The New Face of Vinyl: Youth's Digital Devolution

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Vince, Owner of Gotta Groove Records in Cleveland
The New Face of Vinyl: Ben's Collection
Packing Records at Gotta Groove in Cleveland
The New Face of Vinyl: Owen's Collection

The New Face of Vinyl is a project that explores why young people across the United States have started a digital “devolution” by becoming vinyl record enthusiasts. Throughout the country, young people are buying more and more vinyl, thus getting back to the analog roots of listening to music. Collecting and listening to vinyl has become a unique experience for many teens and young adults throughout the world who have chosen to explore the once forgotten black wax. Photographer Ben Meadors and writer Owen McCafferty are setting out to discover what vinyl means to these enthusiasts, and will create a full color photo book along with a narrative to tell the story.

In the Media:
CNET – Steve Guttenburg
Stereophile Magazine
Cleveland.com
The Vinyl District
AVGuide
Bowers & Wilkins

It's been a busy summer so far for Ben and I and we apologise for leaving you all in the dark these past months. Now that Ben has graduated and moved to NYC and I have finished some unfinished business, I can finally sit down to update you all on the progress of the book. For the most part, the majority of our research is complete--the interviews and photographs are finished and we have moved onto the composition of the text. As many of you might know, writing a book is a lengthy process; the research has to be synthesised, analysed,[...]

Let me begin by apologizing for the lack of updates—after returning from NYC and Chicago, Ben and I found ourselves in a pile of work that we are still trying to catch up on. Nevertheless, the trips out to the big apple and the windy city were a huge success. We took in a lot of material and we are both eager to visit the west coast and wrap up the traveling. Soon enough we can actually start to write this thing! Ben and I met some great people in both cities--in and out of record shops. As someone who has spent[...]

This time last year I was sitting around on new years day, bored out of my mind. Bored enough to take a self-portrait (yikes). I ended up taking a picture of myself with my record collection, and that got my brain whirring. I decided it would be neat to create portraits of other people my age with their record players. I had a few friends who loved vinyl and I was sure there were more. A week later I photographed Owen and then I took a break from the project for a while. A few months later, I heard about Kickstarter[...]

Ben Meadors Photography

Photographer, Bassist, MBA

The New Face of Vinyl

Updates:

June Update!

Los Angeles Day 1!

San Francisco Day 2!

San Francisco Day 1!

Portland Day 1!

New Face of Vinyl Heads to Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles in March; Oh, and a Long Needed Update As Well

Chicago Day 3

NYC Day 2

NYC Day 1!

This Time Last Year

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