Apparently the independent record stores like the local “Record Guys” are seeing success all across the country. Just read what Loretta Fulton has to say about it in Abilene Scene. With all the increasingly sophisticated technology available to us, what is it that’s keeping record sales alive? The draw my friends, at least for me, is nostalgia.
Vinyl can be smelled, touched and held, while digital music is almost simply an idea. It’s a phantom harmony trapped in a computer and transported through the invisible omnipresent internet. You may own rights to play and store a song on your computer, but you don’t own the song.
When you own a record, you own the physical manifestation of the music you are listening to. The technology can be explained to (and even understood by) the likes of me! Which I believe gives it a heightened sense of magic. It’s so simple. It’s visible and tangible technology that works beautifully after any number of years. So maybe it’s not nostalgia after all; maybe it’s the simplicity that drives sales.
Michael had a set of vintage speakers for a few years before we got married, and for his first birthday after our wedding I went to Record Guys to find a turntable to match. Being in the midst of so many classic and vintage pieces is maybe the closest humans will ever get to time travel, and it’s worth the experience to take a short peek into the past. It’s a warm tingly feeling that soaks into your soul like a sponge. It’s like drinking your first frothy hot chocolate during an October cold front or pulling into Abilene after spending too much time in the overcrowded streets of the generic metropolis of your choice. It’s home. It’s simple.
Abilene is to Generic Unnamed Metropolis, as record stores are to iTunes. Both are great on their own, and yet both meet very different needs. Personally, I like living simply and vacationing in sophistication. What do you think?
If you have an event you think Bailey should write about, let her know with the hashtag #EventsToBeScene. Follow Bailey LeRoux and Scene on Instagram and Twitter.
@bajaelsol and @AbileneScene
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