Mollie Quirk spoke to owner of Pebble Records, Michael, about whether millennials are embracing vinyl or addicted to digital music.
Vinyl records were once the trend of the time in the 70s. But ever since streaming and downloading music took centre stage in the noughties, is there any room for vinyl records in 2019?
iTunes had 56 million users in 2018, while Spotify had 87 million paying customers, and 109 million ad-supported monthly users (according to a Billboard report). Could this mean trouble is on the horizon for physical music lovers?
With a 20–25% millennial customer base, Michael, the owner of Pebble Records in Eastbourne’s Gildredge Road, is pleased with the way in which millennials are embracing vinyl records.
Michael says: “People either really get it, or just think I don’t know why you’d do that” referring to millennials and the way in which they are embracing vinyl in 2019.
I also took to the streets to see what the public thought of the vinyl vs. digital debate. The majority of the people I spoke to think that digital is overtaking, but there are a couple of vinyl fans out there too.
It doesn’t look like that vinyl will ever phase out completely, but it definitely looks like digital is taking over if it hasn’t already.
Are you more of a physical or digital music fan? Join in the debate on Twitter @overtime_online – are you #teamvinyl or #teamdigital?
*Clip art is from Canva and is free to use, backing music is sourced from the free YouTube music library. All photos taken by Mollie Quirk.
