The Comeback of the Medium: The History and Contemporary Revival of the Vinyl Record Industry

Abstract

As an important vehicle in the development of music and recording art, vinyl records have gone through a series of journeys from birth, and development to decline over the past hundred years. However, in recent years, the industry has seen a resurgence and has been called a “renaissance” in the digital music era by some scholars and media practitioners. This paper explores the historical changes and market evolution of the vinyl record industry since its birth, and focuses on the industrial situation, reasons for the revival, characteristics, and future development expectations of the industry during the contemporary “revival” period, in an attempt to explore the artistic value positioning of vinyl records in different periods, and the relationship with the technology and audience psychology of the times, in order to gain useful insights for art communication and its industrial marketization.