People select vinyl discs at the "Vinyl is back" festival in Athens, Greece, on March 17, 2018. All the lovers of vinyl discs met this weekend at the 12th edition of "Vinyl is back" festival at the Motor Museum in Athens to fresh up their record collection and share their love for music. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)
by Alexia Vlachou
ATHENS, March 18 (Xinhua) -- All the lovers of vinyl discs met this weekend at the 12th edition of "Vinyl is back" festival at the Motor Museum in Athens to fresh up their record collection and share their love for music.
Despite internet streaming revenue being the largest source of global music sales, there has been a resurgence in vinyl over the past decade, making a hundred-year-old technology come back from near extinction, the organizers told Xinhua.
"The first recovery signs were noticed back in 2009 at a global level, Greece followed as well," Yannis Alexiou, journalist, collector and writer who is behind the event, said.
"Vinyl has gained an important place in Greece. But, it cannot compete with internet," he added.
In Greece, there are more than 50 vinyl record shops in big cities across the country, according to Alexiou.
"There is a total of 80 independent companies that produce vinyl discs, either new releases, either reissues of old discs or anecdotal music material from previous decades," he explained.
For Alexiou, vinyl is all his life. His adventure with the vinyl culture started from his young age. Now he has a collection of 11,000 LPs and 2,000 vinyl records of 45rpm.
"Vinyl is like a living being. Even the satisfaction you get when you place a needle on a record and hear that first crackling sound. Or the care and attention before placing it on the pic-up. It's like a ritual. The cd is cold, but the vinyl has a soft sound," Aris Koinoglou, who has one of the oldest record shops in Greece, told Xinhua.
According to Alexiou, there is people who do not have a pick up, but like to buy a vinyl record for the beautifully designed sleeve which is like a piece of art.
Among the vinyl lovers are not only elder people who grew up with that music culture, but also the young generation.
In recent years, people of all ages are more and more interested in vinyl, and there is a sharp shift in the market.
Koinoglou said that among his customers are 16-year-old teenagers who dig out their parents' pick-ups.
Both 16-year-old Nikos and Yannis, visited the "Vinyl is Back" to find some vinyl rock and jazz funk treasures, they told Xinhua.
"It's an integral part of our lives", Yannis said, referring to the vinyl disc.
"We used to see our fathers, who had a very good relationship with the vinyl and they taught us from a very early age to be involved in that," Nikos said.
They have a mini record collection for which they are very proud. Even though streaming and downloading is easier and cheaper, it cannot compete with the quality that a vinyl disc has, they both agreed.
