And you thought vinyl records were dead? Not so fast.
The New Face of Vinyl is a project that explores why young people across the United States have started a digital “devolution” by buying and listening to vinyl records. 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 people, and will create a full color photo documentary book to tell the story.
The project at its core, explores and focuses on the cultural changes occurring as a result of this new found interest in vinyl. The reasons why vinyl has become so popular now are vast; Owen and Ben want to set out to New York City, Cleveland, Chicago, Portland and San Fransisco and talk to young record collectors, store owners and occasional vinyl-lovers to find out what keeps bringing them back for more.
After collecting all the pictures and interviews, the team will compose a 180+ page full color photo-documentary-book to tell the story, and share their experiences with the world.
Owen and Ben have chosen to use the popular organization Kickstarter to help collect donations in order to cover the traveling and printing expenses of the project.
The project won’t receive funding if $6,500.00 isn’t raised by July 31st 2011, so visit the site and make a donation to help Ben and Owen make this exciting project a reality.
Keep an eye on their site for updates, photos, and stories. You can follow the project on Twitter via @newfaceofvinyl.
