Who’s Got the 7?: A Local Music Scene’s Resistance to the Demise of the Vinyl Record

As digital streaming became the dominant mode of music consumption, the New Brunswick, New Jersey, music scene of the 1990s served as a pocket of resistance to the decline of vinyl records. This article uses a case study approach to examine how localized practices sustained vinyl culture through community-based production and distribution. Drawing on theories of diffusion of innovation, communities of practice, and the social construction of technology, this article explores how this scene’s attachment to analog formats helped lay the groundwork for vinyl’s cultural persistence and its broader resurgence in the 21st century.