Every year I look forward to the first week of december. Yes, I am also looking forward to the holidays, but what I am specifically looking forward to every year is Spotify Wrapped. For those who don’t know; Spotify Wrapped is when Spotify wraps up all your favorite songs, artists, genres and your listening habits and wraps it together in a slideshow. However, in recent years, especially the last two years, I have noticed I have been using Spotify more and more. Still, I enjoy listening to physical records as well, like my CD’s. Last week I even got a record player to play all the vinyl records I have collected so far. These different ways of listening to music have been intertwining more the last few years. But, how exactly? And more importantly, why?
Making your analog music digital
An example of the way that modern streaming platforms and analogical ways of listening of the past are connecting these days is the $429 record player from the company VNYL. This record player is just like any other record player, in which case you can play vinyl records on it. However, this record player also generates a Spotify playlist while you’re playing your records. This way, the record player allows you to share your favorite records with your friends without actually going through the trouble of finding the artists or specific songs on Spotify. Not only expensive ways of listening are making a comeback. Even old-school mp3-players are now becoming ‘aesthetic’, along with old-school headphones. Yet, many of these old technological devices are not necessarily the best quality. Still, it gives people a certain type of nostalgia. But exactly what type of nostalgia?
Nostalgic for old technology
As you may have noticed, record players have been coming back in fashion the last few years. I, myself, have even purchased one recently as said previously. But what exactly led us to this re-emergence of this way of listening to music? This nostalgia for old technology has often been dubbed ‘tech-nostalgia‘. This specific type of nostalgia refers to our growing love and reminiscence of old technology. This not only includes record players, but also other old technology like instant cameras. This nostalgia also ties in with the recent trend of ‘faux-vintage‘: making a new thing look old. For example, think of certain Instagram or Snapchat filters that puts a grain over your photos or adds a polaroid frame to them. The aesthetics from record players are also being used in modern-day music: from the cracking noises of a traditional vinyl record to album covers in the shape of a record player. Scholar John Campopiano proposes that this tech-nostalgia is due to the fast rate and short span of modern technologies that triggers nostalgic impulses for something familiar and at the same time generates resentment towards the new still unfamiliar.
Go thrift with new knowledge
So next time you go thrifting for a good vinyl record, you will hopefully now know what might have influenced you to go looking for them. Even if you don’t own a record player, try analyzing your favorite music; are there perhaps any influences from technology of old? Either way, enjoy your favorite songs and artists with a little bit more knowledge in your head.
I think Campopiano was right about the reason we seek nostalgia nowadays. Everything seems to be changing constantly, especially in the world of technology. I think a lot of people reminisce older forms of technology (especially those they grew up with), because it seems like those were the “simpler times”. I mean, last week I was obsessing over a vintage styled baby blue oven that reminded me so much of those 1950’s American diners (and mind you, I was born in the late 90s…). But even in this case, there’s something about going back that feels more homely and like you said, familiar.
Very interesting and recognizable blogpost! It’s also very interesting to see who is buying these ‘old’ technologies, mostly people our age. People who have (although shortly) lived with things like the record player and video bands and are now looking back. For me, a record player or a video band player brings me back to my youth, sitting on the couch at my grandparents and being amazed at how they worked. For younger generations they are just cool vintage thingies, but for me there is a memory as well, which makes it that more special!
Also, I think this is not only happening for technological decices, but also for older tunes and vibes… a lot of musicians that were poppy in 2000 and the 2010s have since established their own style, often very much inspired by older kinds of music (e.g. Bruno Mars becoming more and more jazzy).
This is so recognizable! As Anne pointed out, I noticed that the group who is most enthusiastic about e.g. vinyl is the group who did not grow up with that technology (I myself got way more enthusiastic about bringing a turning table home then my parents were). In that sense going back to something you haven’t known before is still a kind of novelty. And I think that is not limited to the technological industry only (e.g. fashion), although the rapid development of technology may enhance our longing for nostalgia more than in any area in life.