Fun Facts About Vinyl Records

As certified audiophiles, we all love our vinyl records and many of us have collected them since childhood. In fact, there is a resurgence in the music industry of vinyl records being more popular than ever and possibly even outlasting the medium that replaced them, CDs.

As you know, Home HiFi Music Systems sells some of the industry’s finest record players and has for many years. To honour that fact, we thought we would share with you some of the knowledge that we have gained over the years in our list of Fun Facts About Vinyl Records. Let’s get started.

The origin of the vinyl record can be traced to the 19th Century

In 1857, a French scientist named Leon Scott developed the “phonoautograph”, which used a vibrating diaphragm to record sound waves on paper.

The first commercially-available LP was a failure

RCA Victor released the first readily-available consumer LP in 1930, but the company’s timing was poor. The Great Depression caused potential consumers to be wary of spending money on what they deemed unreliable or suspect new technology.

A Velvet Underground record sold for $25,000, making it one of the priciest ever sold

In 2009, an album from the Velvet Underground sold for $25,000 online. The record contained early versions of many of the songs that would later appear on The Velvet Underground & Nico, one of the most celebrated rock ‘n’ roll records ever made.

The largest record collection on file contained more than 1 million LPs

A man named Paul Mawhinney is believed to have possessed the largest record collection in the world – stretching past the one million mark!

There’s a difference in sound between black and clear/coloured vinyl

While clear/coloured vinyl is extremely collectable among fans of a particular band, in actuality there is a sonic difference between them. Clear and coloured discs usually attain more surface noise over time than standard black vinyl records do.

Vinyl sales figures have grown in the past 5 years

2011 was a banner year for the resurgence of vinyl, with more than 3.9 million records being sold. That marked a 39.3% increase over the prior year and sales have steadily grown since.

We hope you enjoyed our fun facts and if you have any of your own, feel free to leave a comment below.