Bridges, Franklin. Analysis of a local music scene’s record labels as a network of resistance to the demise of the vinyl record. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-kgc5-c259
DescriptionMusic consumption has changed from a physical product to the current dominant mode of non-ownership of music through pay-per-month digital streaming. The music industry has undergone several sea changes in media products over the decades to get to this point. However, since 1980, New Brunswick, NJ, has seen the creation of over 25 record labels, and they have all produced physical releases. In addition, all these independent record labels have produced vinyl records—a format that originated over 130 years ago. Though the vinyl record format was near extinction in 1993, it maintained a faint pulse for several years, and has been steadily increasing in market share for over a decade now. This work looks at a local music scene as a network of resistance to the decline of vinyl record production and to investigate how this resistance has impacted the overall rise of vinyl production. This project incorporated a case study of the New Brunswick record labels from 1980s to the 2000s to understand the productive dynamics within an insulated community. I interviewed 14 record label owners from the New Brunswick music scene to discover how the practices of this community were connected over a 30-year period and how the legacy of their local-focused media products helps to explain the phenomena of the rise of vinyl ephemera in the post-internet age.