Back on black: Vinyl records are beginning to reappear on the shelves of customers around the Toledo area

Vinyl records — the bulky, old-fashioned things that were replaced by CDs in the 90s and the music medium everyone thought would die in today’s digital age — are coming back, and their primary customers are Millennials, who are keeping record stores alive.

“It’s really interesting that young people have discovered vinyl,” said Randy Nissen, a Toledo Public Schools social studies teacher. “For instance, I have three friends that own record stores and they all tell that it’s pretty much vinyl that’s keeping them in business right now.”

In the past seven years, vinyl albums have sold more copies than ever before, according to a 2014 article from music publication Billboard. The article said 9.2 million vinyl records were sold last year, a 52 percent increase from 2013.

A growing number of classic albums, including the complete Beatles, early Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan catalogs, have had vinyl reissues in recent years as well. Even modern-day albums, like Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’ or Sam Smith’s ‘In the Lonely Hour,’ can be purchased on vinyl.

Since the beginning of the CD and digital download age from the late 1980s through the 2000s, record sales continually decreased, according to Pat O’Connor, the owner of local record shop Culture Clash Records.

“I’ve always carried records. When I started, it was pretty much mostly records, cassettes, and 8-tracks,” O’Connor said. “In the later 80s, it was records and compact discs. Compact discs really did take over quite a bit … Then CDs started faltering come 2005, 2006, 2007.”

O’Connor said once burning (disc copying), downloading and digital sales hit the market, vinyl and CD sales “were very low.”

Ramalama Records owner Rob Kimple said that in recent years, vinyl record sales have seen new growth.

“We’ve always sold records, but for probably the last three years, it’s probably actually taken over CD sales,” Kimple said. “It was just a popular misconception that people didn’t buy them, but it’s grown and grown.”

According to both Kimple and O’Connor, vinyl records never completely disappeared, there was just a period of time when they weren’t as popular.

“Vinyl, much like music itself, is pretty much timeless,” said Tanasio Loudermill, a fourth-year film and video major. “You could say vinyl didn’t make a comeback — so to speak, it really never left.”

Loudermill said that because history repeats itself, trends in the music industry will always resurface. In his opinion, popular songs like “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson and Daft Punk’s album “Random Access Memories” are not new styles of music, but recycle old trends.

According to Kimple, vinyl records are not new ways to listen to music — instead, they offer a different way to experience the album.

“It’s not like people stopped loving music,” Kimple said. “People have always loved music; that’s why they download this stuff. But they realized first off when you download it, you don’t actually own anything. It’s a convenient way to listen to music, but you don’t own it.”

As an avid record collector and enthusiast, Nissen said that for him, the best part of vinyl is the tangible feeling of holding a record.

“I just love records. There’s a tactile element to them,” Nissen said. “I like just the feel of them, the weight, the bigger palette for album cover art.”

To some listeners, the concept behind vinyl records encompasses an entire musical experience.

“When you go to a record store, like looking for something, you get surprised by what you find,” said third-year communication major Lindsay Mahaney. “I think it’s part of the experience of having a record player and I enjoy that.”

Both Nissen and O’Connor said the best way to dive into the world of vinyl records is to simply wander into a record store.

“Go to a record store, go to garage sales, start crate picking and you’ll find some real gems,” Nissen said. “Part of the fun is the hunt, to find things you’re looking for.”

According to Mahaney, her favorite part about vinyl is the art of searching for these gems.

“You can find all sorts of different stuff and it’s an experience,” Mahaney said. “I think it’s important sometimes to remember that music shouldn’t just be something that you listen to in the background.”

O’Connor said listening to vinyl records is a more intimate way to experience music, and therefore is more important to listeners.

“It’s the engagement. It’s probably the most personalized way to listen to music,” O’Connor said. “It’s not a background activity, it’s the activity.”

According to Mahaney, listening to entire albums, especially on vinyl, is the best way to get the full intent of the artist.

“Every song has a story, and then every record has a story, and if we are only listening to half of a song, then we’re missing out on something,” Mahaney said.

When listening to vinyl, Loudermill said he can actually hear more notes than are on CDs.

“I’ll always vouch for people to listen to vinyl over other mediums because I can notice the differences in sound,” Loudermill said.

According to Kimple, the sound quality offered by vinyl attracts many new listeners. He said he sees a wide spectrum of new customers, ranging from young teenagers to “65-year-old house mothers.”

“It’s really exciting. People are just so excited about music again, and they are so excited to start again with vinyl,” O’Connor said. “Everything is digital nowadays so it’s nice to have something solid, something real, something tangible, something mechanical. It’s kind of wondrous that way.”