Culture | In a spin

How superstars and heritage acts hijacked the vinyl revival

Smaller names are being squeezed out of the format they regenerated

Colourful records including Lady GaGa decorate the office walls at Erika Records, where discs are manufactured in the record pressing plant in Buena Park, California. — The music industry’s going around in circlesImage: Getty Images

Oct 23rd 2023

WHEN THE Rolling Stones released their debut album in 1964, fans rushed out to shops to buy the LP. When the rockers put out “Hackney Diamonds” on October 20th, their first album of original material since 2005, some acolytes chose convenience and streamed it. But many also will buy the record on vinyl, just as admirers did almost 60 years ago. It will be available in standard black, as well as blue and green. In America people can also get it adorned, for some reason, with the logo of a Major League Baseball team.

The idea, no doubt, is that vinyl is a heritage format befitting a heritage act. But the ongoing vinyl revival, now well into its second decade, crosses generations, genders and genres. In America, 25- to 34-year-olds buy as much vinyl as the over-55s.

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “In a spin”