They often say that trends of the past have a way of working back around to the present day. Vinyl records are a great example of this. The preferred music medium of our parents and grandparents are starting to see a comeback. And Sony Music Entertainment, that has artists like The Chainsmokers, Britney Spears, and Beyonce, is responding to that call. After 28 years, the company will begin making vinyl records again.
Sony stopped producing vinyl records around 1989 when the popularity of CD’s took hold over the industry. Even CD sales were eventually taken over by the digital music industry. Despite the popularity of digital music and music services like Pandora and Spotify, vinyl record sales have seen an increase in the past few years. According to a consulting firm, Deloitte, this growth isn’t slowing down anytime soon. They are projecting that vinyl record sales will generate $900 million in revenue over the next year.
To keep up with this vinyl record craze, Sony released a new record player into the market last year. And they are taking things one step further. Vinyl record production is set to begin in March of next year although it is still unclear as to what genres will get the vinyl treatment.
A factory in southwest Tokyo will be the home of their record making machines and it all began in February of this year. At the beginning of this year, they installed an analog record-cutting machine which is used to make records for mass production. A press machine is also currently being assembled in the factory.
However, Sony is having a problem finding engineers with expertise in the record-making department. They have created a team of industry greats that are training a new generation in the making of vinyl records.
What do you think about Sony making records? Will this cause records to lose their nostalgic popularity? Let us know in the comments below!
