While CDs and cassettes are fading into the dust bin of history, vinyl records are more popular than ever. National Vinyl Record Day encourages music fans to support your local record shop, or dig out your favorite vinyl album. National Vinyl Record Day is organized by the National Vinyl Record Day Company – a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recognizing the preserving vinyl music, its culture, art, and sound. In fact, many musicians are producing their music on vinyl in order to provide a rich and immersive experience.

Gary Freiberg of Los Osos, California founded National Vinyl Record Day. He selected the date August 12th to commemorate the day the phonograph was invented by Thomas Edison in 1877.

A phonograph record, which is also known as a gramophone record, a vinyl record, or simply a record or vinyl, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove starts near the edge and ends near the center of the disc. For nearly half a century, the discs were commonly made from shellac, with earlier records having a fine abrasive filler mixed in. During the 1940s, polyvinyl chloride became common.