Record buyers get back in vinyl groove

"I have never bought any vinyl records before and I know nothing about them. I don't even have a turntable, but I am planning to buy one to listen to Chou's music," she said.

Total global revenue in the recorded music industry reached $20.2 billion last year, a rise of 8.2 percent from 2018. Revenue from vinyl rose by 5 percent, and now comprises more than 16 percent of overall physical income.

Vinyl records and the stores selling them remain largely unknown to many fans in China, who are content to listen to music on their smartphones and other devices.

However, there are a number of independent record stores in bigger cities, and more people are buying vinyl records in search of the perfect sound.

Collection started

LiPi-Records, one of the biggest stores selling vinyl discs in Beijing, is located in the landmark 798 Art Zone, home to vibrant art galleries, cafes and restaurants.

Inspired by the song Yesterday Once More, released on United States vocal and instrumental duo The Carpenters' fifth album Now &Then in 1973, the store's founder, Ma Chi, started to collect vinyl records.

When he visited a record store in Seoul during a business trip to the South Korean capital in 2007, he heard the song playing on a turntable.

Ma, who formed a punk band while studying flight vehicle design at Beihang University in Beijing and who worked for a Swiss company in the capital, said the song touched him and he became "enchanted" by vinyl records.

"I didn't like listening to pop music, but when the song was playing on a turntable, I was overwhelmed by both the sound and design of the album cover," he said.

He soon began collecting vinyl records of various genres from second-hand stores he visited during business trips.