AN ANALOG REVIVAL IN THE DIGITAL AGE: THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL MEANING OF VINYL IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

Yıl 2025, Cilt: 8 Sayı: 4, 2999 - 3020

Hüseyin Yücebağ

https://doi.org/10.51576/ymd.1805416

Öz

With the emergence of Industry 4.0, innovative technologies such as cloud architecture, the internet of things (IoT), and big data have begun to exert a significant influence on the music industry, as in many other sectors. The acceleration of digitalization has profoundly transformed cultural consumption practices; within the framework of Hartmut Rosa’s concept of the “acceleration society,” music listening habits have been continuously reshaped. This transformation is not merely the outcome of technological progress but is also closely linked to shifts in temporal perception and changes in consumption patterns. Physical formats such as cassettes and CDs, which were widely adopted by large audiences in the late twentieth century, have gradually been replaced since the early twenty-first century by subscription-based online listening models. Data from IFPI and RIAA indicate that, since the 2010s, physical format sales have steadily declined, while revenues from digital streaming services have shown consistent growth. In this context, the annual reports issued by IFPI, regarded as the most authoritative global institution in the music sector, together with those of the U.S. based independent recording industry association RIAA, offer empirical evidence of this transformation. The findings also reveal that, despite the volumetric decline in cassette and CD sales, vinyl records have demonstrated a steady upward trend each year.
The emerging picture represents a phenomenon highly multilayered to be explained solely through technological or nostalgic perspectives. Therefore, the study adopts a social psychological framework to evaluate the process in a holistic manner. The research aims to uncover the codes and dynamics through which digital streaming services products of capitalist modernity operate, while simultaneously interpreting the “resilient” position of the vinyl format within the same analytical framework.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Vinyl , streaming , music technologies , music industry , social acceleration

DİJİTAL ÇAĞDA ANALOG BİR CANLANIŞ: PLAĞIN MÜZİK ENDÜSTRİSİNDEKİ SOSYAL PSİKOLOJİK ANLAMI

Öz

Endüstri 4.0’ın ortaya çıkışıyla birlikte; bulut mimarisi, nesnelerin interneti (IoT), büyük veri ve benzeri yenilikçi teknolojilerin birçok sektörde olduğu gibi müzik endüstrisinde de büyük ölçüde etkisini gösterdiği bilinmektedir. Dijitalleşme sürecinin hızlanması, kültürel tüketim pratiklerini köklü biçimde dönüştürmüş; Hartmut Rosa’nın “hızlanma toplumu” kavramı çerçevesinde müzik dinleme alışkanlıkları sürekli olarak yeniden biçimlenmiştir. Bu dönüşüm, yalnızca teknolojik ilerlemenin bir sonucu değil, aynı zamanda zaman algısındaki değişimler ve tüketim kalıplarındaki dönüşümlerle de yakından ilişkilidir. 20. yüzyılın sonlarında geniş kitlelerce benimsenen kaset ve CD gibi fiziksel formatlar, 21. yüzyılın başlarından itibaren yerlerini giderek abonelik temelli çevrimiçi dinleme modellerine bırakmıştır. IFPI ve RIAA verileri, 2010’lu yıllardan bu yana fiziksel format satışlarının istikrarlı biçimde azaldığını; buna karşılık, streaming hizmetlerinden elde edilen gelirlerin sürekli bir biçimde arttığını göstermektedir. Bu bağlamda, müzik sektörünün küresel ölçekteki en yetkin otoritesi olarak kabul edilen IFPI’nin ve ABD merkezli bağımsız bir kayıt endüstrisi kuruluşu olan RIAA’nın yıllık raporları, söz konusu dönüşümün ampirik kanıtlarını sunmaktadır. Bulgular ayrıca, kaset ve CD satışlarının hacimsel olarak düşmesine karşın, plak satışlarının her yıl düzenli bir artış eğilimi sergilediğini ortaya koymaktadır. Ortaya çıkan tablo, tek başına teknolojik ya da nostaljik yaklaşımlarla açıklanamayacak ölçüde çok katmanlıdır. Bu çerçevede, sürecin farklı boyutlarını bütüncül biçimde değerlendirmek amacıyla sosyal psikolojik bir perspektif benimsenmiştir. Araştırma, kapitalist modernitenin bir ürünü olarak ortaya çıkan dijital akış hizmetlerinin hangi kodlar ve dinamikler üzerinden işlediğini açığa çıkarmayı; aynı zamanda plak formatının bu sistem içindeki “dirençli” konumunu aynı analitik çerçevede yorumlamayı amaçlamaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Plak , dijital veri akışı , müzik teknolojisi , müzik endüstrisi , toplumsal hızlanma.

