Vinyl Resurgence: Giesler’s (2008) Music Market Evolution Revisited

In his seminal paper, Giesler (2008) argues that the digital (r)evolution in the music marketplace is the outcome of a process of conflict and compromise between an idealistic, entrepreneurial counterculture and the capitalist establishment. Since 2011, however, vinyl records have enjoyed a major resurgence and become a very popular way with mainstream consumers to access and listen to music. More than half of them are under the age of 35. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to explore whether the resurgence of vinyl records and their deep resonance with today’s consumers indicate a further dramatic development or reversal in the music marketplace evolution. We found that the resurgence of vinyl may indeed constitute an evolution in the music marketplace – albeit one that is more subtle and less driven by the ideological conflict and hostility identified by Giesler (2008) in the digital evolution of the music marketplace.