The critic reflects on vinyl’s resurgence, social media influence, and the role of cultural criticism in today’s music industry

Critics are still prestigious figures within the music sector. In recent years, the industry has favored music as a form of entertainment, rather than a cultural manifestation. This has paved the way for music entertainers to be more prominent figures than people who actually defend cultural creation. Attention spans and thought processes have become less intricate, and that has amplified a lack of authenticity around music. 

Miguel Tébar is a music critic. His formation includes studies in image, sound and telecommunications, and he started talking about music at a very young age. Not just talk, but share opinions. Even if he didn’t undertake journalistic formation, he doesn’t feel like an outsider, having been around music for over three decades, regularly writing critiques on festivals, concerts and albums. 

Mr. Tébar got there through a huge love for music. “My parents had a small establishment owned by family members in the 80s”. He was only 13 years old back then, but he already began to grasp what would later become his great passion, one that would get him to write for media outlets like El País, one of Spain’s biggest. “At the time, only vinyl existed. It wasn’t a question of trends, it was genuinely the only way to listen to music. No streaming services, no other formats either”, he recalls. “This later derives in a number of concert attendances where I realize I would like to share my thoughts on what I am viewing. But not for the sake of it, I wanted to communicate in a proper way”, he underlines. 

For Mr. Tébar, the industry has become a matter of exhibition, which would explain the rise in prices. “I believe it to be a bubble that will eventually explode, because the way things work right now makes for an unsustainable future”, he argues. “Unless you have great fortunes, you cannot be buying vinyl records at a rate of 30 euros per vinyl”. Reflecting on the desire of exhibition, he thinks that if social media platforms like Instagram or TikTok hadn’t existed, this resurgence would have not taken place. “Its impact wouldn’t have been felt the same way, at least”, he says.

His reasoning is simple: vinyls, aside from a listening format, are strongly intertwined with visuals and graphic design. “Covers allow graphic designers to show their talent and, to be fair, that’s probably the main thing about vinyl”. And this is where social media comes into play, precisely because they serve as an exhibition of the self. But make no mistake: not in an authentic way.

Mr. Tébar still buys vinyl from artists, despite his disinterest in the industry itself. “I support artists every time I can, but I don’t usually listen to vinyls more than once”. In his words, it’s more a collector’s item, rather than an active listening practice. In his experience, “younger generations of artists feel the need to own a vinyl as if it were a trophy”, in part because it’s a collectible they can hold up for sale.

His final words defend the figure of the music critic, one that is under the threat of extinction, according to him. Most invites at festivals and concerts now go to content creators, whose voices are used to promote artists, regardless of their quality. “This doesn’t happen in other cultural disciplines like cinema, which is also massive, or other minor ones such as literature, theatre or dance. It is imperative we give it a rethink”, he concludes.