Since the introduction of the compact disc in 1982 music consumption has changed from a physical product with physical distribution to the current emerging state of non-ownership of music through pay-per-month digital streaming. While the music industry was experiencing a sea change in the areas of production and distribution on the mainstream cultural level, New Brunswick, NJ has seen the creation of over 25 record labels and they have all produced physical releases. In addition, all of these independent record labels have produced vinyl records—a format that was introduced 127 years ago. Though the vinyl record format was near extinction in 1992, it maintained a faint pulse for several years, and has been steadily increasing in market share over the past seven years. The goal of my paper is to look at a local music scene as a pocket of resistance to the decline of vinyl record production and to investigate if this resistance has impacted the overall rise of vinyl production. The project will incorporate a case study of the New Brunswick record labels from 1980 to the present, to understand the productive dynamics within an insulated community. I will examine the legacy of local-focused media products and how they have had an influence outside of their music scene. By looking at a microcosm of the music industry in relation to the changing mainstream, we might better explain the greater phenomena: the rise of vinyl ephemera in the post-internet age, which contradicts the normally expected diffusion of an innovation.
About the presenterFrank Bridges
Frank Bridges is a media studies PhD candidate at Rutgers’ School of Communication and Information, a DJ on WRSU 88.7 FM, and a musician. His research focuses on the political economy of independent music. He is also the co-founder of the New Brunswick Music Scene Archive housed at the Alexander Library, Rutgers University.