#Timeless Tuesdays – Turntables and vinyl

#Timeless Tuesdays – Turntables and vinyl

by Rob 

Looking back on a couple of years ago, when a 1970s Goodmans’ turntable caught my eye on eBay, it would seem I was on board with what now seems to be an emerging trend. My purchase immediately brought back memories from childhood when I would spend hours searching through our parent’s record collection, fascinated by the album sleeves. Before long the turntable had proudly taken up residence in my front room (with lots of admiring glances from our friends) and I’d bought up an entire collection of vinyl via gumtree – mission complete!

Increasingly, it appears that I’m not alone in my nostalgic fascination. 2017 was a landmark year for records and turntables. According to data released from BPI (the record industry’s trade body) vinyl sales hit 4.1 million in 2017 (their highest since 1991 – possibly the last time I bought a record) and a 30% increase on 2016’s sales (compare this to the fact that 2007 saw just 205,000 vinyl sales).

Turntables were also one of the must-have Christmas gifts for 2017. HMV sold 60,000 turntables this Christmas just gone and that was a 10,000 increase on the previous year. The cost of a turntable can be anything from £50 (you can buy portable record players in a suitcase these days) through to £1,500 for seriously top decks!

But why has the record player revival hit the mainstream, especially when we have every type of genre of music at our fingertips via our mobile, computer or digital personal assistant? Well that might just be the reason… the digitalisation of music, the ease of streaming anything we want - when we want it IS convenient, BUT lacks the ‘tactile experience’ of collecting, choosing and playing records on a record player.

The joy of looking at an album cover can be compared to viewing your favourite piece of art, the smell of a record sleeve can evoke memories. Who doesn’t love lowering the needle, the anticipation, the crackle and pop, and listening to a record in its entirety. This ‘ritual’ of playing a record makes listening to music an event in its own right and simply streaming an album to your iPad doesn’t even come close!

What’s also interesting is that it’s not just the hipsters embracing vinyl or the baby boomers reliving their youth; vinyl and turntables have found a broadening demographic and even millennials who have grown up in a digital era are buying vinyl alongside their downloads…

We can’t help but think this is down to the ‘analogue’ experience of playing vinyl on a turntable, the fact that a carefully chosen record can make the most perfect, thoughtful gift (an iTunes gift card doesn’t cut it) and I don’t think this resurgence is going anywhere fast.  

The tables have most definitely turned!