Special sounds are produced when a needle connects with vinyl.
“How it breathes through your sound system, you just don’t get that through your iPod or digital speakers,” said Jason Price, a professional DJ.
That vintage sound and excitement that can only be heard on records are now spreading to a new generation.
“Young people are into old things,” millennial Mykail Cooley said. “With the technology advancement we have right now, it’s that we can explore everything.”
While we might be living in a digital world, when it comes to music, many are moving back to analogue.
“When the death of CDs and retail happened, everyone just started looking for more ways to explore and collect,” said Price, who also holds a degree in music business from Loyola University New Orleans.
Due to this increase interest in vinyl records, he’s started collecting and selling records. With record sales surging so much, he’s now working with a new independent business devoted to this vinyl revival, Larimer Records Cafe.
“Probably about 100% increase year over year that I’ve seen,” Price said of his record sales. “Record stores in general are doing insane business.”
Music experts say what’s happening with Price is happening across the country as American vinyl album sales hit a new record high in Christmas week of 2020.
According to Billboard, more than 1.8 million LPs were sold in the week ending on December 24, 2020, beating a previous high that was set just one week earlier.
With more artists now pressing their own vinyl, Price believes record sales will just keep spinning.
“Vinyl has come back full circle to where new acts and new records are being pressed all the time now,” he said. “The future is here for records.”