The Re-emergence of Vinyl, My Obsession & What It Means For Brands.
If you’ve been reading the trades or paying close attention to millennial-focused retailer environments, you’ve probably noticed a trend in the resurgence of vinyl. There has been a steady growth in sales for the past ten years but 2016 has been a clear breakaway for the medium.
Kristina Monllos recently published a great article in the March 7th issue of Adweek’s SXSW issue that’s worth a read and was in part my inspiration for writing this post.
My own obsession with vinyl has been increasing for the past three or four years — a lag for this early adopter.
My obsession with vinyl started in a post “Superstorm Sandy” mildew infested basement in Long Beach, NY.
In 2012, “Superstorm Sandy” was one of the most destructive hurricanes to hit the east coast and the second-costliest hurricanes in U.S. history. It decimated the basement of my at the time 100-year old grandmother’s house in Long Beach, NY. A block from the beach, and had her house not sat on a small hill, it would have probably flooded the entire home. Our family has since sold it but I’m happy to report Hannah is still alive, kicking and filling out her New York Times crossword puzzles everyday!
Along with much of the contents of the basement, my uncle’s entire record collection, which resided in the basement, was destroyed aside from a small collection (the best stuff) stashed away at the top of closet that to this day he has no idea still exists.
I claimed the collection from the wreckage as my own and this is where my the start of my obsession for vinyl and collecting began. The slight smell of musk still remains on the album covers, a smell that will always bring back memories of that basement and years of flooding that ensued over 70+ years.
Thousands of dollars later, countelss trips to record stores, flea markets and what is now a small but respectable record collection — I’m hooked.
As a marketer, why has vinyl captured my attention and that of so many others now? Here’ some of my insight and what it means for brands and retailers.
Simply put, we are experiencing a rennaissance in analog music and analog experiences of all kinds for that matter.
To put this trend into context, let’s take a look at some of the data points highlighted in the aforementioned Adweek article:
- 12 million vinyl units sold in 2015 (+17% YOY)
- Turntables were the #1 gift on Amazon this past holiday season including one gifted to none other than POTUS by John Sykes of iHeart Media
- Rock is the largest selling genre at 68% but the top selling albums of 2015 wasn’t a classic like you might have thought, but in fact, contemporary like Adele *7.4MM units) and Taylor Swift led the pack.
Aptly invested in catering to consumer tastes, tapping into to the lifestyle, retailers like Barnes & Noble, Urban Outfitters, John Varvatos and Amazon are quickly devoting phsyical and virtual shelf space to vinyl to captialize. New business models such as subscription commerce companies, Vinyl Me Please and VNYL are emerging to meet demand.
I’m a big fan of VMP and their vision and was first turned on to the service about 6 months ago when friend and talented artist, Ryder Robison did a collaboration project with the company around their Wilco A.M. album delivery. The company is not only doing a fantastic job of curation but also focusing on the entire sensory experience of listening to a record. Along with an album, each shipment includes a limited edition seriagraph by an artist inspired by the music, a drink recipe, listening notes and a poem.
This taps into, in my view, why the resurgance of vinyl is so poignment for millennials but also for the music industry at large. Millennials, as we know, are all about experience. Unfortunately digital streaming and the consumption of music has lost a bit of its luster in that respect due to digital consumption behaviors.
Today when we buy music, we fall prey to the “cherry picking syndrome” where we buy one song and discount the rest of the album entirely. As a result some say that the art of album arrangement is suffering. Listening to a record in it’s entirely tells a rich story and sheds light into the mindset of the artist during the creation process. One song is only a piece of that story in isolation.
With vinyl, much like the social media channels we have become so fond of (Twitter), artists are restricted to how much they can fit onto a record — a set number of grooves and 2 sides but they have a larger canvas in which to tell that story (the cover and supplement). We all know how big of a buzz word “storytelling” is today for marketers these days yet the medium of vinyl is widely underutilized.
Insight for brands and marketers
1. Millennials are interested in experiences and increasingly, analog experiences — vinyl is a perfect example of this and the exprience of listening is ripe for brands to take part in particularly spirits and CPG brands where their products are being consumed during the act of listening.
2. Authenticity is manifesting itself in a desire for “pure audio”- a friend recently used the analogy of listening to streaming music as putting together an orchestra and then removing three instruments by the time it gets to the stream
3. We are experiencing a digital backlash and people are looking for tactile experiences and opportunities to collect that cannot be replicated in the digital world. There’s nothing online that can replicate the smell of a record or the experience of flipping through the art work inside.
4. Music is difficult to activate around in an ownable way for brands — so much noise, so many brands in the space but not for vinyl…Some of the retailers above are doing a good job but brand activations are sparse.
5. Vinyl is just f*cking cool — a girl I once knew used to evaluate dates based on the guys bookshelf. This is the same dynamic. Design is reflecting this trend in well-crafted turntable displays and record racks. brands doing it well
Brands doing it well
Urban Outfitters: I recently stopped into the company’s 5th Avenue location. Not only is vinyl up front and center in their window display, but the retailer has devoted considerable floor space to selling viny including a sizable offering of LPs but also turntables and related various vinyl lifestyle paraphernalia such as hardcover table books.
John Varvatos: John Varvatos’s NoLita location (315 Bowery) currently resides in one of rock history’s most famous venue, CBGB. Paying homage to the venue and the music culture that ensued here, Varvatos sells vintage guitars, artwork and yes — vinyl. The retail curation at this location is fantastic and is a testament to how an experiential retail environment can engage an aspirational audience to drive sales for related products, in this case fashion.
