The last few years has seen not just a revival but a rebirth of the analogue record. Much more than merely a nostalgic craze, vinyl has become a cultural icon. While vinyl never ceased to be the key format for many music lovers and DJs, for two decades the recording industry perceived it as outdated, consigned to dusty domestic spaces and obscure record shops. Yet the seemingly obsolete vinyl has become the fastest growing medium in music sales.
The vinyl record is now a symbol of urban cool and authenticity; a signifier of a serious, immersive approach to production and consumption of music; an emblematic object of alternative cultures linked to dance and music epicentres in bohemian neighborhoods of global cities and a politically charged mode of opposition to ubiquitous digital music and listening practices.
Using a cultural sociology framework combined with insights from material and visual culture studies, Dominik Bartmanski and Ian Woodward present vinyl as a multifaceted cultural object and explore the reasons for its persistence within technologically accelerated cultures. The book is informed by media analysis, urban ethnography and interviews with musicians, DJs, record store owners, boutique label chiefs and collectors within a range of urban centres renowned for thriving music scenes, including Melbourne, London, New York, Tokyo and Berlin.
