By Record/vinyl collecting in recent years has become a trend that competes with streams as being Gen Z’s preferred way of consuming music.
What exactly is attracting this surge in desire for physical media?
Visiting my family means going through all my old CDs at home, reminiscing on the era of my life where I got the “Yearbook Edition” of the newest One Direction CD each year for Christmas or the Usher, Lauryn Hill and Cranberries CDs that were passed down to me from my mom when I got old enough to work the boombox we had on my own.
Being gifted these CDs is not only something I look back on now as a privilege, but it was homework for little me to study these albums and develop my taste through them.
What I love about CDs and vinyls is that you’re not only experiencing the sound of the album, but you get to understand the look, concept and feel of the body of work.
On Feb. 26, 22West held their 22West Nights at The Nugget at Long Beach State, which featured an all-vinyl spin set by DJ Havani and a set by Pulso Plástico, the outlet’s all-vinyl radio show.
“I would have never met my friends here if it weren’t for vinyls,” Havni Rami, the spotlight DJ of the night, said. “It’s an expensive hobby so it can be hard to collect, but there’s so much more of a connection and a way to find community.”
Long Beach is not a stranger to all-vinyl DJs or celebrating physical media. We are fortunate to live in a city full of many independent record stores, with Retro Row housing a number of record stores and Downtown Long Beach’s iconic Fingerprints.
Bars in Los Angeles such as El Prado also feature DJs that only spin vinyl weekly, showing that the people still yearn for physical media.