Kaynakça

• Anderson, A., Maystre, L., Anderson, I., Mehrotra, R., ve Lalmas, M. (2020). Algorithmic effects on the diversity of consumption on Spotify. Proceedings of the Web Conference, 2155–2165. doi: https://doi.org/10.1145/3366423.3380281
• Bartmanski, D., ve Woodward, I. (2014). Vinyl: The analogue record in the digital age (1st ed.). Routledge. doi: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003087304
• Baudrillard, J. (2008). The consumer society: Myths and structures (C. Turner, Trans.). Sage Publications. (Original work published 1970).
• Cascone, K. (2000). The aesthetics of failure: “post-digital” tendencies in contemporary computer music. Computer Music Journal, 24(4), 12–18. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3681551
• Cramer, F. (2014). What is ‘post-digital’? APRJA (Aarhus University Research Journal), 3(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.7146/aprja.v3i1.116068
• Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage Publications.
• De Michiel, H. (2002). The radical media ecology of independent film and video. Afterimage, 29(6), 8–12.
• Essling, C., Koenen, J., ve Peukert, C. (2017). Competition for attention in the digital age: The case of single releases in the recorded music industry. Information Economics and Policy, 40, 26–40. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoecopol.2017.05.002
• Ferraro, G., Serra, X., ve Bauer, C. (2021). What is fair? Exploring the artists’ perspective on the fairness of music streaming platforms. In Proceedings of the 18th Sound and Music Computing Conference (SMC 2021), 29 June - 1 July 2021, Torino, Italy.
• Forde, E. (2021, October 23). 20 years of the iPod: How it shuffled music and tech into a new era. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/oct/23/20-years-of-the-ipod-how-music-and-tech-new-era-steve-jobs
• González de la Torre, P., Pérez-Verdugo, M., ve Barandiaran, X. E. (2025). Attention is all they need: Cognitive science and the (techno) political economy of attention in humans and machines. AI ve Society, 28(3). doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-025-02400-z
• Hoggart, R. (1958). The uses of literacy: Aspects of working-class life with special reference to publications and entertainments. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
• Horkheimer, M., & Adorno, T. W. (2014). Aydınlanmanın diyalektiği: Felsefi fragmanlar (N. Ülner & E. Öztarhan Karadoğan, Çev.). Kabalcı Yayıncılık.
• IFPI. (2019). Music listening 2019. International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
• IFPI. (2020). Global music report 2020. International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
• IFPI. (2021). Engaging with music 2021. International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
• IFPI. (2021). Global music report 2021. International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
• IFPI. (2022). Engaging with music 2022. International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
• IFPI. (2022). Global music report 2022. International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
• IFPI. (2023). Global music report 2023. International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
• IFPI. (2024). Global music report 2024. International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
• IFPI. (2025). Global music report 2025. International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
• Millard, A. (2005). America on record: A history of recorded sound (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• Montecchio, N., Roy, P., ve Pachet, F. (2020). The skipping behavior of users of music streaming services and its relation to musical structure. PLOS ONE, 15(9), e0239418. doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0239418
• RIAA. (2020). Year-end music industry revenue report 2020. Recording Industry Association of America.
• RIAA. (2021). Year-end music industry revenue report 2021. Recording Industry Association of America.
• RIAA. (2022). Year-end music industry revenue report 2022. Recording Industry Association of America.
• RIAA. (2023). Year-end music industry revenue report 2023. Recording Industry Association of America.
• RIAA. (2024). Year-end music industry revenue report 2024. Recording Industry Association of America.
• RIAA. (2025). Year-end music industry revenue report 2025. Recording Industry Association of America.
• Rauch, J. (2011). Slow media: Why slow is satisfying, sustainable, and smart. Oxford University Press.
• Reuters. (2024, March 21). Streaming subscriptions boost 2023 recorded music revenues – report. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/streaming-subscriptions-boost-2023-recorded-music-revenues-report-2024-03-21/?utm_source
• Rosa, H. (2013). Social acceleration: A new theory of modernity (J. Trejo-Mathys, Trans.). Columbia University Press.
• Ryan, T. J. (2002). Infringement.com: RIAA v. Napster and the war against online music piracy. Arizona Law Review, 44(2), 495–517.
• Schmid, S., ve Romey, T. (2022). Spotify: From music streaming start-up to global audio company (ESCP Working Paper No. 71). ESCP Europe Wirtschaftshochschule Berlin. https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/299750
• Thompson, A. (2024, January 16). Record renaissance. Fast Company Türkiye. https://fastcompany.com.tr/dergi/plak-ronesansi/
• Turner, J. C. ve Reynolds, K. J. (2001). The Social identity perspective in intergroup relations: Theories, themes, and controversies. R. Brown & S. L. Gaertner (Eds.), Blackwell Handbook of Social Psychology: Intergroup Processes (s. 133–152) içinde. Oxford: Blackwell.