Collecting vinyl records in Pensacola

Vinyl collecting has made a comeback in the United States in a big way influenced by modern popular culture, and music fans are all for it.

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In Pensacola, the tradition carries on with a handful of locally-owned record stores. Surrounded by music cities such as Nashville and New Orleans, it’s only natural that music collecting would be popular here as well.

Greg Crawford, a resident of Pensacola and long-time collector says he enjoys the hunt for special collectible records.

“Hopefully it’ll keep going,” said Crawford. “I think it’s good for everybody, it’s good for the artist, (and) it’s good for the people. Locally here it’s great. A lot of the smaller bands that come through here always have vinyl. And it’s usually something special you can’t get anywhere else. That’s part of the fun is finding it. It’s the search for it, you know what you want but you gotta look for it.”

In a time when so much media is digital, Crawford appreciatesthe tactile experience he gets with vinyl.

“I love vinyl because, with vinyl, I feel like you get the whole experience from the artist,” said Crawford. “You get to see, hopefully, lyrics, the artwork, and the vinyl. There’s something about putting the vinyl on the turn table and hearing that little crackle and tearing loose.”

Vinyl records have been around since the early 20th century. They were the most common form of recorded music until the mid-1980s. The format was eventually replaced by compact discs due to portability and price range. Eventually, streaming digital media replaced all forms of physical media as the main source of music sales. However, in the last 13 years or so, the vinyl format has seen a comeback for several reasons.

Chuck Gardener, co-owner of The Music Box, has seen firsthand the recent rise in demand for vinyl. He credits personal experiences as well as nostalgia for this increase in popularity.

“I think it’s part of a couple of things, I know the music itself, depending on the type of setup you have, sounds better,” said Gardener. “As far as the kids go, and I still think this, I think because their friends are doing it, it must be cool to do it, so let’sdo it too. Just the nostalgia of the thing. Seeing what their parents may have listened to, or you know what their grandparents may have listened to. And now it’s available for them to listen to. I think it’s just the cool thing to do right now.”

RELATED: Vinyl records outsell CDs for the first time since 1987

Pop culture and modern marketing seem to be a driving force behind the new wave of collecting according to Ray Thall, Gardener’s Partner at The Music Box.

“I think, if you notice a lot of the shows, and on TV and movies, they have a lot of vinyl,” said Thall. “You see a record playing in the background where that wasn’t something you’d see. Five, six years ago you wouldn’t see that. You would see that twenty-something years ago you might see that. Or thirty-something years ago.”

When it comes to what people are buying, physical record sales are dominated by modern artists such as Taylor Swift.

“When I go back and look at my orders and what people are buying and what I'm selling, it's heavy on Taylor Swift, and more Taylor Swift, and then yes after that, more Taylor Swift,” said Eric Jones, owner of Revolver Records. “I'll see a lot of that, a lot of Harry Styles, Adele. But don’t let that mislead you, I sell plenty of Fleetwood Mack, and eagles, and Dylan, and Beatles, and Stones. It runs the gamut through all the decades, all the eras, all the genres. But if you ask me, number one, current bands because they're out there on tour right now, they're young, they're fresh.”

Gardener and Thall also touted Taylor Swift as a popular seller. They recall a previous Record Store Day — a national day where special release vinyl is available at participating independent record stores — when fans were lined up waiting for a Taylor Swift release.”

“They were wrapped around the building,” said Gardener.

In a way, collecting vinyl has become just another hobby much like collecting video games or comic books. It’s more of the desire for that physical object to hold onto, says Jones.

“It goes back to that physical thing,” he added. “They just want it. They want it on the shelf. It's just human nature, we all treasure things that maybe aren’t practical, they're just passionate. Comic books, action figures, baseball cards.”

No one knows how long this resurgence will last; is it a fad that will die out in a number of years? Or is it a return to physical media in a way unpredicted? Either way, artists and fans alike are embracing the culture, and they don’t seem to be slowing down.

“Records aren’t going away anytime soon, but it's still a niche market,” added Jones. “Most of my friends, most people, don’t buy records. You know, they stream, Spotify, Pandora. It’s going to remain a strong market in Pensacola and worldwide and get stronger. But it will never be number one like it was in the 70s and earlier before digital technology. Vinyl I don’t think, in any of our lifetimes we’ll ever see vinyl be king. It's still a pipsqueak in the big world of economics.”