with special covers that you don’t find online and can mean a lot to someone.” He also stated that for him it is a “means of having a connection to the songs on the albums and will be more willing to listen to all the tracks on the album and discover hidden gems that don’t get frequently played.”
When I asked Owain if more people should get into vinyl he firmly stated, “Absolutely, while it can be an expensive hobby, it’s an enjoyable one, and there’s online communities galore, and you can always connect with someone through vinyl, such as meeting other collectors on campus with good music, and maybe different tastes as you that you can be open to.”
According to Tom at ATLAS RECORDS There are 7 key roles on why Vinyl is coming back. The first role according to ATLAS RECORDS, is sound quality, Fans say “that the warm tones and subtle imperfections of a vinyl record are far superior to an electronically and precisely remastered digital equivalent, particularly for music released before the turn of the millennium.”
The second role is that they are collectables and valuables, the Third role design and artwork, Tom at ATLAS RECORDS says that the artwork on vinyl’s “adds reason that people are flocking back to them.” The fourth role is the social aspect, people love listening to music together. The fifth role is discovery, “Even away from home, places like record stores are built to enhance (and often rely on) this feeling of discovery.”
The sixth role is support for an artist, in 2022, artists in the USA collectively earned around $12 million more from the sales of vinyl records. The seventh and final role is nostalgia. People love to reminisce about the past, and vinyl lets you do just that when listening to a song. Vinyl itself is not just growing at the school, it’s also making a resurgence all over the world. Vinyl sales have soared mainly through the time of covid.
