Music Through the Years: The History and Resurgence of Vinyl

Music-through-the-years

Vinyl records revolutionized the relationship between ordinary people and music. For the first time, people could listen to the same song whenever they wished, and within the comfort of their own home. The 1980s saw a sharp decline in vinyl record sales, driven by the increasing popularity of cassettes and the introduction of CDs. However, the introduction of digital music would quickly decimate CD and cassette sales. Vinyl records would make an improbable comeback. The history of vinyl records and the competing technologies which almost killed it off are complex. The following are the key developments impacting the history of vinyl records and the resurgence of vinyl records.

1800s

1877: Thomas Alva Edison plays a recording of "Mary's Little Lamb." He achieved this by wrapping a strip of foil around a wax, spinning cylinder.
1878: Jules Levy, a cornetist, records "Yankee Doodle."
1887: The first patent for a flat-disc phonograph, called the Gramophone, is issued to Emile Berliner, who also invents the phonograph record. Recordings are now able to be mass-produced.
1888: Edison creates a phonograph with an electric motor.
1898: Valdemar Poulsen debuts the telegraphone, which uses magnets to record on steel wires. This would eventually lead to the invention of the cassette tape.

1900-20

1901: Berliner and Eldridge Johnson found The Victor Talking Machine Company. Eventually, the company would be known as Victor Records and would be key to the development of country music.
1916: From the beginning, vinyl collectors worry about sound quality. At New York's Carnegie Hall, Edison hosts demonstrations so listeners can judge the quality of the recordings against a live performance.
1917: The Scully disk recording lathe is released, and music can now be recorded on an early reel-to-reel tape recorder.
1919: RCA (The Radio Corporation of America) is founded, partly by United Fruit. It would grow to become one of the largest music producers in the world.

1921-39

1921: Pittsburgh's KDKA broadcasts the 1st commercial AM radio show. Commercial radio would help fuel the public's desire for music and drive vinyl sales.
1925: The Victor Orthophonic Victrola Credenza is introduced. It is designed to give the best quality sound possible for home phonographs, with a large horn and all-acoustical design. Electrically recorded 78 rpm vinyls are also released this year.
1927: The first "talking" motion picture, The Jazz Singer, is released using Vitaphone disks synchronized to the film images in each theater. Also, CBS is formed as the Columbia Broadcasting System.
1929: The Nyquist Theorem is published by Harry Nyquist. It explains the theory behind sampling, a key part of digital audio processing. Also in this year, a magnetic recorder that uses steel tapes, the Blattnerphone, is released.
1930: RCA releases the first long-playing vinyl record.
1931: Electrical and Musical Industries's Alan Blumein patents the theories behind stereo sound in London.
1936: A London Philharmonic performance of Mozart is recorded on tape.
1938: The first microphone element able to produce a cardioid pickup pattern is developed. This development allows for the creation of two well-known microphones, the SM57 and SM58. Also, the first column loudspeaker array is released by RCA.
1939: Engineers working in Japan, Germany, and the U.S. develop AC biasing for magnetic recording. The first experimental FM radio broadcast is made. Meanwhile, Columbia Records works to develop more consumer-friendly vinyl records.

1940-59

1940: The first film using eight-track stereophonic sound Walt Disney's "Fantasia," is released.
1941: Decca creates the first lateral-cut disk recording head, which will eventually allow them to make high-fidelity recordings.
1942: German Helmut Kruger makes the first stereo tape recordings.
1946: The first home wire recorders are released by Webster-Chicago.
1947: Three feedback cutters, the Cook, the Fairchild 542, and the Presto 1D, are released and represent a technological leap forward in disk-cutting.
1948: Columbia Records creates the modern vinyl record when it releases the LP, a 10-inch, long-playing format. Now, full-length albums can be played on one disk. Vinyl releases today still use this basic format. This invention sets off the "War of the Speeds" between Columbia and RCA.
1949: RCA competes with Columbia by introducing a 45 rpm, 7-inch vinyl disk with a large hole requiring an adapter. This format births the idea of the music single and leads to jukebox culture.
1951: Bell Laboratories develops the technology that allows for the invention of transistor radios.
1952: The first dual-band records are pressed by Emory Cook.
1954: The first pocket radios are sold by Sony, and the first two-track stereo tapes are produced.
1958: Audio Fidelity produces the first stereo disk recordings.
1959: The Blumlein stereo patent enters the public domain when EMI fails to renew the patent.

1960-79

1962: Phillips begins selling commercial cassette tapes. Tapes' popularity will be driven by their portability and the ability to easily rewind them.
1963: Phillips licenses its compact cassette technology.
1974: Phillips begins working on compact disc technology.
1975: Digital tape recording begins to be the preferred format of professional recording studios.

1980-99

1981: Philips demonstrates the CD for the first time. Vinyl records see their peak sales year.
1982: CDs are released into the market. Vinyl sales begin to plummet.
1984: Cassettes overtake vinyl as the most popular music medium.
1988: Sales of vinyl fall behind both CDs and cassettes.
1991: The first recordable CD is released.
1992: CDs become the most popular music medium, claiming 58% of all music sales. LPs only represent 0.8% of sales.
1996: Enhanced CDs are released that can hold digital files, allowing for them to be played on computers for a multimedia experience or include extras like computer wallpaper.
1997: The first MP3 player is sold in Asia.
1999: Online file-sharing service Napster debuts. The most popular file type shared on the service is MP3s.

2000-Present

2001: Apple debuts iTunes and its first portable music player, the iPod.
2004: Analog music sales plummet as customers embrace digital music.
2008: The first Record Store Day takes place in California. For the first time since 1980, sales of vinyl records increase.
2012: Vinyl records sales increase by 1,000% in just four years.
2017: Vinyl records reach their highest sales since 1991 as sales of all other analog music formats continue to drop.