On June 21st 1948 Colombia Records introduced microgroove plastic to the world. It allowed their engineers to achieve the level of detail and dexterity required to fit over 20 minutes of music on a single side of a 12inch vinyl, enough space for between six and twenty tracks. It was in this format that physical music was introduced to the world.

Despite the technological advances that came in the following decades, cassettes in the 60s, CDs in the '80s, this was the format – a collection of songs connected by a creative thread – that endured in an industry that thrived on innovation. It wasn’t until the introduction of mp3s and the digital music revolution in the early '00’s that the cracks started to appear.

Cast your mind back, if you can recall such a time, to when music was a physical product. You could hold it in your hands. Getting it required a trip to the shops, or, in its twilight years, navigating the newfound waters of online shopping. It took up space on your shelf.

To own a record, the cover of which visitors could see, was a statement about your identity. It implied certain tastes, a certain lifestyle and placed you within a particular tribe. Because of the amount of effort and money it took to own music, it had to mean more than simply what it sounded like. There’s a reason “So what music do you like?” crops up so early at first meetings.

For as long as youth culture has existed, the music you listen to is an integral part of the kind of person you are