![[Column] Rotating Nostalgia: The Psychology of Vinyl Revival](/../assets/images/column-vinyl-revival.webp)
Prologue: What remains after sound becomes “data”
| Text: mmr | Theme: Adding a data perspective to the psychology of record regression. Graphing the global Vinyl Revival from 2000 to 2025 |
In the 2020s, when music consumption has become completely digital, a ““return to analog”’ has been quietly progressing behind the playlists played by Spotify”s algorithm.
Chapter 1: The intersection of data and psychology
Behind the resurgence of records are psychological desires and social reactions. The movement to reclaim the physical musical experience is also an unconscious rebellion of the digital generation.
The graph below shows global record sales trends from 2000 to 2025. It can be seen that while CDs are in decline, vinyl is making a comeback and is on the rise.
World record sales trends (2000–2025)
Chapter 2: “Resurrection of rituals” told by numbers
Economic data may seem cold, but it is also a mirror reflecting the heat of culture. The increase in record sales is not just about nostalgia; It is a symbol of the new consumer behavior of “buying experiences.”
In particular, many of the Gen Z buyers are the “digital generation” themselves. For them, records function as ““unknown classics’’ - a new narrative device.
Chapter 3: Media Archeology and the Psychology of Ownership
Behind the transparency of digital, the materiality of analog shines once again. Music recording media do more than just store information. It is a medium that visualizes human concepts such as “time,” “deterioration,” and “memory.”
The ring of records symbolizes the cycle of time. It is a metaphor for “music” itself, “The act of listening is a ritual of reuniting with time.”
Chapter 4: Effects of records on the brain
According to research in psychology and brain science, The human brain feels pleasure in sounds that have “fluctuations”. Fine noise and fluctuations contained in analog sound are Resonating with the natural phenomenon called 1/f fluctuation, It has the effect of calming the rhythm of heartbeat and brain waves.
──In other words, listening to records is also an act of ““conditioning the autonomic nervous system of the mind.’’
Chapter 5: Future analog ─ Reaction in the AI era
In an era where AI can generate music infinitely, “Sounds that cannot be reproduced” and “trace of matter” are Paradoxically, it is beginning to acquire scarcity value.
Records in the era of AI-generated music It will continue to be an “anti-algorithmic entity”.
Conclusion: The future inside a rotating disk
We live in an age where data is at its peak, and algorithms control everything. Under these circumstances, people are once again seeking “material sound.”
Records never die. Rather, as a symbol of the rotation of human memory and emotions, It continues to quietly and surely turn to the future.
