THE C

OME BACK O

F VIN

YL

MA

T TH

EW

NO

L AN

RCA VICTOR

The first commercially produced vinyl records were introduced by RCA Victor in 1930. They measured 12 inches in diameter and were played back at 33 revolutions per minute (rpm). Vinyl produced better sound quality and less noise than the shellac records, which were common at the time. Unfortunately, vinyl records did not become popular at the time because the playback equipment was too expensive for most people during the Great Depression.

COLUMBIA RECORDS

During World War II, shellac became difficult to obtain, causing the record companies to manufacture records out of vinyl again. The most commonly produced item was a 12-inch record that only contained six minutes of sound and were played back at 78 rpm. These short-play records were shipped out to the troops in the field to provide them with the popular music of the time. After the war, Columbia Records continued research and development of affordable playback equipment and released its 33 rpm long-play (LP) 12-inch vinyl record in 1948.

EXTENDED PLAY RECORDS

In response to Columbia's entry into the vinyl market, RCA Victor introduced a new short-play format, the seven-inch Extended Play (EP) record. These smaller records were played back at 45 rpm and eventually found their niche as the standard format for single-song releases. The larger LP format became the standard for albums containing several songs because of their ability to store 30 minutes of sound on each side.

SOUND INNOVATIONS

Stereo recording on LPs was introduced in 1957 and led to the demise of the traditional monaural format by 1968. Monaural recording used a single-channel to store sound from only one microphone. In the 1970s, the record industry attempted to compete with the popular quadrophonic and 8-track tapes of the time by issuing quadrophonic vinyl records. Quadrophonic recording uses four channels to record and play back sound that comes from all four corners of the listener's surroundings. While the records sounded good, they never became a commercial success because there were three different formats being used and none were compatible with the others' playback equipment.

DECLINE OF THE VINYL RECORD

The advent of the compact disc in the 1980s drastically cut into the popularity of vinyl records. Records could not produce the same high level of sound quality and were far more vulnerable to damage. Simply bumping the equipment during playback could cause the needle to skip and scratch the delicate grooves in the vinyl.

THE SILENCE

Since the 1980’s Vinyl has still been made to a niche audience and has gradually faded out into the memories of the music industry. Until recently.

THE RISE

Recently vinyl has become more popular, slowly and quietly more alternative music has become popular and the niche audience favouring the analogue sound is starting to grow and take over. This could be due to the fact that downloads and streaming is taking over and costing the music industry so much that CD’s are becoming obsolete, and only the nostalgic fans of how music used to be presented to it’s audiences are some of the only consumers left who choose to purchase their albums and singles in a physical form.

ARTIS

TS G

IVIN

G BIR

TH T

O

THE

VINYL

REVOLU

TION

Lana

Del R

ey is

one

of th

e ar

tists

whic

h is s

ellin

g her

album

in a

Vin

yl fo

rmat

. Her

musi

c ca

ters

to a

n

alte

rnat

ive

niche

audie

nce b

ut as

her c

eleb

rity

rises

so

does

her fa

n bas

e an

d, rat

her th

an h

er b

ecom

ing m

ore

mai

nstre

am, m

ainst

ream

fans

are

star

ting to

be

conve

rted

to th

e nic

he.

Lana

Del R

ey s

tate

s th

at s

he is

insp

ired b

y ar

tists

such

as N

ancy

Sin

atra

, show

ing th

at s

he to

o is

a fa

n of a

mor

e nic

he m

usic

genre

, this

mea

ns her

fans

will

be

mor

e at

trac

ted to

her

alte

rnat

ive

view

.

ARTIS

TS G

IVIN

G BIR

TH T

O

THE

VINYL

REVOLU

TION

Laura

Mar

ling is

anot

her a

rtis

t who

gives

con

sum

ers

the

abili

ty to

purc

hase

her m

usic

in a

Vin

yl L

P form

at.

She to

o is

an a

ltern

ativ

e ar

tist w

ho is

outw

ardly

nic

he

and h

er fa

n bas

e beg

an v

ery

smal

l but,

like

Lana

Del

Rey, a

s her

cel

ebrit

y ris

es s

o doe

s her

fan b

ase

and

mai

nstre

am a

udience

s ar

e st

artin

g to h

ear h

er m

usic

and b

egin

to tu

rn to

war

ds th

e nic

he.

THE FUTURE

In the not too distant future the music industry will reach a dramatic turning point as a result of the rise in downloads and streaming, Artists will be able to upload their music free of charge to sites such as YouTube which allow audiences to view anything by anyone as long as they have the correct keywords.

Because of this the music industry will fall, because:1. Artists don’t need a managing company to help them upload

their music to these sites and become famous.2. Piracy and illegal downloading is on a drastic increase, resulting

in the industry and artists not being paid for their work.

The only consumers left will be the one’s nostalgic of the old way of the music industry and the one’s truly dedicated to music and the hard work which is put into it.

As a result of this Vinyl will become the most popular form of physical album’s as they are the most traditional and beautiful of all the devices of delivering music and it will give the audiences the satisfaction of having something produced by the music industry for consumers that are dedicated to their artists.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Information of slides 2 to 6 – www.ehow.com

http://www.ehow.com/about_5373550_history-vinyl-records.html