Is Hong Kong seeing a vinyl revival? Record store owners see a growing trend among young people
- HMV and Hong Kong Records might have disappeared in 2018 but vinyl is making a quiet comeback in independent music stores and even bars
- Young people who have known nothing but digital sound are intrigued by the medium while older generations are riding a wave of nostalgia, store owners say
Many consider vinyl albums a thing of the past, condemned to the dustbin of history thanks to the popularisation of first CDs then music streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal and YouTube Music.
But analogue music did not completely go away.
Vinyl records have been making a quiet comeback in Hong Kong, in both local independent music stores and the homes of dedicated audiophiles and collectors.
It’s not just a Hong Kong trend. Luminate, a US-based entertainment data company, released a report in July showing that US vinyl sales were up 21.7 per cent for the first half of 2023 compared with the same period in 2022, and had been rising for 17 consecutive years.
Compared to digital formats, vinyl needs a lot more upkeep: the records – which measure from about 0.9mm to 2.2mm in thickness – must be stored vertically and not stacked, so as not to warp them. They need to be protected from extreme temperatures and humidity – which is difficult in Hong Kong – and require careful handling to prevent scratching.
