Alanis Morissette warbles over the radio about being young and underpaid, caring and restless, wrong and sorry in a hard-to-find warehouse located off Navigation. The space is bright and clean. Not quite to the same fussy degree of spotless as a microprocessor plant, but enough to where an errant mote of East End industrial dust would certainly stand out. Music is made here at the newly opened 610 Record Manufacturing, and a pristine environment helps preserve the integrity of the records’ sound.

Vinyl, as a medium, never actually went away. Even as cassette tapes, CDs, and then digital files all became mainstream distribution options for artists and record labels, the little polymer that could continues chugging along to entertain physical media collectors, serve as an owned archive in an age of licensing, and provide musicians with higher royalty rates than what they’d otherwise receive with an mp3 file. In fact, Billboard revealed that, in 2022, 43 percent of albums sold were vinyl records, representing a 17-year pattern of growth.

“It’s just a great format overall. Just the size of it. You get the graphics. There’s the ritual of it. You can put in really cool posters and all kinds of stuff. You can have fun with the packaging, and it’s just vibrant, you know,” says Joel Hoyle, owner and operator of 610 Record Manufacturing. “Anytime you get something that has a combination of artistry and passion and is physical, people want it.”

He began research into opening his own vinyl record pressing operation in 2018, though he didn’t open for production until August 2024. At the factory, PVC pellets are melted down and pressed between metal plates to create the familiar round, slightly bumpy shape of a record. While Hoyle admits that black vinyl does create a somewhat better sound than other colors—theories about the exact reasons why abound among audiophiles—he notes that by this point, the quality of more vibrant hues has improved to where any discrepancies would only be noticed by expert sound engineers, not general consumers.

As such, manufacturers like 610 can now create records that are in and of themselves colorful art objects. One of Hoyle’s recent projects for local music label Rite Field Records involved crafting a stunning pink and green confection capturing the work of Oklahoma-based slowcore outfit Some Fear. The PVC melts the colors together in a way that wisps and curls like smoke, making the physical medium’s aesthetics a major part of the band’s vision.

“A lot of these artists we work with, they’re not just musicians, they’re graphic designers. I know one of the members in this band, Some Fear, the drummer designed all the artwork for [the record],” says Rite Field founder Joseph Hernandez. “It came out really well, and the other members of the band chose the color variants.”

For fans, purchasing physical media is a way to show monetary support for their favorite acts. Some add a few extras alongside the record, such as posters, lyrics sheets, and bonus tracks as a thank you to the audiences who make their art possible.

“People are buying records and they don’t even have a record player. That is so cool. I love that so much,” Hoyle says.

The return to analog

Physical music may have experienced its ebbs and flows as digital became more and more prevalent—especially as a low-cost means of distribution for independent artists—but that hasn’t led to the mass shuttering of record shops. Cactus Music in Upper Kirby celebrates 50 years of business this year; Vinal Edge in the Heights will be turning 40. Both shops appeal to a wide swath of age groups, too. Shoppers who never knew a life without Spotify and Apple Music are branching out into collecting vinyl, CDs, and cassettes as they learn more about how their parents and grandparents consumed music.

“Say you have a group of five kids. One of these kids got a turntable from grandma for Christmas. They have to buy a couple records at that point. So they come in with their friends, and a lot of them have maybe never been in a record store before,” says Chuck Roast, owner of Vinal Edge. “They’re not used to seeing this big record thing and they’re kind of fascinated.”

He also points out that vinyl, while more expensive than CDs and cassettes, is much easier to play these days thanks to the wider availability of new record players at national chains like Target and even Urban Outfitters. With cars and computers no longer coming equipped with standard CD drives and tape decks, and no electronics companies making standalone CD and cassette players, as it stands now vinyl is one of the more convenient options for physical media enthusiasts. But some collectors still dabble in all mediums.

“My dad had a big CD collection. I was always used to using my allowance or petty cash to buy CDs at Best Buy of stuff that I wanted, and that habit kind of carried over,” says Houston-based writer and marketer Alan Spackman. His CD collection spans an estimated 200 to 250, with an additional 300 to 350 vinyl records, and includes titles he picked up as far back as his high school days. Vinyl is his preferred medium, as he enjoys the tangibility of flipping between sides when listening to an album.

Houston’s physical media fans consistently cite the gratifying tactility that comes with flipping through and buying both new discoveries and old favorites at a beloved record shop like Cactus, Vinal Edge, Sound Exchange, Sig’s Lagoon, and any other number of locally owned, independent music stores.

“A good analogy is drinking a soda. Think about the digital world. The streaming is the soda. It’s instant gratification. You pop the top and you just start drinking it immediately,” says Cactus Music owner Quinn Bishop. “With records, it’s a ritual. It’s like making tea. You have to engage in this practice and it commands your attention. And I think it’s human nature; we want to be engaged with something.”

