Vinyl Nation – The Documentary

All Image Credit: Vinyl Nation

Released by 1091 Pictures in April 2022, Vinyl Nation is a documentary, directed by Christopher Boone and Kevin Smokler, that takes a look at why this dying medium has become the 21st Century’s physical media format of choice, the diversification of its fans and what this all means for society today.

With multiple awards this documentary looks into the resurgence of vinyl records, the growing diversification of vinyl fans, and how in particular vinyl connects us with the music. Vinyl never really died, it just went to sleep for a while and has over the past decade made a serious comeback bringing a whole new range of fans to this classic format; young, old, male, female and multicultural.

The augment as to whether vinyl sounds better than other formats seems to wane a little as the tactile joys of owning the physical format, reading the cover and sleeve notes and holding the medium seem to offer as much, if not more importance, being almost a religious experience for some. As vinyl costs continue to soar, with audiophile pressings hitting $150.00 and even standard pressings hovering around $30.00, these ever increasing costs of production and ownership and often less than stellar pressing quality of this highly tactile medium, do not seem to be deter the desires of ownership.

Despite the massive explosion of digital streaming and media (CD sales are precipitously falling) and the offer of its unbounded choices and convenience, all at “low” cost, I am in this vinyl camp too, but it’s the sound quality that attracts me to it.