With sales increasing almost 100-fold, vinyl is having its phoenix moment: rising from the ashes of its seeming demise in the early 2000s.
Music journalist Charlotte Ryan has always loved vinyl. When it started surging back into the mainstream, she didn’t think to to ask why.
Until now.
Ryan, together with The Spinoff founder Duncan Greive, decided to investigate why this physical music medium has become relevant again.
The result is Long Play, a four-part podcast by The Spinoff and Daylight, hosted and researched by Ryan. The episodes, each 20 minutes long, take you for a trip down vinyl’s “warped timeline” in Aotearoa.
The podcast can be found on digital streaming sites, but also on vinyl (hence the 20 minute episodes – vinyl can only handle 24 minutes per side). In his round up of the podcast on The Spinoff’s website, Greive notes that the record was made with Holiday Records, using their BioVinyl, sustainable materials and a manufacturing process that minimises both waste and energy consumption.
The limited edition release double LP will be made available for collectors as part of a nationwide dig on October 11, where over 40 record stores will have the record hidden amongst their crates for people to find.
Wonderful people
Long Play launched with breakfast event at The Spinoff’s headquarters in Auckland on October 8.
Ryan says she got to speak to “lots of wonderful people” while making the series – one such guest, Miss Dom, joined her on the launch panel.
Miss Dom is a vinyl selector and collector, a host of the 95BFM Jazz show and is passionate about increasing female representation in vinyl.
She had a selection of records available for event attendees to dig through. Each one has been play tested and comes with a hand written note, sometimes even a ticket to a live gig she’s been to.
The addition of notes and other trinks has become “vital” to her collection, says Miss Dom: “People collect them, and put them on their fridge… I like to look after people and give them a different experience.”
Ryan says Miss Dom taught her what a ‘spin party’ is: essentially, people getting together to play their records. Miss Dom hosts one in Mount Eden once a month, with 15 minute slots for people to play whatever they want.
“If you don’t know how to spin, we teach you,” says Miss Dom.
A vinyl fan since way back
Like Ryan, Greive, a vinyl fan since “way back” and former editor of Real Groovy’s magazine Real Groove, was also intrigued by the medium’s resurgence.
It’s particularly intriguing when stores like JB Hi-Fi specialise in selling state of the art technology, with the exception of records from 60 years ago.
“I had been noticing the way this form that seemed to be dead, or on life support 15 to 20 years ago was now present in the culture.”
This is despite the fact that vinyl is expensive, cumbersome and questionably sustainable: “Every time I move house, I’m reminded of how heavy and hard to store it is,” says Greive.
Embracing the love of vinyl
The Long Play sees Ryan and Greive go through the rise, the fall and the rise again of vinyl, starting in Ōtautahi Christchurch in 1879, right through to the present day.
Along the way, they discover interesting music facts – like the fact that metal sells higher in Hamilton, whereas country sells more in Dunedin.
Recorded Music also trawled through 25 years worth of data to pull together Aotearoa’s first ever top music chart for vinyl.
Ryan and Greive revealed that despite vinyl’s long history, the person topping the Top 40 Vinyl Artist chart is none other than Taylor Swift. Her 2024 album, The Tortured Poets Department, also ranks number one in the Top 40 Vinyl Album chart.
Swift is followed in the artists’ chart by Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Queen and The Beatles.
In the Top 20 Aotearoa Vinyl Artists chart, L.A.B, Lorde, Split Enz, Fat Freddy’s Drop and Marlon Williams make up the top five. Split Enz’s True Colours is ranked the Top Vinyl Album.
Ryan describes The Long Play as a passion project: one that is all about the celebrating “the love of vinyl”.
