Craving Analogue Sensation in A Digital World: Exploring The Collecting Behaviour of Digital Native Vinyl Collectors

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2022-08-31
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en
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This thesis looks at consumer behaviour of digital natives in the resurgence of analogue consumption during an era of digitalisation. More specifically, the resurrection of vinyl culture among digital natives, who accounted for the highest vinyl turnover over the last five years. The curious case of why digital natives collect vinyl after it was considered ‘obsolete’ and ‘dying’ is studied using interviews and ethnographic data in an explorative approach. This thesis addresses past work on vinyl consumption that only looked at ‘typical’ vinyl consumers, stereotypically middle-aged men over the age of 40. The research objectives were set out to explain why digital natives consume analogue items in an era of digitalisation and how they experience nostalgia through analogue items originating from a time before their existence. The research findings showed that digital natives formed a countermovement to escape the fast pace of the digital in slower forms of consumption by means of analogue items like vinyl. Also, it revealed that the concept of nostalgia can be perceived through three timeframes: the past, present, and future. The past revealed the concept ‘anemoia’ which captured a romanticised longing for a past beyond your own. The present of nostalgia revealed that the concept of nostalgia is everchanging per generation as its timeframe had become smaller among digital natives. In the future of nostalgia, it was uncovered that nostalgia is more than a passive longing for the past and that it can inspire to look forward in a process conceptualised as ‘prolepsis’. At last, the research implications were elaborated according to Consumer Culture Theory to describe the dynamic relations between the revival of vinyl culture, consumer behaviour of digital natives, retro-marketing, market development, and the effects of digital and analogue consumption on entrepreneurship and societal well-being.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen