Vinyl is alive and well. You may be wondering why there is such a fuss over a medium that left mainstream culture around the mid 80’s in favor of more “advanced” and convenient technology. This medium pays respect to a true listening experience which could be a reason why it’s sales and popularity is increasing but, it is in need of desperate help. With a huge cult following that has made its way into the mainstream it’s hard to not ignore a medium that demands attention and passion. Some argue the popularity comes from the quality of the “natural” sound and aesthetic, while others say it’s a satisfying and telling tribute to your fandom and support for an artist.

Ever since 2008, vinyl sales have rapidly increased from 1.9 million to 9.2 million last year leading to a resurgence. In spite of decreasing total album sales in all formats (667 million in 2004 to 257 million in 2014) vinyl remains strong but, there is not enough supply to meet the demand. There are only about 20 pressing plants in the country and they are being pushed beyond their capacity of production. As of now, most bands have to wait till April of 2016 for their orders to hit the presses. The push back of vinyl orders only worsens as large music labels and record “holidays” such as Record Store Day clog up the demand for pressing plants with their releases and it is obvious that huge labels get special preference over smaller labels and artists. With this huge problem there is a possible solution.

Luckily we have now begun to print 3D objects with ease and uniqueness using technology that has been around since the 80s. 3D printing works by way of additive manufacturing or printing layers upon layers of resin or plastic material whose design can be manipulated by way of programs such as Sketch Up. Now imagine using this technology to the benefit of the customization and turnover of records.

Right now the technology of 3D printing is relatively limited; it’s possible to print car parts but not the entire working car. Therefore we have to hope the technology will advance quicker or be a bit more creative. One such idea of creativity came from Amanda Ghassaei who basically reversed the mp3 ripping process to print the first record. This means she took an mp3 file and broke it down into digitized waveforms and then converted these waves into circular wireframes as an STL (a digital file for 3D printing). By doing all this Ghassaei had to manually carve the grooves onto the printing material which forced her to create grooves that are 10 times the width of normal record grooves which in turn decreases the sound quality. Despite Ghassei’s rudimentary method of printing, she was on to something.

If we are soon able to print records and manipulate the grooves width and shape as they are printing we could easily produce a whole run of records at a much quicker rate than a factory presses a dozen. Not to mention we should be able to even “optimize” a records quality and sound by being able to zoom in on the waveforms to condense or edit them to the artists or labels liking in real time to minimize errors. This would reduce the chance and cost of test press defects. But of course with any disruptive technology such as this there is a flipside.

If 3D printers were to become a mass commodity for all households what would stop ordinary people from printing their own records? Allowing anyone to print their own records is counter intuitive to keeping record stores and plants alive. Not to mention piracy involving “fake” records would arise (just like the intro of file sharing sites) but, bands and artists would be able to put out their own products without ever having to deal with labels or manufacturers. Thus the introduction of such a powerful technology could very well destroy the very consumption of records at stores.

Even though there is tragedy in such a notion there is also a glimmer of hope. The music industry has pulled through in spite of the demise of purchasing music; there is hope so long as people believe in supporting art. Even though it may not seem as apparent now, 3D printing is just the revitalization vinyl so desperately needs. All we record heads can do is wait for the technology to advance faster or experiment with it ourselves.