Metal, he notes, is hugely popular among physical media enthusiasts. The fans love to browse Cactus Music’s stock and collect everything their favorite bands release. Some of this stems from the fact that metal fans are often art buffs.

“For metalheads, it’s very inclusive, like, ‘Oh, I love this album cover. I don’t care what they sound like. I’m going to buy this album.’ You can’t do that when it’s not physical,” says Cary Gordon, who goes by Cary the Metal Geek, host of the Metal Geeks and MSRCast podcasts. His own collection spans between four to five thousand CDs—many of them promos from his music-writing days—and over 400 records.

The benefits of physical media transcend the tactile, though. It’s enough to simply appreciate the process of browsing a favorite shop, selecting interesting albums, and curating a personal collection, but there’s so much more to it.

“I tend to notice a difference in terms of quality, like there’s a wider range or dynamic range that comes from these physical mediums that’s not fully compressed,” says sound engineer Cyrus Rodas. “There’s a little bit of warmth that comes from it. That’s something that you don’t always get from digital mediums.”

To Rodas, that warmth is the result of lower frequencies being slightly boosted with physical mediums. This adds “more body to the sound,” he says, and his knowledge and appreciation of vinyl and cassettes inform his own approach to sound engineering. He sometimes opts for analog equipment or enhancements to make his works more sonically complex.

Supporting artists

Cactus Music’s in-store performances emphasize local and small national indie acts, and Bishop prefers bringing in musicians who have physical merchandise to sell. Houstonians get to take in a free show, and they’ll purchase a record, CD, cassette, or other items as a thank you.

“That’s a great thing. I mean, artistry has to be rewarded and supported, and we’re happy to provide that opportunity,” Bishop says.

Chuck Roast also credits Record Store Day with encouraging more people to stop in their local music stores and chase their curiosity. This annual event—held on April 12 this year—usually involves exclusive physical releases, meet and greets, in-store performances, and other social activities meant to celebrate music and independent businesses.

“[Record Store Day] started to build some interest from people that were just the casual listeners of music who didn’t collect, and that brought them in to start collecting,” he says.

Physical media purchases also pay much higher royalties to musicians than streaming. While Spotify, Apple Music, and similar services make it easier for artists to reach a wider audience, the earnings are rarely going to make much of a financial difference except for the site’s top acts. Spotify claims on its website that it “calculates stream share by tallying the total number of streams in a given month and determining what proportion of those streams were people listening to music owned or controlled by a particular rights holder.”

Oftentimes, these rights holders—most likely the record labels—take a bigger chunk of the profits from streaming than they do with physical releases. Data from 2019 shows the musicians themselves only receive fractions of a penny per stream. Reliable recent numbers determining who exactly gets what are difficult to find, especially since the contracts between streaming services and rights holders vary. It’s generally understood in the music industry that physical media nets a higher percentage of the profits for the artists themselves, however.

“You literally need…a ridiculous amount of streams to get the same amount of money in your pocket that you would get from selling one record,” Hoyle says.

At Rite Field Records, Hernandez says that vinyl is the ultimate goal for the groups he signs. A musician himself hoping to do right by his fellow artists, he offers a 50/50 split between the label and the band. And with vinyl being more expensive than a CD or cassette, the money adds up quickly for the people who make the studio possible. Hernandez is proud that every group represented by Rite Field has been able to achieve this desired endgame.

“We want to provide these opportunities for artists. I think they deserve it,” he says. “I live, like, two minutes from [610 Record Manufacturing], and it’s real awesome. I could just pop in here and say hey to Joel and watch the whole manufacturing process, because it is important.”

Records keep being made because listeners want to make sure musicians are compensated for their labor. Even for those who can’t afford vinyl every time they belly up to the merch table, there’s always going to be stickers, patches, pins, or other small items to keep artists afloat.

“Fans of metal have always been collectors. They’ve always been supporters of the band that they love, no matter if it’s buying the latest CD, vinyl, or supporting them live, or even buying a shirt at the show,” says Gordon. “It’s a badge of honor in a way, like, ‘I have this rare vinyl,’ or ‘I have this rare CD for my favorite band.’”

Acquiring these rarities play a major role in music preservation as well. All physical media has an expiration date, even if it’s well tended to and lasts long enough to be passed down through generations. Yet, unlike streaming, when one owns a physical album, they actually own it. According to the Federal Trade Commission, streaming only grants the listener a license to the music in their library. Digital files can be deleted or removed by the rights holders at any time, for any reason (RIP Coyote vs. Acme).

As such, physical collections serve as an archive of an artist’s career over time. Music historians and connoisseurs can use this information to track trends, make more accurate references and citations, and get a stronger sense of the creative context in which a piece of audio art is crafted.

“It’s not only an enjoyable part [of collecting] to save a lot of these antiquities,” Rodas says. “But it’s also a solemn duty to save a lot of these physical pieces.”