The sound of jazz music fills The Record Centre on Wellington Street, transporting eager customers back in time as they walk in. Ever since vinyl’s sudden resurgence in popularity, the store has been busier than ever.
John Thompson has been the owner of The Record Centre since 2011 and has been selling vinyl records since the 1990s. He’s seen vinyl ebb and flow in popularity over the years, but said he saw the COVID-19 pandemic as a positive turning point for the vinyl industry.
“People were at home more and listening to more music, especially on vinyl,” he said. “I think it was perfectly positioned to do better and better.”
While transitioning in and out of pandemic-caused closures in 2020 and 2021, Thompson credits the business’s success to their online store and to its promotions over social media.
“People were excited about [the online promotions],” he said. “It was [really] insatiable, because as soon as we would do a drop, everything was snapped up.”
The Record Centre’s popularity is part of a greater resurgence of vinyl music. Luminate’s 2021 Year-End Report showed a 21 per cent increase in Canadian vinyl sales from the previous year, and in 2022 that number increased another 2.1 per cent.
Akeem Oh, a local artist and former employee at The Record Centre for seven years, said vinyl helps the store build a vibrant community of listeners.
“We’ve done a lot of local music festivals [and] we used to do shows in the store as well,” he said. “A lot of the people that come to the store are community-focused and they echo what we believe in.”
Now, 10 per cent of all Canadians are listening to music on vinyl, and Generation Z are 82 per cent more likely to buy vinyl than any other generation, according to Luminate’s report.
Vinyl collector Merraj Masstan, 20, said he was first attracted to vinyl because of the cover art.
“An album cover always gives an impression of what the music sounds like,” he said. “When I have my favourite albums hung up on my wall, I look at it and it sets the mood for my day.”
Vinyl collections are a “pride of ownership” for Gen Z listeners, Thompson added.
“People like having their own library—it’s something you can touch and hold,” he said. “There really isn’t anything like it.”
The experience that accompanies listening to vinyl is what appeals to this new wave of listeners, according to Rob Haskins, a music professor at University of New Hampshire.
“You’re in a situation now where the vinyl isn’t the background sound, but it’s the focus,” he said. “You’re physically engaged when you’re listening to a vinyl in a way that you’re not with a CD.”
He added there is “a certain ritual” listeners go through when listening to a vinyl that makes it an interactive experience.
“You listen to side one, it takes about 20-25 minutes, and then you have to turn the record over. The built-in pause that creates actually allows you to digest what you just heard and builds up a feeling of expectation for what you’re about to hear,” he said.
One thing vinyl listeners seem to agree on is the importance of the slight imperfections—the pops, the crackles and the skips.
“Vinyl comes more naturally to the human ear because of its analog frequencies [and] its vibrations,” Oh said. “A lot of music today that is streamed is very compressed and computerized, so you’re losing fragility and … something that is natural to the human ear.”
While Haskins said older generations appreciate the nostalgic “luxury of remembering” through music on vinyl, younger listeners like Masstan said the whole experience is something to chase.
“When people have a taste of it, I don’t want to say it, but it’s like a drug,” Masstan said. “You want more of that experience. Honestly, it changed me and my perspective on music.”
Sources’ favourite music on vinyl:
John Thompson – Album: Waltz for Debby by Bill Evans
Merraj Masstan – Album: Random Access Memories by Daft Punk
Akeem Oh – any kind of ’60s music
Rob Haskins – Song: “Watch of the Bear” by Filthy Huns
Featured image by Daria Maystruk.
