Dominik Bartmanski What Can We Learn from the Revival of Vinyl Records in the Digital Age?
Dominik Bartmanski is a Research Associate in the Department of Sociology at TU Berlin. Having completed his Ph.D. at Yale University, Bartmanski’s main research interests include cultural sociology, urban ethnography, and music sociology. Winner of the International Sociological Association’s Junior Theorist Award in 2012, Dominik Bartmanski has written two books with Ian Woodward: Vinyl: The Analogue Record in the Digital Age (2015) and Labels: Making Independent Music (2019), both published by Bloomsbury.
Area of Research
Sociology of Culture, Sociology of the City, Sociology of Music, Social Theory
since 2015
Research Associate
Technical University of Berlin (Technische Universität Berlin)
Sociology Department (DFG-Projekt: CRC 1265)
2014-2015
Visiting Lecturer
Bard College Berlin
2012-2015
European Social Fund Postdoctoral Fellow
Masaryk University
2012
Lecturer
Technical University of Berlin (Technische Universität Berlin)
Department of Sociology
2007
Master of Philosophy (Sociology)
Yale University
since 2005
Master of Arts (Sociology & European Studies)
University of Exeter
Vinyl or analog records have experienced a tremendous upsurge in popularity over the last decade. In this video, DOMINIK BARTMANSKI analyzes the reasons underlying vinyl’s resurgence in an age where digital music seemed destined to wipe it out. Employing methods including discursive analysis and participant observation, Bartmanski highlights several aspects of analog music that its digital counterpart struggles to emulate. Among these, analog music is seen by its fans to deliver a warmer, richer sound and to encourage a more social and serendipitous consumption experience. Arguing that the vinyl revival reveals much about the variability of human needs and experiences, Bartmanski also suggests that it draws into question the assumptions of inevitable linear progress that underlie digitalization.
LT Video Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10762
The Vinyl: The Analogue Medium in the Age of Digital Reproduction
- Dominik Bartmanski and Ian Woodward
- Journal of Consumer Culture
- Published in 2015
